Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (3/252)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

He was asked, “What is the gravest thing you ever saw the Quraysh do to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on account of the hostility they openly showed him?”

He replied, “One day I saw their nobles gathered in the Ḥijr. They began to talk about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, ‘We have never endured from anyone what we endure from this man. He belittles our judgment, insults our fathers, reviles our religion, splits our ranks, and curses our gods. Because of him we are facing an immense predicament’—or words to that effect.

“While they were thus engaged, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ suddenly appeared. He walked up, touched the Corner, then passed by them, circumambulating the House. They taunted him with some words, and I could see it on his face, but he went on. When he passed them a second time they hurled the same taunts, and I saw it on his face again, yet he continued. On the third circuit they repeated their insults, whereupon he said:

‘Do you hear, O assembly of Quraysh? By the One in whose hand is my soul, I have come to you with slaughter.’

“His words so overwhelmed them that not a single man remained except that he sat as if a bird had alighted on his head. Even the one who moments before had been the most eager to attack him began soothing him,(2) saying, ‘Go on your way, Abu’l-Qāsim, a rightly guided man. We have never taken you for a fool.’

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ departed. The next day they were again assembled in the Ḥijr and I was with them. One said to the others, ‘You remember what you did and what he said to you, yet when he confronted you with what you hate you let him go.’ While they were talking, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ appeared, and they sprang upon him as one man. They surrounded him, saying, ‘Are you the one who says such-and-such?’—referring to what had reached them of his denunciation of their gods and their religion. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ answered,

‘Yes, I am the one who says that.’

“I even saw one of them seize the front of his cloak, but Abu Bakr stepped forward, weeping, shielding him and saying, ‘Woe to you! “Would you kill a man for saying, ‘My Lord is Allah’?”’ (Q 40:28). Only then did they leave him. That is the worst I ever saw the Quraysh do to him.

Section: How the chieftains of Quraysh incited one another against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions, how they gathered before his uncle Abū Ṭālib—who protected and championed him—pressing him to hand the Prophet over to them, and how Abū Ṭālib refused by Allah’s power and strength.

Imām Aḥmad(3) related: Wakiʿ told us, from Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from Thābit, from Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

‘I have been harmed in the cause of Allah as no one else has been harmed; I have been threatened in the cause of Allah as no one else has been threatened. Thirty(4) days and nights have passed over me, and neither I nor Bilāl had anything edible that a creature with a liver could eat except what Bilāl could conceal under his armpit.’

Al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah(5) also transmitted it through Ḥammād ibn Salamah, and al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

(1) The expression does not appear in al-Hakīm (H) or in al-Dalāʾil, but it is recorded in the Sīra of Ibn Hishām. (2) “yarfiʾuhu”: literally “to soothe him, treat him with gentleness, and pray for him.” Al-Nihāya and Lisān al-ʿArab under the entry “arfāʾ” explain: “it is the most intense in brightness.” (3) In the Musnad (vol. 3, p. 120). (4) The Musnad contains three occurrences. (5) Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī (no. 2472), “Description of the Resurrection,” ch. 34; and Sunan Ibn Mājah (no. 151), Introduction, chapter on the virtues of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ (virtues of Salman, Abū Dharr, and al-Miqdād). The latter reads: “And indeed it came upon me a third time.”

ما أكثرُ ما رأيتَ قريشًا أصابتْ من (١) رسول الله ﷺ فيما كانت تظهره من عداوته؟ فقال: لقد رأيتُهم وقد اجتمع أشرافُهم يومًا في الحِجْر، فذكروا رسولَ الله ﷺ فقالوا: ما رأينا مثل ما صبرنا عليه من هذا الرجل قط، سفَّه أحلامنا وشتم آباءنا، وعاب ديننا، وفرَّق جماعاتنا، وسبَّ آلهتنا، وصرنا منه على أمرٍ عظيم -أو كما قال- قال: فبينما هم في ذلك طلع رسول الله ﷺ ، فأقبل يمشي حتى استلم الركن، ثم مرَّ بهم طائفًا بالبيت، فغمزوه ببعض القول، فعرفتُ ذلك في وجه رسولِ الله ﷺ فمضى، فلما مرَّ بهم الثانية غمزوه بمثلها، فعرفتُها في وجهه، فمضى، فمر بهم الثالثة، فغمزوه بمثلها، فقال: "أتسمعون يا معشر قريش؟ أما والذي نفسي بيده، لقد جئتكم بالذبح" . فأخذت القوم كلمتُه حتى ما منهم من رجل إلا وكأنَّما على رأسه طائر وقع حتى إنَّ أشدَّهم فيه وصاةً قبل ذلك ليرفَؤُه (٢) حتى إنه ليقول: انصرفْ أبا القاسم راشدًا، فما كنت بجهول. فانصرف رسولُ الله ﷺ حتى إذا كان الغد اجتمعوا في الحِجْر وأنا معهم، فقال بعضُهم لبعض: ذكرتم ما بلغ منكم وما بلغكم عنه، حتى إذا بادأكم بما تكرهون تركتموه. فبينما هم على ذلك طلع رسولُ الله ﷺ فوثبوا إليه وثبةَ رجلٍ واحد، فأحاطوا به يقولون: أنت الذي تقول كذا وكذا؟ لما كان يبلغهم من عَيْبِ آلهتهم ودينهم، فيقول رسول الله ﷺ : "نعم، أنا الذي أقولُ ذلك" ولقد رأيتُ رجلًا منهم أخذ بمجامع ردائِه، وقام أبو بكر يَبْكي دونه ويقول: ويلكم ﴿أَتَقْتُلُونَ رَجُلًا أَنْ يَقُولَ رَبِّيَ اللَّهُ﴾ [غافر: ٢٨] ثم انصرفوا عنه. فإنَّ ذلك لأكثر ما رأيت قريشًا بلغتْ منه قط. فصل في تأليب الملأ من قريش على رسول الله ﷺ وأصحابه، واجتماعهم بعمِّه أبي طالب القائم في منعه ونصرته، وحرصهم عليه أن يسلمه إليهم، فأبَى عليهم ذلك بحول الله وقوته. قال الإمام أحمد (٣) : حدّثنا وكيع، عن حماد بن سلمة، عن ثابت، عن أنس قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ : "لقد أُوذيتُ في الله وما يُؤذَى أحد، وأُخفت في الله وما يُخاف أحد، ولقد أتت عليَّ ثلاثون (٤) من بين يوم وليلة، وما لي ولبلالٍ ما يأكلُه ذو كَبِد إلا ما يُواري إبْطُ بلال" . وأخرجه الترمذيّ وابنُ ماجَه (٥) من حديث حماد بن سلمة به، وقال الترمذي: حسنٌ صحيح.

(١) ليست اللفظة في ح ولا في الدلائل، وهي في سيرة ابن هشام. (٢) "يرفؤه": أي يسكِّنُه ويرفق به ويدعو له. النهاية واللسان (ارفأ) وفيهما: إن أشدهم فيه وضاءة؟. (٣) في مسنده (٣/ ١٢٠). (٤) في المسند: ثلاثة. (٥) جامع الترمذي (٢٤٧٢) صفة القيامة باب ٣٤ وسنن ابن ماجه (١٥١) المقدمة باب في فضائل أصحاب رسول الله ﷺ ، فضائل سلمان وأبي ذر والمقداد. ولفظ الأخير "ولقد أتت عليَّ ثالثة".