Since the prophethood of Rasulullah  the call to Islam had been limited to the people of Makkah and other tribes who repeatedly visited the Ka'bah annually for their pilgrimage. The persecutions of the Quraish were so harsh in Makkah that Rasulullah  decided to turn to the people of Ta'if, a town about forty eight kilometers from Makkah.

The residents of Ta'if were worshippers of the idol latt. On reaching Ta'if, Rasulullah  met the leaders of the town among whom the most prominent were three brothers, Abdiya Lail, Mas'ud and Habeeb who belonged to the Bani Thaqeef tribes, On preaching to them, he found them proud and arrogant. They taunted Rasulullah  in the most abusive manner. Not being satisfied with their verbal criticism, they embarked upon one of the most violent and disgraceful attack on the person of Rasulullah .

They encouraged their slaves, boys and girls, and vandals and scum of Ta'if to pursue and torture Rasulullah  until he left Ta'if. The mob  followed Rasulullah   and his faithful assistant Hazrat Zaid-bin-Harith (R.A.), until they reached the border of Ta'if. The crowd had swelled behind them and they were continuously pelted with dirt, pebbles and stones. Hazrat Zaid (R.A.) tried his utmost to protect Rasulullah  who was bleeding so profusely that the blood from his body ran down into his sandals and clotted up in his feet.

Rasulullah  was in such a strait that he was partly conscious when an angel appeared before him, offering to bring down a whole mountain on the doers of such a dastardly attack on an innocent man. Rasulullah  refused this Divine help and instead, prayed that one day all the people of Ta'if would become Muslims.

At length, Rasulullah  and Hazrat Zaid-bin-Harith (R.A.) took refuge in the orchard of Utba-bin-Rabeeah, who had seen their plight and, in accordance with Arab hospitality. he sent his Christian slave Addaas with a plate full of grapes for them. Rasulullah  preached to Addaas (R.A) who accepted Islam inspite of the warning given to him by his master Utba-bin Rabeeah.

That evening they reached Nukhla, and in the dead of night, while they were in salaat and reciting Quraan, seven leaders of the Jinnat of Naseebeen approached Rasulullah  and became Muslims. The Quraan also mentioned this fact in Sura Al-Jinn.

Contents of the biography of the Prophet Muhammed 
 
 

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