An Angel, Treasures, and a Ladder to Heaven

They continued and said, "Well, how about — if you ask your Lord to send down an angel who will witness to your truth. And also, we want you to ask Him to give us some castles, gardens, treasures of gold and silver. And then, why don't you tell Him to fulfil your own needs — because we see that you are seeking a livelihood just like we are, you're doing business. Now, if you are so close to your God, why don't you tell Him to give you some wealth, so that we'll know how prestigious you are in His eyes — that is, if you're claiming to be a messenger. How come you're just like every one of us — you go and work — tell your Lord, if He loves you, to give you some wealth?"

Again the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "I'm not going to do so. I am not one to ask such things of my Lord. That is not why I have been sent to you. God has sent me to announce and warn. If you accept my message, then that is your good fortune here on earth and in the afterlife. If you reject it, then I must be patient and leave the matter between myself and you."

They said, "Well then, fine — ask your Lord to bring down the punishment that you have been promising us. Come on, let Him bring the sky upon our heads right now. Show us if you can." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "That is up to God. If He wishes, He will do that to you."

They commented and said, "O Muhammad, doesn't your Lord know these questions that we're going to ask you? How come He's not helping you and giving you an answer? We know who's teaching you all of this — you are being taught this Qur'an of yours by a man in al-Yamāmah called al-Raḥmān, and we're never going to believe in that man called al-Raḥmān. All of it is just fabricating lies, one over another — this man in al-Yamāmah called al-Raḥmān, something they made up and fabricated." One of them said, "We worship the angels, who are God's daughters." Another said, "We will not believe you till you bring us God and the angels beforehand." It was all mockery and insults, and then they left.

One of them came back to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). One might think that this man felt sorry for what happened, and maybe wanted to come and apologise — or maybe he wanted to come and become Muslim, especially since he is a cousin of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); his mother is the Messenger of Allah's aunt. ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Umayyah came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said, "O Muhammad, your people have offered you the best offers, and you turned them down. And then they asked you to perform miracles for them, and you refused. They asked you to bring down punishment on them, and you didn't. Now, tell you what: I'm not going to believe in you until you bring a ladder that goes all the way up to the heaven, and you climb it while I'm watching you, and you go up to Allah, and you ask Him to write down for you a letter stating that you are His prophet, and have Him sign it. And then we want that document to come down accompanied by four angels, to be witnesses that you are a messenger from God. And then — you know what? Even if you do that, I don't think I'm going to believe in you." Dead end — nothing was going to work with these people. If they see every sign, they won't believe.

This was the environment the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was working in, dealing with this type of people. It was a dead end, with nowhere further to go: whatever was done, nothing would be believed — even if Allah sent down a message from Him personally, with four angels to witness it, it would not be enough.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) went back home. He was regretful at the failure to achieve what he had expected from his people, because he had gone with all of this good expectation that now his people had changed — that was the impression he got when they invited him — and then suddenly he was turned down in this ruthless fashion.

Praise be to Allah, and we seek refuge with Him from the punishment of the devil.