Obeying the following divine command:
فَاصْدَعْ بِمَا تُؤْمَرُ وَاَعْرِضْ عَنِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
“So proclaim that which thou art commanded, and withdraw from the idolaters.” (al-Hijr 15; 94) Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) began to invite people openly to believe in the Oneness of Allah. He knew no obstruction and presented no excuse in this matter. (Ibn Hisham, I, 275-276; Ibn Sa’d, I, 119)
Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) was told that fighting was not allowed and councelled those who could not stand the oppression and asked permission from the Prophet (pbuh) to fight back with patience and perseverance. Below are some of the remarkable examples of oppressions that the Prophet and his followers faced during the Meccan period:
When the pilgrimage season was getting close, polytheists looked for ways to prevent the Prophet (pbuh) from conveying his message. They gathered in the house of Nadwa to decide what kind of slanderous lies they were going to tell about the Prophet. There were proposals to call him a soothsayer, lunatic, poet, or magician.
Walid b. Mughirah whom they consulted did not accept any one of the above and said:
“Calling him a magician is probably the most rational one because his words are like magic. It separates a person from his father, his brother, his wife, and his people.
Upon which the polytheists of Quraish called to the people of Mecca and tried to convince them that the Messenger of Allah was a magician. They insistently enjoined everybody they met not to meet and talk to the Prophet under any circumstances. (Ibn Hisham, I, 283-285)
The Prophet’s house was located between the houses of his worst enemies, i.e. Abu Lahab and Uqba b. Abi Muayt. They used to bring animal intestines and throw them in front of the Prophet’s house. Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) would be saddened by what they were doing and reproach them saying:
“O Sons of Abdi Manaf! What kind of neighborliness is this?” and he pushed the animal parts away with his bow.
Abu Lahab would not be satisfied with this and he would throw stones at the Prophet (pbuh) from his house and from the house of his neighbor Adiy b. Hamra al-Thaqafi. (Ibn Sa’d, I, 201; Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, II, 70)
Abu Lahab’s wife Umm Jamil was among the fiercest enemies of the Prophet. She supported and helped her husband in his disbelief, denial and obstinacy. Umm Jamil used to collect thorny tree branches and make a pile from them. Then she would disperse these branches on the paths on which the Prophet used to walk in order to hurt him. Allah the Exalted revealed the surat Tabbat (111) about Abu Lahab and his wife Umm Jamila. When Umm Jamila heard about this Qur’anic chapter, she immediately went to the Ka’bah to see the Prophet and Abu Bakr. She had a stone in her hand.
When Abu Bakr saw her coming, he told the Prophet (pbuh):
“O Messenger of Allah! Umm Jamil is an evil woman. She is coming towards you. I fear she will do you harm I wish you would leave before she does something to you.”
Allah’s Messenger said that:
“She cannot see me.” Indeed Umm Jamil could not see the Prophet (pbuh). (Ibn Hisham, I, 378-379)
Non-believers of Quraish who did not like the Prophet used try to insult the Prophet (pbuh) by changing his name from Muhammad, meaning the praised one, to Mudhammam or the disparaged one. (Ibn Hanbal, II, 244; Ibn Hisham, I, 379)
When Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) went back to his home depressed by the insults of the disbelievers, Allah the Almighty diminished his pain through the comforting and consoling words of Khadijah (r. anha). (Ibn Hisham, I, 259)
Believers, too, had to endure troubles and show patience. Polytheists used to catch them and force them to wear extremely hot iron shirts, and lay them down under the burning sun and thus melting their body fat. By means of these tortures they were trying to make the believers say the things they wanted.
Every tribe from Quraish tried to force the believers to turn away from their religion by means of keeping them hungry and thirsty, beating them and throwing them into prison, and holding them under the burning sun during the hottest hours of the day. Some believers could not stand the tortures and left their religion. Some others resisted and Allah the Almighty protected them from abandoning Islam. Some of them gave their lives under such torture like Ammar b. Yasir’s father, mother, and sister.
Quraish’s idol worshipping population used to practice various kinds of torture depending on the person that they were torturing. Whenever Abu Jahl heard that a wealthy and strong person converted to Islam, he insulted, and threatened the man saying:
“Have you left your father’s religion? However, he was better than you. Do you disregard his views and dishonor him? We will not respect your view anymore and thus we will reveal its falsity and we will destroy your reputation.”
If the person who converted to Islam was a merchant, he would say to him:
“I swear we will ruin your trade and make you bankrupt.”
If the convert was a weak and poor person, he would beat him and try to deceive and draw him out of Islam.”
Once Abdullah b. Abbas (r. anhuma) was asked:
“Were the Companions of the Prophet ever tortured so much that they were allowed to deny their religion?” He replied:
“Yes, they were. By Allah, sometimes the polytheists beat the Companions and left them without food and water so much that they could not sit for a while and they would say whatever the polytheists wanted them to say. As soon as they recovered, they would return to the faith of Unity. The exception in the following verse is about those Companions:
“Anyone who, after accepting Faith in Allah, utters unbelief, except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith but such as open their breast to unbelief, on them is wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful penalty.” (al-Nahl 16; 106) (Ibn Hanbal, I, 404; Ibn Hisham, I, 339-343; Ibn Sa’d, III, 233)
When the torture in Mecca became unbearable, Muslims came to the Prophet (pbuh) and asked for a way to escape through migration. Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) showed them Medina. Then they set off on a journey to Medina. (Ibn Sa’d, I, 226)
Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) and his Companions endured such torture and torment by patience and perseverance. They continued to live the Islamic faith and call everyone to live it, and conveyed the message of Islam without fighting by the sword.