Some people answer with words, others with deeds, yet it is incumbent upon anyone who calls people to Allah, seeking only His pleasure, to bear the hurt patiently and to press on with the daʿwah. In this he follows the example of the messengers—peace be upon them—and, above all, the choicest and final one of them, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

What did he face from his people? How much abuse, verbal and physical, did he endure? They said, “Sorcerer,” “liar,” and “madman,” hurling at him every slander that Allah has recorded in the Qur’an. They harmed him: they pelted him with stones until his heels bled when he called them to Allah; they flung a camel’s entrails onto his back while he was prostrating by the Kaʿbah; they threatened to kill him. At the Battle of ʾUhud he and his Companions suffered grievously: his incisor was broken, his head gashed, and he fell into a pit—yet he was the Prophet of Allah. All of this was harm encountered on the path of calling to Allah, but he remained patient and steadfast, and he is the best of creation.

Accordingly, anyone who assumes this mission will inevitably face harm proportionate to his faith and the force of his call. He must be patient: so long as he is upon the truth, he should persevere and endure, for he is striving in the way of Allah, and whatever harm reaches him will weigh in the balance of his good deeds as a reward from Allah.