Muhammad's Excursion to Ta'if (628 C.E.)

The Quraysh doubled and redoubled their injuries to Muhummad and his followers

until Muhammad could bear it no longer. Alone, and without telling anyone, he

undertook a trip to the city of Ta'if where he solicited the support of the tribe of

Thaqif after calling them to Islam. When they refused, he asked them not to spread

the news of their refusal to his enemies that they might not rejoice at his failure. The

tribe of Thaqif, however, not only repudiated Muhammad's call but sent their

servants to insult him and throw him out of their city. He ran away from them and

took shelter near a wall which belonged to `Utbah and Shaybah, sons of Rabi'ah.

There, he sat under a vine pondering his defeat, within sight of the sons of Rabi'ah.

He raised his hands to heaven and prayed with noticeable pain

"O God, please consider my weakness, my shortage of means, and the little esteem

that people have of me. Oh, most Merciful God, You are the Lord of the oppressed,

and You are my Lord. To whom would You leave my fate? To a stranger who insults

me? Or to an enemy who dominates me? Would I that You have no wrath against

me! Your pleasure alone is my objective. Under the light of Your faith which

illuminates all darkness and on which this world and the other depend, I take my

refuge. I pray that I may not become the object of Your wrath and anger. To You

alone belongs the right to blame and to chastise until Your pleasure is met. There is

neither power nor strength except in You."

`Addas, the Christian

For sometime, the sons of Rabi'ah watched Muhammad until a feeling of compassion

and sympathy for him began to stir within them. They sent their Christian servant,

`Addas by name, with a bunch of grapes. Before Muhammad partook of the grapes,

he said: "In the name of God." `Addas was surprised and said, "That is not what the

natives of this country usually say." Muhammad then asked him about his religion

and his country of origin, and when he learned that he was a Christian from Nineveh,

he said, "Are you then from the City of the Righteous Jonah, son of Mathew?" Still

more surprised, `Addas asked, "What do you know about Jonah, son of Matthew?"

Muhammad answered, "That was my brother; he was a true prophet and so am I."

Moved with emotion, `Addas covered Muhammad with kisses. The two sons of

Rabi'ah were surprised at what they saw although they remained unmoved by

Muhammad's religious claims. When their servant returned to them they counseled

him: "O `Addas, do not allow this man to convert you from your faith. Your faith is

better for you than his."

Muhammad Offers Himself to the Tribes

The news of the injuries inflicted upon Muhammad lightened the hostility of the tribe

of Thaqif, but it never succeeded in moving them to follow him. The Quraysh knew

about this expedition and increased their injuries. Nothing, however, could dissuade

Muhammad from continuing his call. At every season, whenever the tribes of Arabia

came to Makkah, he offered himself and his cause to them, informed them that he

was a commissioned prophet, and asked them to believe in him. His uncle `Abd al

`Uzza, son of `Abd al Muttalib, otherwise known as Abu Lahab, would not let him;

he would follow Muhammad everywhere he went to dissuade the people from

listening to him. Muhammad, for his part, did not only preach his religion to the

tribes in the pilgrimage season in Makkah, but sought those tribes in their own

quarters. He visited the tribe of Kindah and the tribe of Kalb, of Banu Hanifah, Banu

`Amir ibn Sa'sa'ah, each in its own province. None of them responded favorably to

him, and they all repudiated his call sometimes with insults, as did the tribe of Banu

Hanifah. The tribe of Banu `Amir felt more ambitious and imagined that they could

assume a position of leadership should the cause of Muhammad triumph. But when

Muhammad told them, "The matter belongs wholly to God; He places leadership

wheresoever He wishes," they turned away and repudiated his call like the rest.

Did all these tribes repudiate Muhammad's call for the same reasons for which

Quraysh did before them? We have seen the disappointment of the tribe of Banu

`Amir upon the frustration of their ambition of leadership and power. As for the tribe

of Thaqif, they had a different opinion. In addition to the cool atmosphere and

vineyards which made it a summer resort, the city of Ta?if was the center of worship

of al Lat, for it was in its midst that the idol stood and on its account the city had

become a place of pilgrimage. Should the tribe of Thaqif follow Muhammad, the

goddess al Lat would lose her place of worship, the city its pilgrimage site, and

ensuing hostility with Quraysh would soon cut off all summer visits by the Makkans.

Every tribe had thus its own reason, economic or other, for which it refused to accept

Islam besides the personal attachment to the religion of the fathers and the worship

of old idols.