Persecution

Now, even though the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was insulted and harmed, and false accusations were directed towards him, he was not persecuted. That is part of the protection of Allah towards Muhammad (peace be upon him). Allah (swt) protected Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the early years through his uncle Abū Ṭālib, and later on they would try to assassinate him, and Allah (swt) would protect him, even though his uncle Abū Ṭālib had passed away. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wasn't really persecuted, but it was his followers who were persecuted. This was the opinion of Ibn Isḥāq: he states that Allah has protected Muhammad (peace be upon him) because of his love of his messenger, and Allah has protected him through his uncle Abū Ṭālib — these are the words of Ibn Isḥāq.

But the persecution of the followers of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to hurt him a lot, because he cared about them so much, and pretty much all of them went through one form of persecution or another. In one statement, Ibn Isḥāq says: albasūhum adrāʿ al-ḥadīd wa saḥarūhum fī al-shams — they would wrap them up in shields of iron and leave them in the sun to burn. So they would clothe them in shields of iron, steel, and they would leave them in the hot sun of Makkah.

Now the strongest among the Companions in his response in fighting the persecution was Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ (may Allah be pleased with him). The more they would persecute him, the stronger he would become. He was asked, how come when you were punished and tortured, you would say, Allah is one, Allah is one — how come you chose that slogan? Bilāl said, because I found out that when I would say, Aḥadun Aḥad, it would make them the angriest — this statement would anger them the most, and that is why I would say Aḥadun Aḥad. So Bilāl wasn't looking for a way to reduce the punishment; he didn't care. And it is said, in the words of Ibn Isḥāq, that he sold himself to Allah (swt); he gave up his life to Allah. He would say Aḥadun Aḥad, and Umayyah ibn Khalaf would become angry and would add to the punishment, and Bilāl would only say it louder, wouldn't give up.

Now they went through different forms of torture, and the torture was not only limited to the slaves and servants, but even some of the nobility were tortured. ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him), belonging to one of the noblest families of Quraysh, Banū Umayyah, was wrapped in a carpet, and then they would jump over him and crush him inside that carpet. There are also the stories of persecution that happened to the slaves, like what happened to Sumayyah (may Allah be pleased with her) and her husband, Yāsir (may Allah be pleased with him), and her son — Yāsir and Sumayyah were both killed under the severe tormenting of Abū Jahl. In one narration, it states that Abū Jahl struck Sumayyah with a spear in her private parts until he killed her.

And all of this was becoming so much on Sayyidunā ʿAmmār (may Allah be pleased with him). It's a combination of psychological pain and physical pain: physical pain because of the tormenting he was going through, plus seeing his mother and father go through this severe punishment and its sad ending. ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir buckled under this pressure, and he spoke some words against Muhammad (peace be upon him). Now, when he woke up from the pain, he went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), sad and sorry for what happened, and he narrated the incident to Muhammad (peace be upon him). Allah (swt) revealed an āyah dealing with that particular situation.

...saying that one is excused to speak some words with the tongue under this torture, if the heart is confident with faith, if the heart is firm on īmān and has yaqīn — it is okay for a person to speak, because Allah (swt) doesn't overburden a person. This is unbearable pain that ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir was going through.

So this persecution continued with almost all of the Companions, with a few exceptions, the ones who had some strong backing of their families and had some sympathy from some of their non-believing relatives. Now the severest in his punishment, and the one who would actually mobilise the people of Quraysh, was Abū Jahl — he was their leader in evil. Ibn Isḥāq states that this sinner, Abū Jahl, was the one who incited the men of Quraysh against them. When he heard of a man of status and influence who had accepted Islam, he would upbraid and insult him, saying: "You have abandoned the religion of your father, a man better than you. We will depreciate your values, deride your opinions, and destroy your reputation." If the Muslim was a merchant, he would say, "We will, by God, boycott doing business with you, and we will ruin you." If the Muslim was defenceless, Abū Jahl would beat him up and incite others against him — may Allah damn and punish him. So Abū Jahl was the spearhead of the effort of Quraysh against the Muslims in Makkah.

Number eleven, forgot to mention ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him). ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb had a slave girl that he would torture, and sometimes he would stop — and to show his personality, when he would stop, he would tell her, don't think that I'm giving you a break because I'm having sympathy on you; the only reason why I stopped is because I'm tired, otherwise I would continue. But Allah (swt) guides whomever He wills.