The Makkan Period, Part 9: Iqraʾ, Qum, Qum, and How Quraysh Met the Message
Section 7 of 9 · The Life of the Prophet Muhammad: The Makkan Period
Bargaining and the Refusal to Compromise
Allah (swt) revealed the āyah:
وَدُّوا۟ لَوْ تُدْهِنُ فَيُدْهِنُونَ
“They wish that you become flexible (in your faith), so that they should become flexible (in their hostile attitude.)” (68:9)
They would wish that you would compromise, so that they could compromise with you. Their religion is man-made — they could compromise in it, they could change it. It's fine for them to worship Allah for a day and their gods for another day; it's a man-made religion, there's no control on it. But the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is receiving waḥy from Allah — he cannot change it. So he cannot compromise on the message. The message doesn't change.
قُلْ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْكَـٰفِرُونَ لَآ أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ وَلَآ أَنتُمْ عَـٰبِدُونَ مَآ أَعْبُدُ وَلَآ أَنَا۠ عَابِدٌ مَّا عَبَدتُّمْ وَلَآ أَنتُمْ عَـٰبِدُونَ مَآ أَعْبُدُ لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِىَ دِينِ
“Say, “O disbelievers, I do not worship that which you worship, nor do you worship the One whom I worship. And neither I am going to worship that which you have worshipped, nor will you worship the One whom I worship. For you is your faith, and for me, my faith.”” (109:1–6)
Even if you worship Allah for a year, I'm not going to give you one day. I'm not going to give you a day in my whole life. O you disbelievers, I'm not going to worship what you worship, neither are you going to worship what I worship. You have your way, and I have mine. And they tried all different ways of bargaining — it would never work with Muhammad (peace be upon him). They would become upset, because this is something they could afford to do, and they were wondering: how can the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) not do it? Why do we have to always keep on compromising and bargaining, and he isn't reciprocating? That obviously aggravated them further, but the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was telling them that he is just a conveyor of a message — it isn't from himself, it is from Allah.