Physical Persecution of the Prophet: Fire, Choking, and the Camel Entrails

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was not immune to physical harm in Makkah. While the Quraysh generally tolerated some limits, knowing that the Banū Hāshim would retaliate if he were killed outright, this did not mean nothing was done to him. Several specific incidents of physical persecution have been narrated, all of them in or near the Kaʿbah, because the Ka'bah was precisely where they wanted to humiliate him publicly.

❧First incident: Abū Jahl and the pit of fire

Abū Jahl was in the Nādī, the parliament of Quraysh, located in the open area near the Kaʿbah, when he boasted to the people gathered: "I swear by al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā, the next time I see this man, I am going to put my foot on his neck while he is in Sajdah."

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came and began praying. When he fell into Sajdah, Abū Jahl came forward with his hand outstretched. Those watching saw him suddenly stop, begin walking backwards, and push at something in the air that they could not see.

When he returned to the Nādī, they asked: "What happened? We saw your hand go out, why did you retreat?"

Abū Jahl said: "Between me and him, I saw a pit of fire. And there were wings hovering above it."

When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم finished his prayer and was told what happened, he said: "Those wings were those of the angels. Had he taken one step closer, they would have shredded him, khiraqan khiraqa."

It was in connection with this event that Allah revealed the second half of Sūrat al-ʿAlaq, the same sūrah whose first five verses were the opening revelation of the Quran. Allah now completed it:

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يَنْهَىٰ . عَبْدًا إِذَا صَلَّىٰ

"Have you seen the one who forbids a servant when he prays?", a direct reference to Abū Jahl and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

أَلَمْ يَعْلَم بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَىٰ

"Does he not know that Allah sees?"

فَلْيَدْعُ نَادِيَهُ . سَنَدْعُ الزَّبَانِيَةَ

"Let him call his Nādī (parliament). We will call Our Zabāniyah (the angels of punishment)."

And then the final command:

كَلَّا لَا تُطِعْهُ وَاسْجُدْ وَاقْتَرِب

"Pay him no heed. Prostrate. And draw near." (al-ʿAlaq 96:9–19)

The one who had tried to stop the Sajdah was answered: the Sajdah continues. Forever.

❧Second incident: Uqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ chokes the Prophet

ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, whose mother was Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr, whose aunt was ʿĀʾishah, and whose father was Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, asked the Sahābī ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ: "Tell me the worst thing that you personally witnessed the pagans do to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم."

ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr narrated: Once, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was praying beside the Kaʿbah when ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ came from behind him. He removed his garment and threw it around the Prophet's neck, and choked him. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم struggled, unable to free himself, and no one intervened.

Until someone went and told Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq رضي الله عنه what was happening. He rushed to the scene and attacked ʿUqbah from behind, pulling him away. And as he did, he said:

أَتَقْتُلُونَ رَجُلًا أَن يَقُولَ رَبِّيَ اللَّهُ

"Are you going to kill a man just because he says 'My Lord is Allah'?" (from Sūrat Ghāfir 40:28)

Allah quoted these exact words of Abū Bakr in the Quran. He became the only Sahābī besides Zayd ibn Hārithah whom Allah explicitly references by name or clear implication in the Quran, ثَانِيَ اثْنَيْنِ (thāniya ithnayn, "the second of two," al-Tawbah 9:40) is the other reference. His words in defense of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم became a verse that will be recited until the end of time.

❧Third incident: The camel entrails (Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī)

ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه narrated this as an eyewitness, in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī. He said: "I saw it, and I could do nothing. I had no munʿa (protection). Had I intervened, they would have killed me instantly."

Abū Jahl, sitting with a group in the Nādī, said: "A camel was sacrificed recently. Who among you will go to its carcass in the dump and bring back the entrails, the guts, the intestines, the stomach, and dump them on Muḥammad while he is praying?"

ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ stood up.

This is what Ibn Masʿūd described: a nobleman of Quraysh, in his fine garments, walking to a decomposing animal carcass, reaching in with his hands and pulling out the entrails, blood, and organs, all out of hatred for one man. He carried this material through the streets of Makkah into the Ḥaram.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was in Sajdah, his prayer was long; he might be in Sajdah for 10, 15 minutes. ʿUqbah waited. And when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم fell into Sajdah, he walked up and dumped the entire contents, the entrails of a camel, onto his back and head.

Fastadh-hakal qawm, "The people began laughing so hard some fell on their sides, some were hitting themselves." Ibn Masʿūd stood at a distance watching, powerless.

The weight of it was so heavy that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم could not lift himself up from Sajdah.

He stayed in Sajdah until someone went and told Fāṭimah, who at the time was approximately eight or nine years old. She ran to her father, crying, and removed the filth from his back. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم stood up.

He turned to face them. He raised his finger toward Allah. And when they saw him in this posture, the laughter stopped. He began to make duʿāʾ against each of them by name, three times:

Allāhumma ʿalayka bi-Abī Jahl. Allāhumma ʿalayka bi-ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ..., and he named each one of them three times.

The blood drained from their faces.

Those named were: Abū Jahl ibn Hishām, ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah, Umayya ibn Khalaf, ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, and others. ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd said: "There were seven, and I forgot the name of one."

Then Ibn Masʿūd said: "Wallāhi, I swear by the One who sent Muḥammad صلى الله عليه وسلم with the Truth: I myself saw every one of those seven dead on the field of Badr. I saw their bodies dragged across the ground and thrown into the well of Badr."

The first engagement in the first battle, Allah answered every name.

❧Fourth incident: The assassination attempt

Toward the end of the Makkan period, in the eighth, ninth, or tenth year of the Dawah, Quraysh began speaking openly of assassinating the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. A lady neighbor heard them and went to tell Fāṭimah. Fāṭimah ran home and told her father.

He said: "Fear not. Allah ʿAzza wa Jal will take care of me. Bring me water." He made Wuḍūʾ, made Duʿāʾ, and walked into the Masjid.

They were there, armed and ready. And not one of them could move. They were paralyzed, could not stand, could not act. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم walked among them, took some sand, and threw it at their faces while they sat immobilized.

He said: شَاهَتِ الْوُجُوهُ, "May these faces be cursed."

The narrator of this incident also said: "Every one of those gathered there was among those killed at Badr."