he had finished, the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—recited:

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful:
“Ha Meem. A revelation from the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. A Book whose verses have been set out in detail, an Arabic Quran for a people who know” (Fussilat 1-3),

—until he reached the words—

“So say: I warn you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt that struck ʿĀd and Thamūd” (Fussilat 13).

At that, ʿUtbah placed his hand over the Prophet’s mouth and pleaded with him, in the name of their kinship, to stop. He went back to his household and did not return to Quraysh, so they were left waiting while ʿUtbah kept away from them.

Abū Jahl said, “People of Quraysh, by Allah, it appears that ʿUtbah has abandoned our religion and inclined toward Muhammad; he has been impressed by his food. That can only be because some need has befallen him. Come, let us go to him.”

So Abū Jahl came to him and said, “O ʿUtbah, what has kept you from us except that you have defected to Muhammad and been taken by his affair? If you are in want, we will gather from our wealth enough to spare you the need of Muhammad’s food.”

ʿUtbah grew angry and swore that he would never again speak to Muhammad. He said, “You know that I am among the wealthiest of Quraysh, but I went to him, told him the story, and he answered me with something that, by Allah, is neither poetry, nor soothsaying, nor sorcery:

‘Ha Meem. A revelation from the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. A Book whose verses have been set out in detail, an Arabic Quran for a people who know’ (Fussilat 1).”