He answered them: "He resorted to me and he was my nephew (sister's son; because Abu Talib's mother was from the tribe of Makhzoomi)
(1) and if I didn't protect my (sister's son) I wouldn't protect my (brother's son)."
Much ado and argument happened. The delegation feared a sedition to take place that might bring bad consequences so they turned empty-handed.
The jihad of Abu Talib was not limited to defend the Prophet (s), to resist his enemies, to safeguard him against the plots of Quraysh or to protect the tortured Muslims, who used to resort to him. These things were not the only things he had done, although they were the first to attract his attention. There was another side having its virtuous moral value although it was a silent jihad.
Abu Talib was an Islamic propagandist. He revealed every sign or virtue of the Prophet (s) one time, glorified and praised the religion another time, invited people to believe in the Prophet (s) a third time and warned Quraysh of the bad end if they persisted in their deviation and indifference and many other doings he did and poetized them in his poetry to be passed from mouth to mouth as a means of media at that time.
When the Muslims met so much torment and discrimination from Quraysh, they decided to emigrate for Abyssinia. Among the emigrants there was Ja'far, the son of Abu Talib.
The cause that made Ja'far emigrate was not the same cause of the other Muslims, who left their mother country. Ja'far was mighty and respectable and it was enough for him to be the son of Abu Talib that Quraysh wouldn't dare to harm him. But his emigration was of
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1 The Arabs use the words uncle and nephew for persons even if they are not direct uncles and direct nephews just because the mother or the grandmother is from that certain family or tribe.
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another kind. It had a high purpose. He wanted to be the incentive to the emigration, the guardian of the emigrants and the mediator between the emigrants and their religion's source, from which they were forced to be far by the unjust power of Quraysh.
But the meanness and the lowness of Quraysh wouldn't end to a limit. They delegated Amr bin al-Aass and Imara bin al-Waleed after the Muslims to Abyssinia in order to plot and to fabricate every lie against the Muslims as possible as they could to make the king of Ayssinia drive them away from his country, but the prudence, the deep insight and the firm faith of Ja'far uncovered the plots of the delegated persons and made them return empty-handed.
We didn't want to mention this event but the pen wanted to record its first lines. Whoever wants to read the details let him refer to its sources in the books of history. We wanted to say that when Abu Talib heard about this plot of Quraysh, he sent some verses of poetry to the Negus of Abyssinia asking him to treat Ja'far well and not to listen to the fabrication of the lying sinner Amr bin al-Aass.
Abu Talib said in his verses:
I wish I knew what affairs of Ja'far among people there,
and of Amr and the kin enemies of the Prophet!
Did the goodness of Negus reach Ja'far and his companions,
or it was prevented by a seditious offender?
You know o Negus, glory be to you, that you are so generous,
that whoever resorts to you won't be disappointed.
You know that Allah has given you great authority,
and every means of goodness,
that still keep to your high qualities. (1)
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As long as the verses reached the Negus, he became
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1 Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.2 p.314, as-Seera al-Hishamiyya, vol.1 p.375, Al-Hujja p.56, al-Ghadeer, vol.7 p.337, A'yan ash-Shia, vol.39 p.144, vol.16 p.27, Hashem and Umayya p.164.
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delighted. He thought that he had to be grateful to the praise of Abu Talib by being kind to those, who had left their country and resorted to him to live under his protection. He approached them to him and treated them kindly.
When Abu Talib knew about the kindness of the Negus to the Muslims, he sent him other verses of poetry, in which he invited him to believe in Islam, which the great Prophet (s) had been sent with for the peoples all over the world:
You know o king of Abyssinia!
Muhammad is a prophet like Moses and Jesus, the son
of Blessed Marry.
He came with guidance as they both had come with.
Each -according to the order of Allah- guides and educates.
You recite in your Book as a true speech not a divination.
So don't make a partner with Allah and let you come to Islam,
the way of the rightness is not dark.
