Today’s discussion episode is about the boycott activities of the Banu Hashem tribe. Many scholars compare this activity to prison. In the previous episode, we discussed the story of Hazrat Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) and Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) embracing Islam. After both of them embraced Islam, the persecution of Muslims in Mecca decreased significantly. Because they were both influential people of their time. But the Quraysh did not give up on them. Allama Shafiqur Rahman Mubarakpuri (may Allah be pleased with him) In the famous book written by him, Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum mentions that, After Umar and Hamza embraced Islam, the Quraysh of Mecca thought that if they tempted the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), he might stop preaching Islam. For this reason, they sent Uthba ibn Rabi’ah to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). We have already mentioned the story of Utpa and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Uthba ibn Rabi’ah gives a speech first.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) began reciting the Quran after listening to all his words. But after a while, Uthba ibn Rabi’ah ordered the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to stop because that verse mentioned the story of the destruction of the nation of Aad and Samojjat.
And Uthba ibn Rabi’ah knew very well that what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said was true. On the other hand, Abu Talib was very worried because he knew that the Quraysh would kill the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) if they got the chance. So he wanted to gather his tribe to save his nephew. And in this book, Shafiqur Rahman mentions that some changes have already taken place. But Abu Talib was worried, he was afraid of attacks from the idol worshippers. The idolaters offered to kill Ammar bin Walid’s nephew in exchange for him. Abu Jahl was trying to cut off his nephew’s head with a heavy stone, Khattab’s son, Amar, came out to kill with his drawn sword. Without reflecting on all these events, Abu Talib’s heart trembled with fear.
He realized that the idol worshippers were determined to kill his nephew. In this situation, if his nephew was attacked, would Hamza or Omar protect his nephew? Abu Talib’s fears were not unfounded, for the idolaters were trying to kill his nephew. Allah Almighty says about them:
In what [position] are you that you should mention it?
(Quran 79:43)
The question is what should Abu Talib do in such a situation? When you saw that the idolaters were surrounding your nephew to kill him, you prepared to gather together the descendants of Hashim and Muttalib, who were popular figures among your ancestors. He called on everyone to unite to protect his nephew.
He said in an emotional voice that the responsibility that I have been carrying out alone so far, let’s all carry out that responsibility together.
The descendants of two of Abu Talib’s men responded to this call. But Abu Lahab, Abu Talib’s brother, rebelled and joined the idol worshippers. The people of Quraysh saw that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was supported by his own tribe and that as long as Banu Hashim remained, they would not be able to do anything to the Prophet (peace be upon him). It is not that the people of Banu Hashim embraced Islam, but rather they were inclined towards the Prophet (peace be upon him) because he was one of man from this tribe of theirs.
No tribe in Mecca had become Muslim by then, but some families had embraced Islam. This is an unprecedented situation because at that time people judged everything by tribal standards. Not based on ideology. The conversion of Hamza and Umar to Islam was a major blow to the Quraysh, and the rise of the Banu Hashim and Muttalib tribes was a second blow to the Quraysh. They understood that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was not alone but had his family with him. So they adopted another method more terrible than all the previous methods to stop the advance of Islam.
And that is a boycott. All the people of Quraysh gathered together and decided to boycott the people of the two tribes, Banu Hashem and Muttalib. However, despite Abu Lahab being the uncle of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and being of the same lineage, he was not boycotted. Because Abu Lahab himself is a major enemy of Islam. This boycott was introduced in the month of Muharram in Meccan life. According to the agreement, all trade agreements with the Banu Hashem and Al Muttalib tribes were canceled.
The agreement stipulated that no trade would be conducted with them. No one will marry any of them and no one will marry any of them. There will be no compromise with them and no mercy will be shown to them. All contact with them, including visits to their homes, will be prohibited. Until they hand over the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to the Quraysh.
The people of Quraysh made sure that no food reached the people of Banu Hashem and the tribe of Muttalib.
The intention of the Quraysh people was to put pressure on these two tribes and snatch the Prophet (peace be upon him) away from them. The boycott agreement was hung on the wall of the Kaaba Sharif However, the relationship between the two tribes was very good, they would stand in each other’s way.
The situation became so dire that the women and children of the Banu Hashem and Al Muttalib tribes began to suffer from hunger.
The companion Ibn Waqqas described the situation: We were so hungry that we had to survive by eating leaves. Not all of these two tribes were Muslims, but this prohibition applied to all. There was no provision for food, but there were some people among the Quraysh who were kind to these two tribes.
They would send food to them very secretly, they would load camels and let them go. The saying is mentioned in the book Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum.
They do not go out of the base except during the forbidden months.
They could not buy the goods brought from outside Mecca even if they tried because the idol worshippers would sell them to them at many times the price. Khadij bin was the niece of Hazrat Khadija (RA).
He would occasionally send wheat for his aunt, but Abu Jahl would stop him. But But Abul Bakari arranged for the wheat to be sent.
But meanwhile, Abu Talib was worried about his nephew. After everyone fell asleep, he would tell his nephew to go and sleep. He did this so that if there was a secret assassination, he would know where the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was going to sleep. Abu Talib would change the bed of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) after everyone had gone to bed. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to let his son or nephew sleep in his bed. He spent the whole night worrying about his nephew. Despite all these restrictions, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would go out during the Hajj season and preach Islam to the people who came for Hajj.
This boycott lasted for three years. However, by the will of Allah, Muslims were saved from this difficult time. One man who spoke out against this boycott agreement was a man from the Quraysh named Hisab bin Amr.
