Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 59
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 59 embraced Islam, some of whom will be mentioned later on, on account of their zeal and devotion. Once the hostility of Quraish was aroused, the Muslims were subjected to all manner of indignities, molestations and persecutions. Quraish were determined that the new doctrine must be crushed, and its followers forced to abandon it. By degrees the persecu tion grew hot. Those who were citizens for the most part escaped serious injuries, being protected as a point of honour by their families, though some of them were persecuted by the senior members of their own families. But the slaves and freedmen, who had no support, were exposed too much suffering. In their opposition to the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, Quraish were hampered by the fact that he enjoyed the protection of his uncle Abu Talib, and so long as that continued they could not raise their hands against him without the risk of arousing inter - tribal conflict. Therefore, their first design was to deprive the Holy Prophet of the support and protection of Abu Talib. For this purpose, they sent a delegation to Abu Talib to persuade him in a friendly manner to forbid his nephew carrying on propagat ion of Islam. The delegation was composed of, among others, Waleed bin Mughirah, Aas bin Wail, Utba bin Rabi’a, Abu Jahl and Abu Sufyan. They said to Abu Talib: ‘You are honoured among us and we have come to request you to stop your nephew from carrying on with the propagation of his new doctrine. Should you be unable to do this, we would suggest that you should withdraw your guarantee of protection from him, and leave us to deal with him. ’ Abu Talib spoke to them very gently, and tried to reduce their sens e of indignation against his nephew,