The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 232
Seal of the Prophets - Volume I 232 season of Ḥajj , when there was peace due to the sacred months. 1 Deliverance of the Muslims from Persecution As mentioned above, there were some soft-hearted and compassionate people among the Quraish as well. When these people witnessed such cruelties, they would condemn them within their hearts, but they did not have the power to dispute the unanimous verdict of their people. For this reason, they would remain stagnant in the anxiety of their hearts. At last, such circumstances were created by God as these people courageously mustered the strength to step forward in this regard. The details of this are mentioned in the manner that when a time-period of approximately three years had passed on this boycott, one day, the Holy Prophet sa said to his paternal uncle, Abū Ṭālib, “God has informed me that the text of the entire agreement which was written against us has been expunged, except the name of God, and the parchment has been devoured. ” Abū Ṭālib reached the Ka‘bah at once where the Chieftains of the Quraish were gathered, and addressed them saying: “How long will this cruel agreement last? My nephew has told me that God has erased the entire script of this agreement, except His name. 2 Go and fetch this agreement so that we may see to which extent my nephew is correct. ” Various others said, “Yes, Yes! Indeed we should see. ” Therefore, the agreement was fetched and it had in fact been devoured by ants. Except the name of Allāh in the beginning, no word could be read. At this, among the Quraish there were some who became even more enflamed, but those whose hearts were already developing emotions of justice, mercy and kinship, found an excellent opportunity at hand to raise a voice against this agreement. 3 Therefore, among the Chieftains of the Quraish, Hishām bin ‘Amr, Zuhair bin Abī Umaiyyah, Muṭ‘im bin ‘Adiyy, Abul-Bakhtarī and Zam‘ah bin Aswad, 1 Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 1, p. 100, Bābu Dhikri Ḥaṣri Quraisha Rasūlillāhi sa wa Banī Hāshim fish-Sha‘bi , Dārul-Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 2 It was the custom of the Quraish that they would write the words َّ بِاسْمِك َ اللّٰھُم in the beginning of their writings, and it was only these words that remained of the agreement. (Author) 3 * As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Malik bin Hishām, pp. 273-274, Bābu Naqdiṣ- Ṣaḥīfah, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001) * Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 1, p. 101, Bābu Dhikri Ḥaṣri Quraisha Rasūlillāhi sa wa Banī Hāshim fish-Sha‘bi , Dārul-Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996)