He was a relative of the Banu Hashem tribe on his mother’s side. He made a strong demand for the boycott to be lifted. He would load his camel with food and climb the mountain, then release the camel so that it could descend and reach the Banu Hashim tribe. One day he went to Johar and said, “Your uncles are suffering from hunger.” And how are you sitting happily eating it? Yubar was also from the wild Hashim tribe on his mother’s side. Hisab was made to understand that Abu Jahl’s two-pronged policy. Zohayer replied to his words that why are you blaming me I am a single person what can I do? By Allah, if there was even one person with me, I would have lifted this ban. Okay, there is a person with you, Hisab said.
Zohar asked who he was, and he replied, “I am that person.” Then Zohar said, “Let’s find a third person.”
Then they went out and found Matin. They said to Matin, “O Matin, do you take pleasure in seeing the suffering of the two tribes? If you let them do the work today, tomorrow they will do this horrible thing to you. “
Matin replied, “But what can I do, I’m alone?” I am with you, Hisab said.
Matin said, “Then let’s find a third person.” Hashimi said, “There’s another one, he’s Zohar.” Matin said again, “Let’s find a fourth person.” The fourth person was found and he is Abul Mahatarim. They found a fifth person, his name was Zaman bin Aswad.
They met at Anhuj at night and decided to go and destroy all the documents the next morning. But they must be destroyed in such a way that no one will realize that they were premeditated.
The next day, Umayya wore a special garment and performed Tawaf around the Kaaba. It was time to meet all the Quraysh leaders. He went before the leaders of Quraysh and said, “You are very happy that the people of Banu Hashem and Muttalib are suffering from hunger. By God, I will not stop until I destroy this document.” As planned, the second person also stood up and said that I was also against this agreement. In this way, the third and fourth person stood up and spoke, and finally, Hisab stood up and spoke.
Then Abu Jahl stood up and said, “This plan is premeditated. You must have planned these events at night.” But by then it was too late and the matter was already creating tension. Matin ran towards the Kaaba to sign the contract. He discovered that the document had already been eaten by termites except for this sentence: “To my Lord.”
And thus the boycott ends in drama. What can we learn from this incident? First, it is possible to make a big event happen through organizational skills.
Just five people have made a huge difference. Only for organizational purposes. The boycott imposed by the Quraysh tribe was lifted by the efforts of a few people. This incident shows how to unite and act together. Muslim brothers and sisters should wake up from laziness and start a movement on their own.
Secondly, termites eating the document points to something. The soldiers of Allah are spread in all directions. Even termites can be soldiers of Allah. Thirdly, under an oppressive government, there may be many people who can protest the government’s immoral decisions. If given the chance, they can end the torture. We Muslims should interact with them and teach them the correct teachings of Islam.
However, we must be very careful not to compromise our own religion in our policy of helping non-Muslims. This was the general discussion about the boycott of the Quraysh.
Another incident we will mention is the civil war in Abu Siniya. Those who migrated to Abu Sina were not attacked for ten years, but they faced a critical situation.
It is said that this rebellion was sparked by a military mutiny. A man declared rebellion against Emperor Najd.
Umm Salma narrated the incident. He recounts that while we were safely in the shelter, a nobleman appeared among Abu Sina.
The emperor of that country engaged in a dispute with the Negus. By God, we have never been so worried as we were at that time. We were afraid that if that person won, our rights would be taken away. Umm Salma narrated that the Negus set out with an army and the Nile River was between them. Then some of the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Who among us is there who can go out from our group and search for them and know us?” Then Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him) said that he could. They then gave him an empty bag filled with air so that he could swim to the other side of the Nile.
Umm Salma narrated that we were praying for the Negus to be victorious. And may his overall authority over his country remain intact. By God, the grave we were eagerly waiting for was found shortly after.
Suddenly, Zubair saw her running with her clothes flying and saying, “Rejoice, the Najjashi has won.”
Umm Salma mentioned that by Allah, we have never been so happy before. The Negus returned more bravely and we remained there safely until we returned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in Mecca. Another problem arose because although Negus had secretly converted to Islam, some close to him suspected that he had already converted to Islam. They realized this and declared a rebellion against the Negus, and Madrasi realized that without him, no one could protect these emigrants.
So he arranged for some boats and told them that if I lose, you can take these boats and go wherever you want. He was able to suppress this rebellion as well.
We will end today’s episode with an analytical discussion on why the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) has not taken up arms since he received prophethood. The reason for this is that Allah had not yet commanded the Muslims to fight. The command to fight came much later, when the Muslims migrated to Medina. However, we do not know why Allah Almighty did not order war until now. So we cannot say exactly why the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not fight during his life in Mecca. We can only say that Allah Almighty had not yet commanded fighting, so the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not fight. Life in Mecca was a training period for the companions. The Companions prepared themselves for difficult times in their life in Mecca.
Another thing that Muslims gained from life in Mecca. The root of this brotherhood was faith, not blood lineage or tribe. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught them that they should all be respected. The excellence of a servant in the eyes of Allah lies in his piety. The people of Quraysh could not accept this. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) called them to a meeting, they said that no slave or lowly person could be present at that meeting. The Prophet (peace be upon him) did not agree to that. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not look down on slaves or people of low birth under pressure. Brotherhood was the foundation of Muslim life in Mecca. The next episode will discuss the year of sorrow.
