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you would have wanted me to say,’ replied ‘Utba. They asked
whether Muhammad had given any answer. ‘Utba said that he had,
but that the proofs he offered were incomprehensible. All that he
had gathered was that he was warning them of a thunderbolt like
that which had overtaken Thamud and Ad. ‘What has become of
you?’ the Quraysh asked. ‘How is it that a person speaks to you in
Arabic, and you do not understand what he says?’ ‘Really, I didn’t
understand anything,’ ‘Utba insisted. ‘All I gathered was that he
mentioned a thunderbolt.’
(Baihaqi)
To those who are familiar with religion in a particular,
conventional form, to them, the message of the Prophet just
appeared to be disparaging their elders. Dhamad once came to
Makkah to perform ‘Umra (the lesser pilgrimage). He had occasion
to sit in a gathering along with Abu Jahl, Utba ibn Rabi’ya and
Umayya ibn Khalf, where the following exchanges took place:
‘He (Muhammad) has caused a split in our community,’ Abu Jahl
declared. ‘He thinks we are all fools, and considers our ancestors
woefully astray. He insults our idols.’ ‘He is insane, without doubt,’
Umayya added.
(Al-Isaba,
Vol. II, p. 210)
When ‘Amr ibn Murra Juhni preached Islam among his own
tribe, the Juhaina, one of them spoke up: ‘May God make you taste
the bitterness of life, ‘Amr. Do you want us to forsake our idols,
disunite our people, and contradict the religion of our righteous
ancestors? The religion that this Qurayshi from Tahama preaches
has no affection, no graciousness to it.’
(Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah,
Vol. II) He then went on to recite three verses, the last of which
went like this:
‘He seeks to prove that our forefathers were fools. One who
acts thus can never prosper.’
Anumber of people were prevented by jealousy from accepting
the message of Islam. The Prophet proclaimed the fact that he was
sent by God. But people always find it very difficult to accept the
fact that someone else has been given a knowledge of reality that
they themselves have been denied. Baihaqi relates, on the authority
of Mughirah ibn Shu’bah, that Abu Jahl one day took Mughira
