Surah Al-Muddaththir

Striving in giving Dawah.

The earliest Revelation to the Prophet ﷺconsisted of the first five verses of “Recite in the name of your Lord who created. Created the human being from a clinging substance. Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous. Who taught by the pen. Taught the human being that which he knew not.”

This was the first experience of Revelation by the Prophet ﷺ. In this message it was not told what great mission he had been entrusted with and what duties he had to perform in future. He was only initiated into it and then left alone for a time so that the great strain this experience had caused, should pass away and he should mentally become prepared to receive the Revelation and perform the prophetic mission in the future. After this intermission when Revelation was resumed, the first seven verses of this Surah were revealed: In these he was for the first time commanded to arise and warn the people of the consequences of the way of life they were following and to proclaim the greatness of Allah in the world where others were being magnified without any right.

Along with that he was given this instruction: The demand of the unique mission that you have to perform, now is that your life should be pure in every respect and you should carry out the duty of reforming your people sincerely irrespective of any worldly gain. Then, in the last sentence, he was exhorted to endure with patience, for the sake of his Lord, all the hardships and troubles that he might have to face while performing his mission.

In the implementation of this Divine command when the Messenger of Allah began to preach Islam and recite the Qur’anic Surahs revealed successively, the people of Makkah felt alarmed, and it provoked a great storm of opposition and hostility. A few months passed in this state until the Hajj season approached. The people of Makkah feared that if Muhammad ﷺstarted visiting the caravans of the pilgrims coming from all over Arabia at their halting places and reciting the spellbinding and unique Revelations of the Qur’an in their assemblies on the occasion of Hajj, his message would reach every part of Arabia and influence countless people.

Therefore, the Quraysh chiefs held a conference and settled that they would start a propaganda campaign against the Prophet ﷺamong the pilgrims as soon as they arrived. After they had agreed on this, Walid bin al-Mughirah said to the assembled people: ‘If you said contradictory things about Muhammad ﷺ, we all would lose our trust among the people. Therefore, let us agree upon one opinion, which we should all say without dispute. Some people said that they would call Muhammad ﷺa soothsayer. Walid said, ‘No, by Allah, he is not a soothsayer. We have seen the soothsayers: what they murmur and what they utter has no remote resemblance with the Qur’an.’ Some other people said, ‘Then we say he is possessed.’

Walid said, He is not a possessed one: we have seen mad and insane people; the way one talks disjointedly and behaves foolishly in that state is known to all: who would believe that what Muhammad ﷺpresented was the incoherent speech of a madman? The people said, ‘Then we say he is a poet.’ Walid said, ‘No, he is not a poet, for we know poetry in all its forms, and what he presents conforms to no form of it.’

The people said, ‘Then he is a sorcerer.’ Walid said, ‘He is no sorcerer either: we have seen sorcerers and we also know what methods they adopt for their sorcery. This also does not apply to Muhammad ﷺ.’ Then he said, ‘Whichever of these things you said about Muhammad ﷺ, it would be known to be a false accusation. By Allah, his speech is sweet, his root is deep and his branches are fruitful.’ At this Abu Jahl, urging on Walid, said, ‘Your people will never be pleased with you unless you say something about Muhammad ﷺ.’ He said, ‘Let me think over it awhile.’

Then, after prolonged thought and consideration, he said, ‘The nearest thing to the truth is that you tell the Arabs that he is a sorcerer, who has brought a message by which he separates a man from his father; and from his brother, and from his wife and children, and from his family.’

They all agreed on what Walid had proposed. Then, according to a scheme, the men of Quraysh spread among the pilgrims in the Hajj season and they warned everyone they met of the sorcery of Muhammad ﷺand of his stirring up divisions in the families by it. The result was that this plan of the Quraysh chiefs themselves made the name of the Messenger known throughout Arabia. That Walid had made this proposal on the insistence of Abu Jahl has been related by Ibn Jarir in his Tafsir on the authority of Ikrimah.

In conclusion, it has been explicitly stated: Allah does not stand in need of anybody’s faith that He may fulfil his conditions. The Qur’an is an admonition that has been presented before the people openly; now whoever wills may accept it. Allah has a right that the people should fear His disobedience and He alone has the power to forgive the one who adopts piety and an attitude of God consciousness even though one may have committed many acts of disobedience in the past.83 83 Tafheem al-Qur’an, Mawdudi.