Whatever group of ours comes to you,
it will be back with honor and glory. (2)
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These verses were a clear evidence confirming the faith of Abu Talib and they were a talking proof showing that he was an Islamic propagandist trying his best to spread Islam as a divine belief and inviting people to believe in Muhammad (s) as a chosen Apostle by the Heaven. It was also another evidence showing his knowledge of the divine books and the previous missions and apostles of Allah as we mentioned before. It was a certification of all what was revealed from Allah and acknowledgement of the prophecy of all His apostles; Muhammad, Jesus Christ and Moses (s). The guidance that had been received from Allah was the same that had been received by Jesus Christ and Moses. It was but the guidance of Allah.
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1 Al-Hujja p.56-57, Biharul Anwar, vol.6 p.521, Eeman Abu Talib p.18, Sheikhul Abtah p.87-88, Majma'ul Bayan, vol.7 p.37, al-Abbas p.22, al-Ghadeer, vol.7 p.331, A'yan ash-Shia, vol.16 p.19.
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He proved his saying with evidence that as the Negus was christian so he argued with him by the Bible, in which it had been mentioned that there would be a prophet after Jesus Christ called Ahmad. Here we noticed that Abu Talib had known much about the religion of Jesus Christ (s). After that he invited him to believe in the monotheism and to submit to Islam.
It would be impudence if we said after all that that Abu Talib hadn't become a Muslim whereas he spent his years inviting people to believe in Islam and that he was certain about the straight way of the rightness, which would save people from deviation and lead them to the light of guidance.
I pray Allah for forgiveness! No one would say that save the light-haeded, the impudent and the deviant, who didn't refrain from fabricating lies and committing sins.
Abu Talib, besides his firm faith, believed in the miracles with no doubt and miracles wouldn't happen save for the prophets or the infallible persons.
One day Abu Jahl came to the Prophet (s) during his prostration when offering the prayer. But his power dispersed and his fingers remained stuck to the stone without being able to do anything. He returned frightenedly and was unable to imagine what happened to him. He was filled with fright that perished his determination.
Abu Talib predicted a bad future for Abu Jahl and his people if they would keep on their reluctance and if they closed their ears and hearts not to hear the divine call of the Prophet (s). Their end would be like that of the people of Prophet Salih (s) when they killed the she-camel of Allah and then Allah crushed them and sent His torture to befall unto them.
Abu Talib recited:
O our cousins! Be watchful and give up your deviation!
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Otherwise I fear disasters and distresses may occur to you.
By Allah they will be hard lessons for you,
as Thamud and Aad had been tortured before you,
when they were surprised with a bad gale when they killed
the she-camel of the Almighty,
as it was about to drink from the well.
So the wrath of Allah overcame them in a sudden hit of Him.
But more surprising than that was of your affair,
when the stone stuck in the hand of him,
who wanted to hit the patient, the truthful, the pious,
but Allah fixed it in the hand of that foolish treacherous sinner. (1)
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I felt in this poem, besides the truthful accent, which was available in all of his poetry, a pitiful accent showing Abu Talib's sincere pity and emotion towards those, who would keep on their deviation and reluctance and then they would be liable to the wrath of Allah.
It was a high humane look of Abu Talib towards his people. He tried to affect their hearts when he reminded them of the bad end of the people of Prophet Salih when they insisted on their reluctance and didn't listen to the advice of their prophet. And thus the same end would wait for these people if they insisted on their situation towards their prophet Muhammad (s). Its first signs appeared. It was the stone, which Allah had fixed in the hand of this treacherous Abu Jahl.
Abu Talib described the Prophet (s) as patient, truthful and pious out of his firm faith in him; moreover he found that the miracle of the stone as a warning for the people ... and what dreadful the warning of Allah would be!
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1 Al-Hujja p.62, Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.314, al-Ghadeer, vol.7 p.336-337, A'yan ash-Shia, vol.142-143, Divan Abu Talib p.9-10.
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The polytheists became very angry when the Prophet (s) became so powerful and his mission spread so widely that many people of different classes and countries believed in sincerely to a degree that they preferred dying to give up their new belief when they were punished with severest kinds of torture. In fact they tolerated pains as if they enjoyed pleasures.
The pain for the sake of the mission was sweeter than any other ease and the midday heat of the desert was more verdant than any other place.
No one of them would utter a word that might make the polytheists feel that they might yield or give up the right way of Allah they had chosen heartedly.
They preferred to leave their homes, their countries and their lovers in order to be safe with their religion.
