Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 127
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 127 anxiety for them. They also felt frustrated that those whom they had persecuted for so long were now out of their reach. They began to think of some means which might make them secure against any retaliatory action against them on the part of the Muslims f rom Yathrab. They felt that now that Muhammad was almost alone in Mecca, they should adopt some measure against him which might dispose of him finally. For this purpose their leading men gathered together in the Council House of Mecca and took counsel toge ther. About a hundred of them were present on the occasion and there was also present among them an aged Shaikh from Nejd. After preliminary discussions, several plans were put forth. It was suggested that Muhammad may be chained up and abandoned in a cell ar and thus starved to death. The Shaikh from Nejd pointed out that this plan was not likely to serve their purpose, as it was bound to become known to Banu Abd Manaf, who would rescue Muhammad and seek vengeance. Another suggestion was that Muhammad might be sent into exile, so that Quraish would have nothing further to do with him, and Mecca would become secure against his mischief. Again, the Shaikh from Nejd pointed out that Muhammad had a very persuasive and eloquent tongue. If he escaped from Mecca, h e would beguile some tribe or other to lend him its support and he would stand up against Quraish to wreak vengeance upon them. After a good deal of discussion, Abu Jahl said: ‘I propose that we should select one young man from every tribe and arm the whole lot with swords. They should fall upon Muhammad as one man and dispatch him. In this manner, all tribes of Quraish would share the responsibility for his death. Banu Abd Manaf