- Persecution of Bilal, Yasir and other Muslims
- Persecutions of the Prophet ﷺ
- Delegations of Quraish to Abu Talib
- First Migration to Ethiopia
- Quraish perform Sajda
- Second Migration to Ethiopia
- Dar al Arqam was the center of Da’wa
Persecution of Sahaba
In addition to their attempt to degrade the Prophet ﷺ by accusations, Quraish also decided to persecute early Muslim converts. They put early Muslims in different sorts of tortures. Because of the dignity and significance status of the Prophet ﷺ, they couldn’t make any serious injury to him. Only top leaders of Quraish such as Abu Lahab, Abu Jahl and Uqbat bin Mueet were dared enough to torture the Prophet ﷺ.
Bilal was a slave and brutally tortured by his master Umayah for embracing Islam. The street children were dragging him by a rope that was put on his neck. A huge rock was put on his chest to force him to go back to polytheism. But he kept saying Ahad.. Ahad [1].
Khabbab bin Al Arth was also a slave and his mistress was torturing her by placing the hot iron on his back.
Most of the slaves are freed by Abu Bakr t. His father admonished him that he is freeing the weak slaves, if he had freed some strong persons, they would have protected him. Allah indicated to the generosity of Abu Bakr in the following verse:
وَسَيُجَنَّبُهَا الْأَتْقَى17} الَّذِي يُؤْتِي مَالَهُ يَتَزَكَّى18} وَمَا لِأَحَدٍ عِندَهُ مِن نِّعْمَةٍ تُجْزَى19} إِلَّا ابْتِغَاء وَجْهِ رَبِّهِ الْأَعْلَى20} }[2]
But the righteous one will avoid it (hellfire) – (17) [He] who gives [from] his wealth to purify himself (18) And not [giving] for anyone who has [done him] a favor to be rewarded (19) But only seeking the countenance of his Lord, Most High.
Ammar, his mother Sumayya and his father Yasir were brutally tortured for accepting Islam. Ammar was taken to the desert and beaten up under the hot sun. His mother Sumayya whom Abu Jahl killed by inserting a spear into her body was the first martyr in Islam. Yasir also passed away because of the torture. On seeing this maltreatment of Yasir family, the Prophet ﷺ said
صَبْرًا يَا آلَ يَاسِرٍ فَإِنَّ مَوْعِدَكُمُ الْجَنَّةُ ُ[3]
“Be patient Oh family of Yasir, you will verily find your abode in the Paradise.”
[1] Ahad (أحد) means the oneness of Allah.
[2] Quran chapter Al Lail 92:6
[3] Baihaqi, Shu’ab Al Iman
This is excerpts from the book A Student’s Book to Study the Biography of The Prophet Muhammad by Abdu Shaheed Azhary. To download the full chapter click the below link. Buy the digital copy of the book from Amazon or the printed edition from Here