Confrontation and the Herald

Al-ʿAbbās went back home. Al-ʿAbbās says: "That night, every woman of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib came to see me and said, 'Have you agreed to let that dirty old reprobate attack first your men and then your women, while you just listened? Did not anything you heard him say offend you?'" Al-ʿAbbās said he would have done something, but he had never had a problem with Abū Jahl before; he swore he would confront him, and if he repeated it, he would take care of him for them. So now al-ʿAbbās was charged up, and wanted to take revenge from Abū Jahl for what happened. So after three days, al-ʿAbbās went to al-Ḥaram, and he wanted to walk next to Abū Jahl so that Abū Jahl would call him, and then he would have a chance to argue back at Abū Jahl and take revenge for what happened.

Al-ʿAbbās says: "On the morning of the third day after ʿĀtikah's vision, I was extremely angry, feeling that I had let him get away with something I should have put a stop to. I went into the mosque and saw him. I swear I was making towards him, to confront him, to get him to retract what he had said. He was a slight man with a sharp face, a sharp voice, and a sharp gaze. When he hurried off towards the door of the mosque, I asked myself what could be the matter with the fellow, and whether he was doing this because he feared I was about to confront him." So Abū Jahl was running away — al-ʿAbbās thought maybe he was running away because he was afraid of him, but actually Abū Jahl had heard something al-ʿAbbās had not: he had heard the voice of Ḍamḍam ibn ʿAmr al-Ghifārī, who was out in the centre of the valley, standing by his camel.

The man who was sent by Abū Sufyān arrived three days after the dream of ʿĀtikah. Zamzam al-Ghifārī^*** came into Makkah in a scene that, just by looking at him, was enough to strike fear in the hearts of people. He came in and cut the nose of his camel, and turned its saddle upside down, and tore his shirt, and then stood in the middle of the valley screaming, calling the people and saying, "O Quraysh, the caravan, the caravan! Your goods being brought by Abū Sufyān have been raided or waylaid by Muhammad and his men — I do not think you can save them, help, help!" Al-ʿAbbās said: "And so all this diverted us both from our personal comfort." Now everybody — it was an emergency situation now, and everyone was trying to get ready and go and defend their caravan. So the people of Quraysh mobilised to go and fight Muhammad (peace be upon him) in order to protect their caravan.