The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page cxlv
GENERAL INTRODUCTION longer considered mad, but a growing influence which, if allowed to grow unimpeded, would prove a danger to the faith, prestige, customs and traditions of Mecca. Islam threatened to pull down and rebuild the old structure of Meccan society, to create a new heaven and a new earth, the coming of which must mean the disappearance of the old heaven of Arabia and its old heart. Meccans could no longer laugh at Islam. It was a question now of life and death for them. Islam was a challenge and Mecca accepted the challenge, as enemies of Prophets had always accepted the challenge of their Prophets. They decided not to meet argument by argument but to draw the sword and put down the dangerous teaching by force; not to match the good example of the Prophet and his followers by their own, nor to reply to kind words in kind, but to maltreat the innocent and to abuse those who spoke kindly. Once again in the world a conflict started between belief and disbelief; the forces of Satan declared war on the angels. The faithful, still a handful, had no power to resist the onslaughts and violence of the disbelievers. A most cruel campaign began. Women were butchered shamelessly. Men were slaughtered. The slaves who had declared their faith in the Prophet were dragged over burning sands and stones. Their skins became hardened like those of animals. A long time after, when Islam had become established far and near, one of these early converts named Khabbāb bin Al-Arat had his body exposed. His friends saw his skin hardened like an animal's and asked him why it was so. Khabbāb laughed and said it was nothing; only a memory of those early days when slaves converted to Islam were dragged through the streets of Mecca over hard and hot sands and stones (Musnad, Vol. 5, p. 110). The slaves who believed came from all communities. Bilal was an African, Suhaib a Greek. They belonged to different faiths. Jabr and Suhaib were Christians, Bilāl and ‘Ammār, idol-worshippers. Bilāl was made to lie on hot sand, loaded with stones, and boys were made to dance on his chest, and his master, Umayyah bin Khalf, tortured him thus and then asked him to renounce Allah and the Prophet and sing the praises of the Meccan gods, Lāt and ‘Uzzā. Bilāl only said, Aḥad, Aḥad. . . (God is One). Exasperated, Umayyah handed Bilal over to street boys, asking them to put a cord round his neck and drag him through the town over sharp stones. Bilal's body bled, but he went on muttering, Ahad, Ahad. . . Later, when Muslims settled in Medina and were able to live and worship in comparative peace, the Holy Prophet appointed Bilal a Mu'adhdhin, the official who calls the worshippers to prayers. Being an African, Bilal missed the (h), in the Arabic Ashhadu (I bear witness). Medinite believers laughed at his defective pronunciation, but the Prophet rebuked them and told them how dear Bilāl Iwas to God for the stout faith he showed under Meccan tortures. Abu Bakr paid ransom for Bilāl and many other slaves and secured their release. Among cxix