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21- The Boycott
10
Boycott
The
By: Abdulwahid Alami
Valley
When Islam began to spread the Makkans asked Abu Talib, the uncle and protector of the Prophet , to hand him over to them for execution but he steadfastly refused. Abu Talib acted fast and called on the members of Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib to meet at the Ka’bah and convinced them to pledge that they would protect their clansman, Muhammad (ﷺ). Abu Lahab, another of the Prophet’s uncles and self-proclaimed sworn enemy, refused to take the pledge and declared he was on the side of the Quraysh.
This is the valley of Abu Talib (She’eb Abi Talib), where the members of Banu Hashim and Banu Al-Muttalib (Muslims and non-Muslims) were forced to withdraw from Makkah and live here in a painful boycott for three years.
Treaty
It's said that in the 7th year of the Dawah, all the Qureshi tribes got together and agreed, "We need to kill Muhammad." And they said, "How can we do it? The Banu Hashim is not going to give him over to us." So they said, "We will offer whatever blood money they want. And we'll even conceit to them that none of us will kill him - we'll pay some other tribes to do the job." So for the final time they went to Abu Talib and say to him, "You don't have a choice - either hand over Muhammad—and we will give you whatever blood money and it won't even be a Qureshi who will do the job—OR we will have to cut you off from the Quraysh." Again this is absolutely unprecedented. "How are you gonna cut us off? We're blood relatives." They said, "None of us will allow you to get any food or water; we'll boycott you; we'll cut off all marriages with you; there will be no business transactions." etc. When they came to Abu Talib like this, he became furious and said, "Do as you please, I will never hand my nephew over to you."
The Prophet , along with Abu Talib and clan members of Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib were forced to withdraw from Makkah and live in She’eb Abi Talib, which was a subsection of one of the gorges that ran down to Makka
Forced to leave
One report says they were forced to, but most likely voluntarily, Abu Talib decided to live elsewhere; and so the Banu Hashim & Banu Muttalib (two cousin tribes) imposed a type of exile on themselves and moved to a valley that the Banu Hashim 'owned' outside of Makkah, called the Valleys of Abu Talib
The boycott was devastating and for many months they lived in misery. It was so rigorously applied and food was so scarce that they had to eat the leaves of trees. The women, and more specially the children and suckling babies would cry with hunger which could be heard all over the valley. The Quraysh told the merchants not to sell any goods to them. Prices were increased to prevent them from buying even essentials. They remained in that state for three years. Apart from some kind Qurayshi people who secretly sent food to them they were totally abandoned. Despite such grim circumstances, the Prophet never ceased inviting non-Muslims to Islam. He was particularly active during the time of Hajj. It was at this time that he would speak to tribes that had traveled to Makkah from all over the Arab world
Difficult time
In order to solidify this, the Quraysh wrote a treaty/pact amongst themselves that nobody will buy and sell to the two tribes, nobody will marry into or from them, and nobody will socialize with them. So it was a boycott of an economic, political, and social level. And they hung this treaty inside the Ka'bah. And of course nobody walks in and out of the Ka'bah, so they locked the door and left it hanging in there. (Side note: It is said that Baghid ibn Amir was the one who wrote this treaty, and the Prophet PBUH made Du'a against him, and his hands became paralyzed until he died.)
So the Banu Hashim & Banu Muttalib lived outside of Makkah for 2-3 years.
wrote a treaty
Bilal(RA)said that we began defecating like how goats defecate. Our droppings were indistinguishable from the goats'. One of the main sources of food was that every few weeks someone felt sympathy for them and sent in secret supplies of food. The most famous of them was Mut'im ibn Adi . (Recall Mut'im ibn Adi was a chief of the Banu Nawfal, one of the subtribes of the Quraysh. And he died a year before the Battle of Badr. He was one of the most sympathetic non-Muslims ever. And the Prophet PBUH praised him a lot. E.g. After the Battle of Badr he said if Mut'im was alive and told him to release all the captives of war, he would have done it without any question.) Mut'im every few weeks would go to the valleys with a large camel laid in with food, supplies, water, grain etc. And of course when they caught it, they could dry the meat, they could keep it, and it lasts for many many weeks.
It's reported that a few other people also would do this during this 2-3 years boycott. Of them is Hakim ibn Hizam (Khadija's nephew, and later became a famous sahabi). . Even when foreigners came, Abu Jahal would say, "Don't sell to these people; I will pay double whatever they are offering." Even though foreigners are not barred like the Quraysh, but Abu Jahal would still prevent them from selling to the Banu Hashim/Banu Muttalib.
Even during this 2-3 years, the Prophet PBUH continued to give Dawah during the Hajj season. He would go out of the valley and meet with the tribes and find converts to Islam.
End of treaty
End to the Boycott
A number of incidents happened that finally brought about the boycott to end.
