The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page cliv
GENERAL INTRODUCTION enemy revolted against these conditions. They went to the blockaded family, offered to annul the boycott, and asked the family to come out. Abū Ṭālib came out and reproved his people. The revolt of the five became known all over Mecca, but good feeling asserted itself again, and Meccans decided they must cancel the savage boycott. The boycott was over, but not its consequences. In a few days the Prophet's faithful wife, Khadijah, met her death, and a month later his uncle, Abū Ṭālib. The Holy Prophet had now lost the companionship and support of Khadijah, and he and the Muslims had lost the good offices of Abū Ṭālib. Their passing away naturally also resulted in the loss of some general sympathy. Abū Lahab, another uncle of the Prophet, seemed ready at first to side with the Prophet. The shock of his brother's death and regard for his dying wish were still fresh in his mind. But the Meccans soon succeeded in antagonizing him. They made use of the usual appeals. The Prophet taught that disbelief in the Oneness of God was an offence, punishable in the Hereafter; his teaching contradicted everything they had learnt from their forefathers, and so on. Abū Lahab decided to oppose the Prophet more than ever. Relations between Muslims and Meccans had become strained. A three- year boycott and blockade had enlarged the gulf between them. Meeting and preaching seemed impossible. The Prophet did not mind the ill-treatment and the persecution; these were nothing so long as he had the chance to meet and address people. But now it seemed that he had no such chance in Mecca. General antagonism apart, the Prophet now found it impossible to appear in any street or public place. If he did, they threw dust at him and sent him back to his house. Once he returned home, his head covered with dust. A daughter wept as she removed the dust. The Prophet told her not to weep for God was with him. Ill-treatment did not upset the Prophet. He even welcomed it as evidence of interest in his Message. One day, for instance, the Meccans by a general intrigue said nothing to him nor did they ill-treat him in any way. The Prophet retired home disappointed, until the reassuring voice of God made him go to his people again. The Prophet Goes to Ţă'if It seemed that in Mecca now nobody would listen to him and this made him sad. He felt he was stagnating. So he decided to turn elsewhere for the preaching of his Message, and he chose Ṭa'if, a small town about sixty miles to the south-east of Mecca and famed for its fruit and its agriculture. The Prophet's decision was in keeping with the traditions of all Prophets. Moses turned now to the Pharaoh, now to Israel, and now to Midian. Jesus, similarly, turned now to Galilee, now to places across the Jordan, and now to Jerusalem. So the Holy Prophet of Islam, finding that Meccans would ill-treat cxxviii