The Offer of ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah

Another example could reveal how the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to deal with these situations of the people of Quraysh. The people of Quraysh met together and said, let's find somebody who's the most expert in poetry and magic, to go and meet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and tell us how to deal with him. So they decided that they're going to send ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, who was supposedly an expert in these areas.

ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah went to Muhammad (peace be upon him) and said, tell me, O Muhammad, who is better, you or ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib? These questions are a setup. In the society of Arabia, they had so much respect and glorification for their ancestry, and the family of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was a lineage of nobility, so these were held in very high esteem, not only among the family of the Messenger of Allah, but among everyone in Makkah — Quṣayy ibn Kilāb, Hāshim, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib: these were people who were glorified. And forget about speaking against any one of them; that just can't be done; it's not allowed, unacceptable, not tolerated.

So ʿUtbah, who is not a descendant of Banū Hāshim, is asking Muhammad (peace be upon him): what do you say about your father ʿAbdullāh? Tell us, what's your opinion about him? What do you say about your grandfather ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib? These were setup questions. He asked him about ʿAbdullāh; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) remained silent, he didn't answer. He asked him about ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) didn't respond.

So ʿUtbah said, if you claim those men to be better than you, the fact is they worship the gods you have criticised. If you claim to be better than them, then speak, so we can hear what you say. By God, we've never seen any fool more harmful to his people than you. You have caused division and dissension among us, criticised our religion, and so disgraced us in the eyes of the Arabs that the rumour is current among them that there is a magician or a sorcerer amidst Quraysh.

Now, ʿUtbah is blaming Muhammad (peace be upon him) for this rumour that there is a sorcerer in Quraysh. Who founded this rumour to start with? Who is the one who went around telling the people that there's a sorcerer among us? Isn't it the leaders of Quraysh, and among them ʿUtbah? And now he's blaming Muhammad (peace be upon him) for it, because it affected them, and it was an embarrassment for them. They are the ones who told the Arabs that he's a sorcerer, and now it's an embarrassment for them. Everyone among the other tribes are speaking about the sorcerer among Quraysh.

And then he said, by God, fellow, it seems all we have to await is the cry of a pregnant woman, for us all to be at one another with swords till we wipe ourselves out. What he meant by this is that in a very short time they might be fighting each other in Quraysh, because of what Muhammad (peace be upon him) had brought — he had caused this disunity among them, and they were about to jump at each other's throats. And then he offered him similar offers: what do you want, status or wealth, whatever you want, we'll give it to you, just tell us, so that we can bring an end to this.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) allowed ʿUtbah to go on with this nonsense without interrupting it; he was a very good listener. Even though all of this was stuff that didn't make any sense, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was calmly listening. And when ʿUtbah finished, he asked him, "O ʿUtbah, are you done?" Very kindly — are you done? He said, yes. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) didn't respond to what he was saying with his own words, but he started reciting āyāt from Sūrat Fuṣṣilat.

He went on, going on and on — it's about a page, quite a few āyāt — and he kept on reciting until he reached a verse that states, I warn you of a terrible punishment like that which destroyed ʿĀd and Thamūd.

In one narration, it says that when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) mentioned this āyah, ʿUtbah placed his hand over the mouth of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and urged him to stop, because this āyah is threatening them with punishment, and ʿUtbah knew deep in his heart that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is truthful — he never said anything that didn't come to happen, and if he's threatening us with punishment, it might come to happen — so he said, I ask you in the name of the relationship between us to stop.

In another narration, it states that ʿUtbah went back to the people, and they told him what happened. He said, he recited to me Qur'an, and I didn't understand anything he was saying, except that he threatened us with a punishment like the punishment of ʿĀd and Thamūd. They told him, woe to you, he's speaking to you in Arabic, and you don't understand him? He said, in the name of Allah, I didn't understand what he was talking about. The same āyāt say that some people have a seal over their heart; they won't understand it.

The lesson to learn from this is that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) dealt with different situations different ways, and many times he would use the Qur'an to respond to what they were saying — the concepts of the Qur'an in daʿwah. What is better to use than the words of Allah, mighty and majestic is He?