Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 54
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 54 Quraish were much perturbed and began to consider measures the adoption of which should arrest its further progress. The opposition of Quraish to Islam was nothing surprising. At the emergence of every divine movement, opposition to it is always the normal reaction of those who are sought to be influenced by the movement. Indeed, a prophet is raised only when people have turned away from the straight path, which God Almighty desires that they should follow. The prophet urges them to revert to that path, but their attachment to the ways to which they have become accustomed stands in the way, and they put themselves in opposition to the doctrine and teaching of the prophet. As the Holy Quran has said: ‘Alas for My creatures! Whenever a Messenger comes to them, they deride him and make fun of him’ (36:31). It is a curious feature of such opposition that it is the more prominent people who are the most bitter in their opposition to a prophet. As the Holy Quran has said: ‘Thus have We oriented the leading offenders of every town, with the result that they devi se plots against Allah’s Messengers’ (6:124). The more exalted is the mission of a prophet, the greater is the opposition to him; as the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, was raised at a time when the world was sunk in the deepest spiritual darkness, he was b ound to encounter greater opposition than any other prophet. The following were the principal causes of the opposition of Quraish to the Holy Prophet. 1. Quraish were devoted idol - worshippers and they held their idols in such honour that they could not endure to hear a single derogatory word about them. The