Through Force or Faith? — Page 171
Chapter 3 — Holy Prophet and Wars 171 The Holy Prophet s as spent thirteen long years in Makkah after the Call. During this entire period, he and his companions were subjected to all kinds of atrocities and persecution so as to com- pel them to renounce their faith. For instance, one companion by the name of Khabb a b ra was laid on burning coal because of his acceptance of Islam and it left permanent scars on his back. ( Ibn M ā jah, Kit a b al-Muqaddamah, Chapter on the Merits of Khabbab, Number 150) 1 These atrocities are even acknowledged by Western scholars. For instance, Karen Armstrong writes in her book, Muhammad, while mentioning the atrocities against Bilal ra and ‘Amm a r bin Y a sir ra : Umayyah, chief of the Jumah, used to take his Abyssinian Muslim slave Bilal outside in the hottest part of the day, tie him up and leave him exposed to the sun with a great stone on his chest. The clan of Makhz u m treated the fam- ily of the freedman ‘Amm a r ibn Y a sir so badly that his mother eventually died. ( Muhammad, Karen Armstrong 1992, pp. 121–122) The Holy Prophet s as and his companions were confined for a long period of three years in a valley and all Meccans were admonished not to sell anything edible to them under any circumstance. ( S ī rat Ibn Hish ā m ). 1. The numbers used in references to the Books of a ha d ī th are according to Tarq ī m ul-’ A lam i yya.