Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 109
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 109 earlier, Quraish continuously obstructed him in such efforts. For instance, his uncle Abu Lahab made it his business to follow him everywhere and to tell everyone not to pay any attention to him as he was a renegade, and was seeking to mislead them. When t hey found that his own near relations accounted him false, they shied away from him and sometimes ridiculed him and laughed at him. Abu Jahl also obstructed him in the same way. He would follow him, throw dirt upon him and warn people not to be beguiled by him, as he was seeking to wean them away from the worship of Lat and Uzza. On one occasion, the Holy Prophet betook himself to the camp of Banu Aamir bin Sa’s’a. Fortunately, none of Quraish had followed him on the occasion. He preached the Unity of God to them and sought their support for Islam. When he had finished, one of them , Buhairah bin Faras, called out, ‘If I could get this man to support me, I could dominate the whole of Arabia’, and then addressing the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, asked him, ‘If we were to support you, so that you might prevail over your opponents, th en after you pass away, would we have a share in government?’ He replied, ‘Kingdom is in the hands of God Almighty; He bestows it upon whomsoever He wills. ’ Buhairah exclaimed, ‘You invite us to stand up in your support against the whole of Arabia, but whe n you triumph the fruits thereof would go to others. Be gone. We have no need of you. ’ In this manner, the Holy Prophet went round to different tribes, Banu Maharab, Fazarah, Ghassan, Marrah, Haneefah, Suldim, Abs, Kandah, Kalb, Harith, Azrah, Hadhramah and others, and called each of them to Islam, but they all rejected him.