God Arises
The Challenge of The Qur’an
~ 292 ~
When the prophet Muhammad began propagating
the message of Islam, almost the whole of Arabia
turned against him. On the one hand were the
idolatrous tribes, who were thirsty for his blood
and, on the other, were the rich and powerful Jews
who were determined to foil every attempt on his
part to propagate his message. A third group
consisted of Muslims who made a public show of
having embraced the faith, while concealing their
intention to infiltrate the ranks of the genuinely
faithful in order, without arousing any suspicion, to
bring about the downfall of the Islamic cause.
Thus the Prophet was carrying on his mission in the
face of three inimical groups, two of which openly
displayed their power and resources, while the
third, the conspirators, donned the mask of
hypocrisy. Leaving aside a small band of slaves and
few people from the lowest rungs of society, no one
was willing to rally to his cause. Out of all the
highly placed people of Makkah, those who
answered his call were almost negligible in number,
and when they converted, they too incurred the
wrath of their people, so that, in spite of having
