al-Walid's council on how to brand the Prophet

As the Prophet ﷺ's call grew stronger and the pilgrimage season drew near, Quraysh gathered around al-Walid ibn al-Mughira to agree on one thing to say to the Arabs about the Prophet. He told them to settle on a single opinion about him, and they concluded that he was a sorcerer. They sat along the people's roads warning them against him ^{1 2 3}.

The book says that Quraysh feared the Arabs arriving for the season would be affected by the spread of his call, so they gathered at al-Walid's. They suggested calling him a soothsayer, but al-Walid replied that he was not a soothsayer. They suggested a madman, and he replied that he was not mad; then a poet, and then a sorcerer. He rejected each of them with what he knew of soothsaying, madness, poetry and sorcery. Then he said: "His speech has a sweetness; its root is like a date-palm and its branches bear fruit" ^{1 2}. They asked: "What shall we say, then?" He said: "The nearest thing to say about him is that he is a sorcerer, who has brought speech that divides a man from his father, his brother, his wife and his clan" ².

The book states that verses of Sura al-Muddathir were revealed concerning al-Walid. They describe his reflection and his assessment, his frowning and turning away, and his arrogance, and his judgement of the message as sorcery ².

• The book says al-Walid hastened to think and then gave his opinion. The book presents this detail from other narrations; the account given here is its main narration.
• The book does not date the season in which the warning took place.