The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 21
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 21 heaped upon their bare bodies. Even inside the town, boys were incited to make them victims of their cruel sport. They would tie ropes to the ankles of a slave and drag him through the streets paved with rough, jagged stones, leaving him a lacerated mass of bruises an d bleeding cuts. Some succumbed under such tortures. Nor were women spared, some of them being subjected to shameless and unmentionable torture. The Prophet’s soul was tormented by the sufferings thus inflicted upon his helpless followers for no reason save that they said: “God alone is our Lord. ” He could do nothing to alleviate his own or their lot. He counseled patience and steadfastness, and as sured them that God would open a way for them. The Qureish, becoming more and more apprehensive of the inroads being made by the new doctrine, sent a delegation to Abu Talib, the Prophet’s uncle. They asserted that though his nephew’s denunciation of idol worship was intolerable to them, they had so fa r refrained from taking any extreme measures out of respect for Abu Talib, who was a revered chief and whose protection Muhammad enjoyed. Could not Abu Talib persuade his nephew to give up the preaching of the new doctrine, perhaps on pain of being disowne d? They made it plain that if Abu Talib did not adopt this course, they would be compelled to disown their chief. Abu Talib agreed to do what he could. But when he spoke to his nephew gravely, conveying what the delegation had said, Muhammad firmly replied that, while he lamented his uncle’s dilemma, he was under Divine orders and could not disobey. “Do not give up your people, Uncle,” Muhammad said. “I do