Quraysh began to think and think, create tricks and look for new plots that might be of use to restrain the spreading mission and to suppress its voice, which entered the hearts without asking permission.
Every plot and every trick the people of Quraysh used didn't achieve a bit of their aim, didn't satisfy their beastliness against the new mission and didn't relieve their fear and worry about their gods, which were about to be trodden by the feet of the Mohammedans.
More important that Quraysh was afraid that the authority and the leadership would be lost and this made Quraysh strive day and night to do away with this mission and its leader.
Quraysh tried to put out this flame, to silence this voice and to cut this twig but it returned empty-handed because Muhammad (s) was safeguarded by his uncle and his men. He was in a strong fortress that no storm could
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If a single hand stretched to harm Muhammad or to shed a drop of his blood, hundreds of swords would be unsheathed to pluck out all of Quraysh. Then the mission would be mixed with the blood of the holiest man on the earth and this would have a great effect in the hearts of Muhammad's followers and it would hasten spreading the mission everywhere.
Quraysh resisted the Prophet's companions, seduced them and tortured them but it found itself in front of iron that couldn't be notched, rocks that couldn't be crumbled and mountains that couldn't be shaken.
Neither torture nor discrimination would make a true faithful give up his faith. In fact all of that firmed the faith in the hearts and rooted it in the consciences especially when those believers longed for Paradise and its eternal blessedness.
Then what Quraysh do as long as all its means were useless?
In that critical situation and that difficult distress one of the devils of Quraysh thought of a satanic idea. It would satisfy their furious grudge and get them to their sought aim. They thought of the blockade against whoever assisted and protected Muhammad (s).
They had to declare a cold war to be safe from victims and losses and to force their enemy either to yield and prevent Muhammad (s) from spreading his mission or to hand him over to Quraysh as cheap victim and priceless prey.
Quraysh wrote down a covenant including some articles; to be as one hand against them without any truce, not to marry from them and not to let them marry from them, not to sell or buy from each other, not accept any peace with them at all and to carry out these conditions without a bit of mercy or pity.
Nothing would make Quraysh give up this blockade
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unless the Hashemites handed Muhammad over to the polytheists of Quraysh then the blockade would be annulled and the Hashemites would live normally as before.
They signed the sheet of the covenant and hanged a copy on the wall of the Kaab. This was after seven years of the mission.
When Abu Talib knew what Quraysh had decided, he criticized it and warned it of bad wars and disasters to take place. He recited a poem about that situation; here are some verses of it:
They expect from us a thing,
they won't get without striking and stabbing with sharp swords.
They hope we give them Muhammad to be killed,
before the heads are dyed with blood!
By the House of Allah! You have told lies!
It won't be until your heads are split and your skulls thrown
in Hateem and Zamzam,
kinship is perished, a wife forgets her husband and one is killed
after one; that is your hatred, oppression, deviation,
committing sins and wronging a prophet inviting to
guidance
and a matter revealed by the Almighty!
Don't think we hand him over to you,
His like will never be handed over by any people! (1)
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It was not important for us what the poem had of brave challenging and threatening Quraysh of a bad war -what we have left of the poem showed this side much clearly- but the last two verses we mentioned were so important for they showed the faith in Muhammad as prophet and that his mission was but guidance for people revealed by the Beneficent, the Almighty.
Abu Talib confirmed in his poem that they (the
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1 Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.312-313, Al-Hujja p.37-38, al-Ghadeer, vol.7 p.333-334, Eeman Abu Talib p.13, Hashem and Umayya p.171-172, A'yan ash-Shia, vol.39 p.141.
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Hashemites) were so proud that Muhammad was one of them and that he was the Prophet, whom Allah had sent to guide them and they, whatever happened, would never leave him alone or betray him at all for they would win glory and honor with him.
Wasn't this but a clear declaration of Abu Talib's true faith in the Prophet (s)? Would anyone, who accused Abu Talib of being unbeliever, be fair in his judgement? Would the accuser himself express his faith more eloquent than Abu Talib's expression?
Abu Talib pondered thoughtfully and found himself in a critical situation and difficult distresses. He had to make up his mind and to take the final decision. He called for the men of the Hashemites. They decided to go to the Shi'b
(1) (mountain pass) to be safe from Quraysh, which determined to carry out the unjust covenant. All the Hashemites submitted to Abu Talib's thought and they all followed him except his deviate brother Abu Lahab, who supported Quraysh against his kin.
