The proclamation on al-Safa

The Prophet climbed the hill of al-Safa and called out: "Ya sabahah!" The clans of Quraysh gathered to him. He invited them to monotheism, to belief in his mission and in the Last Day, and then told them that he was a warner before a severe punishment. Abu Lahab said: "Ruin upon you all day! Is this what you gathered us for?" Then Sura al-Masad was revealed. ^{1 2}

Al-Bukhari relates, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, that when the command to warn his nearest kin came down, the Prophet climbed al-Safa and began to call out: "Banu Fihr! Banu Adi!" and to the clans of Quraysh, until they gathered. He asked them whether they would believe him if he told them that cavalry in the valley meant to raid them. They said: yes, for they had never known anything from him but truth. He said: "Then I am a warner to you before a severe punishment." ¹ Muslim relates, on the authority of Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), that the Prophet called Quraysh, Banu Ka'b and Fatima bint Muhammad to save themselves from the Fire, and said that he could not possess anything for them from God, except that they had ties of kinship which he would keep fresh. ²

The author sees this cry as the fullest delivery of the message. The Prophet made clear to his nearest kin that belief in the message was the life of their ties with him, and that the tribal solidarity on which the Arabs were built melted in the heat of the warning. ²

• The story of Abu Lahab at al-Safa is told in other reports in a different form, concerning stones. The book affirms the hadith of Ibn Abbas as al-Bukhari gives it.
• The book places the revelation of Sura al-Masad after the cry, and does not examine when it was revealed.