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made sure thatAbu Jahl had really attacked the Prophet in this way,
and, when it turned out that he had, he took his whip and struck
Abu Jahl so hard on the head that the latter roared with pain.
One can see from the history of various religions, how
polytheism has always been super-sensitive to criticism against
itself. But in ancient times polytheism was more than just a creed;
it provided the very foundation of the structure of social system.
Political reasons too therefore accounted for the strong adherence
to polytheism. This was the situation in Makkah, and it was for
this reason that the preaching of monotheism in the Prophet’s
time was such a supreme test of patience. Only a handful of people
believed in him during the first three years of his mission. The
town of Makkah was as devoid of supporters who would help the
Prophet as it was of shade-giving trees. Only four people managed
to remain close to him—Ali, Zayd, Abu Bakr and Khadija—five if
one includes the first person who was born a Muslim, the daughter
of Abu Bakr.
This situation remained unchanged for three full years. When
the Prophet left his house, he was greeted with derisive jeers in
the street, as if he were a madman. One day—at the instigation
of Abu Jahl—a group of people started abusing the Prophet.
A passerby, who was unable to put up with the sight of a person
from a noble Quraysh family being treated in this manner, went
straight to the Prophet’s uncle, Hamza. ‘Have you lost all sense of
honour?’ he asked. ‘You are sitting back while people are disgracing
your nephew.’ This was enough to ignite Hamza’s sense of Arab
pride. He had an iron bow which he took with him and went to
see Abu Jahl. Striking the Prophet’s tormentor, he said: ‘I have
adopted Muhammad’s religion as my own. If you have it in you, do
something about it.’ (
Tabarani
)
Hamza was famed as a fighter all over Arabia. After he took this
action, people gained new courage and the number of Muslims
went up to thirty. At this time there were two highly influential
people in Makkah—Umar ibn Khattab and Abu Jahl ibn Hisham.
The Prophet offered a prayer to God: ‘Lord, strengthen Islam by