(2)
The days passed without any glow of hope or relief. They were in extreme distress. Hunger left its bad lines upon their bodies.
Everyone, who would think of helping them even with a crumb of bread, would be considered as treacherous criminal by Quraysh and then he would be punished severely. So the Hashemites became in a miserable condition. hunger harmed them extremely until they were obliged to eat the leaves of the trees.
In spite of all that, Abu Talib was very watchful and careful for his nephew that he might be a victim of a
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1 Refer to Mo'jamul Buldan by Yaqoot al-Hamawi, vol.5 p.270 (vol.3 p.347).
2 At-Tabari's Tareekh, vol.2 p.74, al-Kamil by ibnul Atheer, vol.2 p.59, as-Seera al-Hishamiyya, vol.1 p.375-376. As-Seera an-Nabawiyya, vol.1 p.173, as-Seera al-Halabiyya, vol.1 p.374, Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.307, al-Ghadeer, vol.7 p.363.
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secret plot hatched by Quraysh.
Whenever night came and it was time for sleeping, he spread the bed of his nephew before the sight of the all. He remained awake until the all slept soundly; he took his nephew to the bed of his son Ali and took his son to the bed of his nephew that if any one had an evil will, his son Ali would be the victim and the Prophet (s) would be saved.
What a great sacrifice it was! Let history record it with shiny letters in order to be an eternal example of sacrifice, altruism, love, faith and belief!
The malevolents justified Abu Talib's defense and jihad to safeguard his nephew as a matter of kinship. Was his nephew Muhammad closer to him than his son Ali? So why did he try to sacrifice his son for his nephew?
They ignored that the zealotry of religion was stronger than the zealotry of kinship. Unless Abu Talib believed in the prophecy of his nephew, he wouldn't sacrifice his dearest son for him.
Wasn't Abu Lahab the brother of Abu Talib and had the same kinship with Muhammad (s) so why didn't the zealotry of kinship lead him to defend his nephew too?
We will mention in a next chapter some events, in which some Muslims tried to kill their fathers or their sons because they were polytheists and enemies of Islam, confirming that the zealotry of faith was higher than the zealotry of kinship.
One night Abu Talib took his son Ali to the bed of Muhammad (s). Ali said: "O father! I am going to be killed."
But Abu Talib asked his son to be patient and no to be afraid of death because it would be the natural end of life and the fate of existence. Life would be not but a way towards death. Abu Talib told his son that he would be a sacrifice for his preferable beloved:
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O my son! Be patient! Patience is the best of reason.
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Every liver is going to die!
We offer you, although it is so expensive,
as a sacrifice for the beloved and the son of the beloved,
the honorable, the highborn, the generous.
If your fate comes, it will be inevitable.
Every liver, how long he lives,
is to taste death one day!
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His son, Ali; the brave, who had never feared death or harm a single moment throughout his virtuous life and who would be so delighted to sacrifice himself for the Prophet (s), answered his father:
Do you order me to be patient in supporting Ahmad?
By Allah, I didn't say what I said out of anger,
But I liked you to see my support
and to know that I was still your obedient.
I'll strive, for the sake of Allah, to support Ahmad,
the prophet of guidance, the praised when a child
and a young man. (1)
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Whenever Abu Talib's feelings were affected during the period of the blockade, he expressed his bitter pains with poetry:
Don't you know that we have found Muhammad as prophet,
like Moses; it was mentioned in the first books.
He is to be loved by people,
Allah has imposed upon people loving him!
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By the House of Allah!
We will never forsake Ahmad whatever distresses we get.
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We won't be tried of war until it becomes tired of us,
and we don't complain whatever disasters we face!
But we are people of reason and prudence,
when the minds of others fly of terrors. (1)
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1 Sharh Nahjol Balagha, vol.3 p.310, al-Manaqib, vol.1 p.37, Al-Hujja p.70, al-Ghadeer, vol.7 p.358, A'yan ash-Shia, vol.39 p.12, As-Seera an-Nabawiyya, vol.1 p.276, as-Seera al-Halabiyya, vol.1 p.38, Abu Talib p.73-74.
