T h e V i s i o n o f I s l a m
98
history of a person spending several years looking for a tribe to
take him in—no one was prepared to shoulder this responsibility
in the case of the Prophet. When a group from one tribe felt
inclined to take pity upon the Prophet, one of their elders rebuked
them: “His own tribe has expelled him and you intend to grant him
protection.What do you want to do?Wage war upon the whole of
the Arab nation?” He knew that to offer refuge to a person who
had been disowned by his own tribe was to declare war against that
tribe.
It was the Quraysh that had expelled him, and the Quraysh
were leaders of the entire Arab peninsula. To grant asylum to
one expelled by them amounted to declaring war on the whole of
Arabia. That was why, when the Ansar were swearing allegiance to
the Prophet, Abul Haitham ibn al-Tayhaan warned them: “If you
take pity on him, the whole Arab nation will descend upon you
with one accord.” (
Tabarani
)
Addedtothis therewas the fact thatArabborder tribeshadmade
pacts with neighbouring foreign powers. These tribes were afraid
of repercussions if they took pity on a controversial personality
like the Prophet. As Ibn Kathir has explained in
Al-Bidayah wan-
Nihayah,
the Prophet once went into the tent of the Banu Shayban
ibn Tha’alaba in Makkah, and talked with their elders. They were
impressed by the Prophet’s words but finally decided that their
position, on the border of Persia, was too precarious for them to
take responsibility for the Prophet. As their spokesman, Hani ibn
Qubaisa, put it, they had made pacts with the Persian emperor, and
‘it might be that kings will not take kindly to the message that you
preach.’
The Prophet was desperate to find a tribe that would afford
him protection, for there was no other way that he could continue
his mission. Once he went to see a tribe which went by the name
of Banu Abdullah. After the Prophet had, as usual, called them to
accept Islam and presented himself to them, in the hope that they
would grant him asylum, he said: ‘Banu Abdullah, what a beautiful
