Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
10. The Prophet in Makkah
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When the chief of the Banu Hashim, the Prophet’s
uncle, Abu Talib, died, an uncouth member of the
Quraysh threw dirt at the Prophet and it stuck to
him. When the latter reached home, one of his
daughters, Fatimah, brushed the dirt off him. “The
Quraysh did nothing nasty to me like this before,”
the Prophet commented. It was only after the death
of Abu Talib that they committed mean acts of
aggression of this nature. As the Prophet’s
companion, Abu Hurayrah, has pointed out, “the
Quraysh used to treat the Prophet very harshly after
the death of his uncle.” “Uncle, how quickly I have
felt your loss,” the Prophet once lamented.
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The
Quraysh even started planning to do away with the
Prophet. It was during this period that Abu Jahl
threw the intestines of an animal on to the Prophet’s
head, and ‘Uqbah ibn Mu’it tied a sheet around his
neck and pulled it tight in an attempt to strangulate
him. Fortunately, it was unsuccessful. Now that
Abu Talib was dead, it seemed as if there was
nothing to stop vicious attacks on the Prophet’s
person. The only thing that held people back was
that nothing of this nature had happened before in
Arabia; for a member of the Banu Hashim to be
attacked and killed by his own fellow Quraysh