1. The first of these is that the Prophet PBUH made a Du'a against them, "O Allah, send upon them a drought and famine like the famine of Yusuf AS." And so Allah accepted this Du'a and the famine became so bad for Makkans that they were forced to eat carcasses ( shell , remains) and chew on dead animal skin. And they realized this was because of the Du'a of the Prophet PBUH, so they sent some messengers to try to bring about some reconciliation
Second
The second incident is that some of those people of Quraysh with softer hearts decided that they should do something to break the pact. One of the main people was Hisham ibn Amr . Hisham called his friend Zuhayr ibn Abi Umayya (whose mother is Atikah, the sister of Abdullah, the father of the Prophet PBUH i.e Zuhayr is Abdul Muttalib's grandson), and they said, "What can we do to bring about an end to this boycott?" They said first thing is to build some strength together. So they gathered all those who had the same views as them. This included of course Mut'im ibn Adi, along with Abu al-Bukhturi ibn Hisham and a few more. And then they planned to speak up when all of the people are gathered in the Nadi (parliament) the next day. So the next day they went to the Ka'bah and they all seated where they usually sit - everyone goes to his place in this corner, that corner, etc. Then Zuhayr stood up and said, "For how long are we going to starve our own kith and kin to death? This is an evil thing!" Abu Jahal became furious and shouted out, "Who do you think you are? We all agreed to this treaty!" When he said this, Hisham stood up and said, "No - I didn't agree, you agreed. This is your idea!" Abu Jahal said, "What do you mean my idea? We had a meeting and agreed!" Mut'im stood up, "No we didn't - you forced this on us." Abu Jahal said, "No I didn't force it!" Then Abu al-Bukhturi stood up. So one by one, every single person publicly challenged Abu Jahal and he had no one to support him. When he saw all this happening, Abu Jahal said, "This is certainly a plan all of you have hatched." But of course they didn't confess. And it seemed from this that the public support had shifted against Abu Jahal.
Third
3. And then the final thing happened which completely turned the tide. One day the Prophet PBUH went to Abu Talib and said, "O my uncle, Allah has told me that the treaty they wrote has been eaten up by termites and ants except for the phrase (in the name of Allah)." And of course this treaty was in a sealed pouch in the Ka'bah, which is locked up where no one could enter, so it was impossible for the Prophet PBUH to know such a thing. It was Allah who told him this. Abu Talib asked, "Your Lord has told you this?" "Yes." "I will stake my whole case on this." "Yes, stake it on this." And so Abu Talib for the first time since the enactment of the treaty marched to the cities with a group of non-Muslim fellow tribesmen. (Note, this again shows the strength of Jahiliyyah kinship that even though they weren't all Muslim, the whole Banu Hashim tried suffered through this boycott in defense of the Prophet PBUH. Except for one coward, Abu Lahab, who basically publicly denounced, "I don't have anything to do with the Banu Hashim anymore.") Abu Talib went to the Haram and said, "O my people, let's forget about everything and let's bring out this treaty and see if we can come to a deal." So they became happy that maybe he will hand over the Prophet PBUH. So they took out the treaty from the Ka'bah in its cloth. And Abu Talib said, "My nephew has told me that his Lord has told him that the treaty is no longer in existence; and everything has been eaten except for the phrase 'in the name of Allah.' So my challenge to you is, if that's the case, let us be and we will return to Makkah. And if it's not, I will hand him over to you." (Notice how Abu Talib steaks it all on his 'iman' in the Prophet PBUH telling the truth.) They said, "Of course!" and so they opened up the cloth and behold there was no treaty except for the phrase 'in the name of Allah.' Subhan'Allah! And they were surprized, "This is of the sihr (magic) he's done!" etc. but they couldn't do anything because the promise had been given. And this is what nullified the treaty and so the Banu Hashim & Banu Muttalib returned to Makkah
Results
Lesson From the Incident of the Boycott
Some of the benefits we gain from the incident of the boycott is that it's amazing to see the kinship between tribes. Indeed many people in Banu Hashim & Banu Muttalib weren't Muslim, but they underwent the hardship of the boycott for the sake of the Prophet PBUH. Every nation has some people that are mean and some people that are nice. So we take the good when people offer it and we use it against the bad. Indeed this is what the Prophet PBUH did. He took the good of Mut'im and the like to help them during the boycott. And we too should reach out to those who want to support freedom and are open minded in our time
The Prophet PBUH and the sahaba returned back to Makkah after ~2.5 years of the boycott, which means it's the 10th year of the Dawah now, and the Prophet PBUH is roughly 49 years old. After this, Allah will test the Prophet PBUH with even greater tragedies: the death of Abu Talib, Khadija and then the incident of Ta'if. One low after the other. This was the lowest period of the seerah of the Prophet PBUH. And this would all be a precursor to the Hijrah to Madinah.