The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 26
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 26 In Ta’if the leading townsmen received Muhammad and freely let him have his say - but paid little heed to his message. After a while they even showed signs of apprehension lest his welcome in Ta’if might embroil them with the Meccans. So they left him to be dealt with by street urchins and the riff raff of the town. The Prophet and his companion were finally turned out by mocking and jeering crowds who pelted them with stones. Both were wounded and bleeding as they left Ta’if behind them. Weary and sore, they dragged themselves along a short distance, and when quite clear of the town, stopped in a vineyard belonging to two Meccans. The owners, who happened to be in the vineyard at the time, had been among Muhammad’s persecutors in Mecca, bu t on this occasion they felt some sympathy toward their fellow townsman and permitted him to rest there a while. Presently they sent him a tray of grapes by the hand of a Christian slave. This slave, Addas by name, belonged to Nineveh. The Prophet took up a grape, and before putting it into his mouth he recited what has become the Muslim grace: “In the name of God, Ever Gracious, Most Merciful. ” This excited the curiosity of Addas who inquired the identity of the stranger. The Prophet told him, and the conv ersation that ensued led Addas to declare his acceptance of Islam, so that Muhammad’s journey to Ta’if did not prove entirely fruitless. He had now a difficult problem to resolve. He had left Mecca and he had been rejected by Ta’if. Under Meccan custom, he could not go back there unless his re - entry was sponsored by some leading Meccan. There was nowhere else to go. He prayed earnestly for light, guidance, and help, and then set out with Zaid