The Prophet's journey to al-Ta'if

In Shawwal of the tenth year of the mission, about late May or early June 619 CE, the Prophet set out on foot for al-Ta'if, about sixty miles from Mecca. He was accompanied by his freedman Zayd ibn Haritha, and he called the tribes he passed on the way. Not one of them answered. ¹

When the Prophet reached al-Ta'if, he sat with three brothers who were among its chiefs: Abd Yalil, Mas'ud and Habib, the sons of Amr ibn Umayr al-Thaqafi. He called them to God and to support for Islam. One of them said: "He would tear the curtains of the Ka'ba, if God had sent you." Another said: "Could God not find anyone but you?" The third said: "By God, I will never speak to you." He got up from them and said: "Since you have done what you have done, keep it secret from me." ¹

The Prophet stayed in al-Ta'if for ten days, and he did not leave any of its notables without speaking to them. They told him to leave their country, and they set their fools against him. The fools and slaves followed him, cursing and shouting at him, until people gathered and formed two lines to pelt him with stones, so that his sandals were stained with blood. Zayd shielded him with his own body, until Zayd was struck on the head with wounds. ¹ He took refuge in a walled garden belonging to Utba and Shayba, the sons of Rabi'a, about three miles from al-Ta'if. ¹

He sat in the shade of a grapevine and made a supplication that shows his distress. He complained of his weakness, his scarcity of means and his lowliness before the people, and he sought refuge in the light of God's face from His anger descending upon him. ² The compassion of the sons of Rabi'a was stirred, and they sent their Christian servant Addas with a cluster of grapes. When the Prophet had begun to eat, he asked Addas where he was from. He said: "From Nineveh." The Prophet said: "From the town of the righteous man Yunus ibn Matta." Addas asked how he knew of Yunus, and the Prophet said that Yunus was his brother; he was a prophet and the Prophet was a prophet. Addas bent over the Prophet's head and his hands and feet, kissing them. ² The two sons of Rabi'a said to Addas that he had corrupted their servant. Addas said that there is nothing on earth better than this man. ²

The Prophet returned on the road to Mecca with a broken heart. When he reached Qarn al-Manazil, God sent Gabriel to him, with the angel of the mountains, who asked his permission to close the two mountains of Mecca (al-Akhshabayn) upon its people. He said: "No. I hope that God will bring forth from their loins those who worship God alone." ^{2 3} Al-Bukhari relates from Urwa ibn al-Zubayr that Aisha asked the Prophet whether there had come upon him a day harder than the day of Uhud. He told her what he had suffered from his people, and that on the day of al-'Aqaba he had presented himself to Ibn Abd Yalil. ^{2 4}

• The book states that fixing the month is its own preference, not an explicit text, and that al-Najib Abadi stated it. ¹
• The supplication mentioned in the book is narrated from Ibn Ishaq and quoted by Ibn Hisham. The book does not judge its chain of transmission. ²