Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
9. The Prophetic Method
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more capable of forsaking the message that God
Himself has entrusted to me.” Having said this, the
Prophet broke down weeping.
The Banu Hashim, to which tribe the Prophet
belonged, were the cream of Arab society. Since his
tribe was already in a dominant position in Arabia,
some people thought that perhaps the Prophet
wanted to consolidate his own authority and be
crowned king. But the Prophet’s actions showed
that he was interested in only one thing, and that
was to convey to people the importance of
preparing themselves for the next world. So
persistently would he emphasise this matter that
sometimes the leaders of the Quraysh would plead
with him in almost desperate terms to leave them
alone. “Muhammad,” Abu Jahl once said to him,
“will you stop insulting our gods? If you just want
us to bear witness that you have communicated
your message, then all right: we bear witness, you
certainly have communicated it.”
The Prophet, however, was undeterred and went on
delivering his message. This infuriated the Quraysh
still further, and, they decided to ostracize the
