How did the Prophet face up to the campaigns of
distortions?
The challenges that the adversaries of Islam were
mounting targeted the Prophet himself at the outset. They aimed to
undermine his personality. In their crusade, they attempted to portray
him as a very ordinary human being; this effort included branding him
as a poet and a sorcerer just to lull public opinion into believing
that he did not know what he was talking about. In so doing, his
opponents sought to discredit him and strop him of any sanctity or a
leading role in introduction reform in society. Their tactics did not
stop there; they dubbed him a lunatic, although he did not show any
signs of insanity to make others believe that he was. Nevertheless,
they managed to create conditions that were conducive to people's
accepting anything said about him without independent judgment. It was
a frenzied state of affairs. This is how the Holy Qur'an puts it:
And the Unbelievers say of the Truth when it comes
to them, 'This is nothing but evident magic!' (34:43). So they wonder
that a Warner has come to them from among themselves! And the
Unbelievers say, 'This is a sorcerer telling lies!' (38:4).
Although the Prophet (p.) was on the receiving end,
he took everything that was thrown at him and kept this spirits high.
As an individual, he did not care what type or vilification would
befall him. Thus, he did not respond to those attacks of character
assassination. Only when those campaigns were meant to tarnish the
Message of Islam that he was charged with propagati8ng, would he stand
up to defend the faith in the face of those deliberate attempts to
discredit it.
Thus, on the count of branding him a poet, he called
them to compare carefully what issues the poets tackled, the climate
they lived in, and the methods they adopted, with the Holy Qur'an – on
the issues it had dealt with, the climate it had promote, and the
approach it had employed. The Prophet made it manifestly clear to them
that, in the final analysis, they would find the Qur'anic style far
removed, in every department, from that of poetry. The same was argued
when it came to accusing him of dabbling in witchcraft and divination.
The Qur'an had not used any means to deceives, cast spells on people or
pull the wool over their eyes. Rather, it is a book which appeals to
people directly, armed with well-thought-through ideas and clarity of
purpose, using a calm and tender approach and sweet words, only to win
them over after they have judged those ideas against their own
criteria.
God says:
That this is verily the word of an honoured apostle;
it is not the word of a poet: little it is y believe! Nor is it the
word of a soothsayer: little admonition it is ye receive. (This is) a
Message sent down from the Lord of the Worlds. (69:40-43)
We have not instructed the (Prophet) in Poetry, nor
is it meet for him: this is no less than a Message and a Qur'an making
things clear. (36:-69).
And say: "What! Shall we give up our gods for the
sake of a Poet possessed?" Nay! He has come with the (very) Truth, and
the confirms (the Message of) the apostles (before him). (37:36-37)
Prophetic biographers tell of the story of Walid bin
al-Mughira, a Quraishite and arch-enemy of the Islamic Message, who
spontaneously dismissed the idea that maintained that the Qur'an was a
form of poetry or a narrative of divination. The story says that he
heard some Qur'anic verses being recited to which he was receptive,
only to be accused of apostasy and that he was going to cause members
of the Quraish tribe to abandon their religion. In a damage limitation
exercise, Abu Jahl was sent to him to tout his qualities and noble
lineage and wealth, requesting him to say something bad about the
Qur'an, so that his people would believe that he was averse to it. He
said:
What am A I going to say? By God! None of you is
better informed about poetry in all its departments, including that of
the jinn. What the Qur'an is saying can never be compared to any of
those literary achievements. By God! What it says is exquisite, and
there is an air of splendor about it. Its style stands head and
shoulders above all literary forms. Abu Jahl retorted: By God! Your
people are not going to be appeased until you have disapproved of the
Qur'an. He replied: give me time to think: having done so, he said:
This is nothing but the word of a mortal. Haven't you seen him sowing
discord between man and wife, and master and slave?
As the story goes, this position has precipitated
this revelation:
Leave Me alone, with the (creature) whom I created
(bare and) alone! To whom I granted resources in abundance, and sons to
be by his side! To whom I made (life) smooth and comfortable! Yet is he
greedy that I should add (yet more); By no means! For to Our Signs he
has been refractory! Soon will visit him with a mount of calamities!
For he thought and he plotted; And woe to him! How he plotted! Yea, Woe
to him; how he plotted! Then he looked round; then he frowned and he
scowled; then he turned back and was haughty; then said he: "This is
nothing but magic, derived from of old; this is nothing but the word of
a mortal!" (47:11-25)
Prophetic biographies tell the story in a different
version, as in Ibn Hisham's version (vol. 1, pp. 174-175) (abridged),
thus:
At the start of the annual literary, mainly poetic,
gala, a group of Quraish, among whom was Walid bin al-Mughira, gathered
together. Al-Mughira said to them: "The annual festival has started.
