Free forever · No sign-up · Built on cited sources
Seerah 02 · c. 10–8 BH · 8 events
Going public — and the persecution
Makkah · the Prophet ﷺ aged 43–45
The chapter, narration by narration
What happened, and who reported it
Every event is graded by the strength of the report behind it, and can be added to your spaced-repetition queue the way an āyah or a root can.
The call at Mount Ṣafā
Establishedc. 10 BH · Makkah
He ﷺ gathers Quraysh and warns them; Abū Lahab answers with abuse.
He ﷺ climbed Ṣafā and called the clans by name. When they gathered he asked, 'If I told you horsemen were in the valley about to attack you, would you believe me?' They said, 'Yes — we have never known you to lie.' He said, 'Then I am a warner to you before a severe punishment.' Abū Lahab said, 'May you perish — is this why you gathered us?' Sūrat al-Masad was revealed in reply.
- Qurʾān 111:1–5The only living opponent named in the Qur'an — and he never repented.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4770; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 208
The torture of the defenceless
Establishedc. 10–8 BH · Makkah
Bilāl, Khabbāb, Yāsir's family and others are tortured for their faith.
Those without clan protection took the worst of it. Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ was laid on the burning gravel of Makkah with a rock on his chest and said only 'Aḥad, Aḥad' — until Abū Bakr bought and freed him. Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt رضي الله عنه came to the Prophet ﷺ as he lay in the shade of the Kaʿbah and asked him to pray for relief; he ﷺ answered that men before them were sawn in two and combed with iron and did not turn back, 'but you are hasty.'
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3612; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah
Sumayyah, the first martyr
Strong reportc. 9 BH · Makkah
Sumayyah bint Khayyāṭ رضي الله عنها is killed under torture by Abū Jahl.
The family of Yāsir — Yāsir, his wife Sumayyah and their son ʿAmmār — were taken out to the desert in the heat of the day and tortured. The Prophet ﷺ would pass by them and say, 'Patience, family of Yāsir; your appointed place is the Garden.' Sumayyah was killed by Abū Jahl, the first person to die for Islam. ʿAmmār, under extremity, uttered words of disbelief and came weeping; the Qur'an excused one compelled while his heart is at rest with faith.
- Qurʾān 16:106Except one compelled while his heart is content with faith.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; Ibn Kathīr on 16:106
The migration to Abyssinia
Strong reportc. 9–7 BH · Abyssinia
A group of believers cross to the Christian king of Abyssinia, who refuses to surrender them.
He ﷺ told them, 'Go out to the land of Abyssinia, for there is a king there under whom no one is wronged.' Some eighty eventually made the crossing. Quraysh sent ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ with gifts to demand their return. Before the Negus, Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه described what they had been — burying daughters, eating the dead, the strong devouring the weak — and what they had become, then recited the opening of Sūrat Maryam. The Negus wept and refused to hand them over.
- Qurʾān 19:16–33The passage on Maryam and ʿĪsā recited before the Negus.
Musnad Aḥmad; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah
Ḥamzah and ʿUmar accept Islam
Establishedc. 8–7 BH · Makkah
Two of Makkah's strongest men enter the dīn, and the believers pray openly.
Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib returned from hunting to hear that Abū Jahl had abused his nephew; he struck Abū Jahl with his bow and declared his Islam. Days later ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāب set out to kill the Prophet ﷺ, was diverted to his sister's house, heard Sūrat Ṭāhā being read, and went instead to give allegiance. Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه said, 'We were never able to pray at the Kaʿbah until ʿUmar became Muslim.'
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3684; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah
Offers of compromise
Strong reportc. 8 BH · Makkah
Quraysh offer wealth, marriage and kingship for silence; al-Kāfirūn refuses.
ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah was sent with an offer: wealth until he was the richest of them, marriage to whomever he chose, kingship over Quraysh, doctors if this was an illness. He ﷺ replied by reciting Sūrat Fuṣṣilat until ʿUtbah returned shaken. Later they proposed alternating worship — a year of their gods, a year of his Lord — and Sūrat al-Kāfirūn came down closing the door with no negotiation left open.
- Qurʾān 109:1–6'For you your religion, and for me mine.'
- Qurʾān 41:1–13What he ﷺ recited to ʿUtbah in place of an answer.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; Ibn Kathīr on Sūrat al-Kāfirūn
ʿAbasa — the blind man and the noblemen
Strong reportc. 8 BH · Makkah
He ﷺ turns from Ibn Umm Maktūm to the chiefs of Quraysh, and is corrected from above.
While the Prophet ﷺ was engaged with leading men of Quraysh, hoping for their Islam, the blind Companion ʿAbdullāh ibn Umm Maktūm came asking to be taught. He ﷺ frowned and turned away, and Sūrat ʿAbasa was revealed. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها reported the occasion. Afterwards he would greet Ibn Umm Maktūm with, 'Welcome to the one on whose account my Lord reproached me.'
- Qurʾān 80:1–12'He frowned and turned away, because the blind man came to him.'
Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī 3331; al-Ṭabarī on 80:1
The splitting of the moon
Establishedc. 8–5 BH · Minā, Makkah
Quraysh demand a sign and the moon is split into two parts.
Anas and Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنهما both narrate that the people of Makkah asked for a sign, and the moon was split into two pieces until they saw the mountain of Ḥirāʾ between them. Their response was to call it sorcery. Sūrat al-Qamar opens with the event and the verdict on it.
- Qurʾān 54:1–3'The Hour has drawn near and the moon has split.'
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3636; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2800