and would directly harm him with their hands and tongues. Once Islam became ascendant and spread, however, the motive for hostility was weaker, and the capacity for it was weaker. It is well known that anyone who refrained from hostility at first but later became hostile to him could only have done so because of a change(1) in either his will or his ability.
It is also well known that the capacity for hostility was greater at first, and the grounds for desiring hostility were more compelling at first. Nothing new arose among them that could have caused either their will or their ability to change. It is therefore known with certainty that no circumstance arose (among them)(2) that could possibly have caused those people to apostatize from their religion. Those who apostatized after his death were all among those who had entered Islam under force of arms, such as the followers of Musaylima and the people of Najd. As for the Emigrants, who had embraced Islam voluntarily, not one of them—praise be to Allah—apostatized. When the people of Mecca embraced Islam after its conquest, some of them contemplated apostasy, but Allah then made them steadfast through Suhayl ibn Amr.
When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, besieged the people of al-Tāif(3) after the conquest of Mecca, they subsequently witnessed the ascendancy of Islam and embraced it as a defeated people. They then contemplated apostasy, but Allah made them steadfast(4) through Uthmān ibn Abī al-Ās.
As for the people of the Prophet’s city, they had embraced Islam voluntarily—the Emigrants among them as well as the Helpers—and it was they who fought people for the sake of Islam. For this reason, no one from Medina apostatized. Rather, most of them grew weak upon the death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and lost heart for jihad in defense of his religion, until Allah made them steadfast and strengthened them through Abū Bakr al-Siddīq, may Allah be pleased with him. They then returned to their former strength of certainty,