The delegations of the Arab tribes will call on you, having heard of
the story of your kinfolk. You are better advised to speak with a
single voice. Show neither disagreement, nor squabble among
yourselves". They said: "Shat do you say?" He said: "What do you
suggest I say?" They said: "Shall we say that (the words of the Qur'an)
are those of a soothsayer? "He said: "We have seen soothsayers. They
are not those spoken by them". They said: "Then we shall say they are
of one who is possessed". He said: "We have seen insane people. The
words do not have any resemblance to those of an obsessed or deluded
person". They said: "Let us say, they are the words of a poet?" He
said: "They are not. we have seen poets and are conversant with all
types of poetry". They said: "Shall we say, they are those of a
magician"" He said: "They are not, as we have seen the sorcerers and
their witchcraft. The words do not bear resemblance to those who are in
the business of casting spells and blowing on knots". They said: "What
could we then say?" He said: "By God! The words are as sweet as dates.
You cannot have anything of this. It is false. The nearest you can
describe it (the Qur'an) is that you say, its words are those of a
wizard, in that it has come with a narrative that is capable of sowing
discord between son and father, brother and his brother, man and wife,
and man and his kinfolk". Having dispersed, they took positions on the
roads leading to the venue where the annual fair used to take place;
not a single passer-by had gone through, without their instigating them
against the Prophet (p.) and the Message he came to deliver, hence this
revelation:
For he thought and he plotted; And woe to him! How
he plotted! Yea, Woe to him; how he plotted! Then he looked round; then
he frowned and he scowled; then he turned back and was haughty; then
said he: 'This is noting but magic, derived from of old; this is noting
but the word of a mortal"' (74:18-25)
It is obvious that the word "magic", which al-Mughira
chose to be the charge that could prove the "falseness" of the Message,
is not what magicians usually captivate their audience with. Rather, it
is the "magic", i.e. enthrallment, one experiences as one listens to
the idea, the word, and the style (of the Holy Qur'an).
As for calling the Prophet a madman, it was a
description, which did not even prove credible to those who were using
it; it was heard adnauseam. That was why, in the process of the
Prophet's conducting debate with them – by that which is best – the
Qur'an enjoined them to reflect deeply on what they were accusing the
Prophet of, and soon would conclude how self-ridicule would be their
lot:
Say: 'I do admonish you on one point: that ye do
stand up before God, (It may be) in pairs, or (it may be) singly, and
reflect (within yourselves): your Companion is not possessed: he is no
less than a Warner to you, in face of a terrible Penalty'. (34:46).
As is evident, the Prophet (p.) did not react
angrily, as do those people who are easily agitated when they are
provoked and start trading insults with the opposite side. He was calm
and collected in all his exchanges with the adversaries of Islam. That
is because he did not view it as a personal matter. It was a matter of
the Message he was sent to spread. It was, therefore, inevitable that
dialogue was conducted in a way which served the interest of the noble
task. It was guided by Islam's straight path, its ideology and
tolerance, and due to the confident position it took, thus:
Or do they say, "He is possessed"? Nay, he has
brought them the Truth, but most of them hate the Truth. (23:70)
And the Unbelievers would almost trip thee up with
their eyes when they hear the Message; and they say: "Surely he is
possessed!: But it is nothing less than a Message to all the worlds.
(68:51-52)
And (O people!) your companion is not one possessed.
(81:22)
These Qur'anic verses talk calmly about the person
of the Prophet (p.). in the first verse (23:70), it stresses that the
matter does not relate to any conviction on the part of the
unbelievers; rather, it had come to the fore because of a grudge they
harboured against the truth with which the Prophet was sent. While they
did not want to have anything to do with the issue, they did not want
to be seen to be avers to it. So, the onlty alternative they had was to
brand the Prophet a lunatic.
In the second batch of verses (68:51-52), God
describes the state of bewilderment, dismay, and annoyance of the
unbelievers, which made them look down on the Prophet (p.) for the
Remembrance (Message) he was propagating. Then, the Qur'an soon makes
us realize the connection with reality, as to the nature of the divine
revelation, by inviting us to consider it, in order to reach the
conclusion that it is a Remembrance and good counsel for mankind.
The third verse (81:22) is dismissive of the
question as a matter of principle, in that it does not offer any
explanatory or analytical answer. Rather, it suggests that the issue
does not lend itself to any argument or a counter one for it is so
clear that it does not leave any room for debate.
In some verses, we fine the Prophet being labeled as
having been possessed by the jinn, which is slightly different from
dubbing him a lunatic. In this regard, the Qur'an has not gone further
than branding them oppressors on two counts. i.e. on not doing
themselves justice in setting up partners to God and on being unjust to
the Prophet (p.) by manufacturing false accusations against him. It
therefore concludes that those unjust people have gone astray and can
never find a way:
We know best what it is they listen, when they
listen to thee; and when they meet in private conference, behold, the
wicked say, 'Ye follow none other than a man bewitched! See what
similes they strike for thee: but they have gone astray, and never can
they find a way. (17:47-48)