The Dar al-Nadwa Plot: Quraysh Plan to Kill the Prophet

Ibn ʿAbbās said that Allāh revealed one āyah describing the night of the Hijrah. It is Sūrat al-Anfāl, verse 30:

Wa-idh yamkuru bika lladhīna kafarū li-yuthbitūka aw yukhrijūka aw yaqtulūka wa-yamkurūna wa-yamkuru llāhu wa-llāhu khayru l-mākirīn.

"And when those who disbelieved schemed against you to imprison you or to expel you or to kill you, while they schemed, and Allāh schemed, and Allāh is the best of schemers."

Three options are named in that verse. They correspond exactly to three proposals made that night.

❧The meeting at Dār al-Nadwah

Dār al-Nadwah was the Quraysh's parliament, their council house. On that night, senior representatives from every Quraysh tribe gathered secretly. Two men were intentionally not invited:

First, Abū Lahab. Despite his hatred for the Prophet ﷺ, the plan being discussed involved killing one of his own blood relatives, his nephew. Inviting him would create an impossible situation: either he objects out of tribal honor, or he approves and loses face publicly. Their solution was elegant: what Abū Lahab doesn't know, he doesn't have to answer for.

Second, Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī. He was the one who had given the Prophet ﷺ his personal word of protection when the Prophet ﷺ returned from Ṭāʾif. This protection was still legally in force. You cannot invite a man to plot against someone he has formally protected. Even in their plotting, the Quraysh maintained certain customs.

❧The stranger from Najd

As the secret meeting was being arranged, a knock came at the door. An old man no one recognized. He said: "I am a chief from Najd. I heard of your meeting. Perhaps my experience could be of use." He was let in.

Ibn ʿAbbās says: this was Shayṭān, Iblīs himself. He was present to make sure the final decision taken was the one most harmful to Islam.

❧The three proposals

1. Iṯbāt (imprison him): Shayṭān/the old man objected, "His words would still reach his followers even through prison walls. The Quran would be smuggled out. This solves nothing."

2. Ikhrāj (exile him): Again rejected, "Sending him away sends him to them. It strengthens rather than weakens the movement."

3. Qatl (kill him): Abū Jahl spoke. "Everyone in this room is thinking this and nobody wants to say it. So I'll say it."

But the problem with a straightforward killing was Arab tribal law: you cannot kill one of your own in cold blood. The Banū Hāshim would be obligated to respond with blood, and they could not take diyah (blood money) from a single tribe, that would be dishonor. They would have to go to war.

❧Abū Jahl's dastardly solution:

"Let every tribe in this room select one strong young man. All of them strike simultaneously. His blood is on every sword equally. No single tribe can be blamed. The Banū Hāshim will have no choice but to accept the diyah from the collective, they cannot go to war against all of us at once."

The old man from Najd stood up: "Hādha al-raʾy al-sadīd, this is the correct decision. There is no better choice than this."

The assembly agreed. Each tribe chose a young man from within it. They were dispatched immediately to surround the Prophet ﷺ's house and wait for morning.

❧Allāh's counter-plan

That same evening, Jibrīl ʿalayhi al-salām descended and informed the Prophet ﷺ of everything that had been decided. He did not wait for morning. That night was the beginning of the Hijrah.