- Good morning, Abu Bakr. - Good morning.
Will you not come with us to Dar Al-Nadwah?
- We have missed you. - It is all right
but I am busy now. You don't need me.
What is the matter with Abu Bakr?
He has not been showing up in our gatherings,
as if he is preoccupied with something serious that he is keeping to himself.
He had always been very sociable.
Ah! Umar!
How are you today, Umar?
I am well, as long as my maternal uncles are well.
Then come with us, or are you also busy?
Also?! Nothing keeps me away from my people's affairs.
When they will something, it is my will too.
- Come on - Come
Abu Bakr!
Where are you going, Uthman?
To the meeting place.
Anything new that needs to be sorted out?
No, it is the usual type of discussion.
Had it been anything different, you would have been the first to know.
You seem to be worried about something.
If you care to tell me about it,
I will try to give you whatever help I can.
What I have is something that I hope will benefit you.
I would not have kept it to myself without sharing it with those I love.
You are my best friend.
And so you are to me. But...
Leave the gathering today and come with me.
What do you think of your brother?
Who? You?
Have I ever told you a lie?
No, indeed. You are most truthful and kindly.
And the one who is more truthful is Muhammad Ibn Abdullah.
He is certainly as you describe: honest and truthful.
But what about him? Will you not speak out?
I will, provided you promise me that you will tell no one,
whether you like what I tell you or not.
You have certainly got me worried. I promise you,
but what you ask me to conceal must be very serious.
Yes, it is indeed.
The Arabs never heard of anything similar before now.
Yet it sets them on the right course in this life and the next.
The next! What is the next?
How did you leave your cousin? I mean Muhammad...
He is fine, by the grace of his Lord.
His Lord?
I saw you today with him in that mountain path.
You did!
What were you doing?
You prostrated yourselves and then stood up.
It is not the prostration we do near our idols.
Then, I never saw him or you prostrating yourselves before our idols.
What you saw us do is prayer,
which God has ordained through His Prophet.
A Prophet? You mean...
Your nephew, Muhammad, (peace be upon him).
He is indeed a Prophet
and revelations are given to him from on high.
That is the Qur'an, God's word. I follow his faith, Islam.
Prophet... revelations... Qur'an... Islam!
You have said much, my son.
Sit down and tell me all about this religion you have mentioned
and what it stands for.
Where are you going, Ammar?
I have some business to attend to.
You are often leaving me alone to stay away
when I know nothing about what you are doing.
When I ask you, you only say you are attending to some business.
What business? And you, Umm Ammar?
I am going to Abu Al-Hakam Ibn Hisham's home.
His wife has sent for me concerning something.
You should say, "to serve her".
- Is it not enough that she has a servant? - Her servant is unwell.
Besides, we owe a duty to the Makhzooms.
Are we not their allies?
Yes, their allies, but not their slaves.
You might have been a slave woman belonging to one of them,
but he set you free and gave you to my father in marriage before he died.
Why is it that the Makhzoom clan want you to serve them,
- as if you were still... - No, son.
Don't be rash, or you will land us all in what we cannot stand up to.
We must not deny people's favours.
When I came from Yemen to this city,
the Makhzoom clan welcomed me and extended protection to me,
making me their ally. They thus own my soul.
No one owns a soul other than its Creator.
What did he say?
Son, he is calling us to righteousness, so stay with him
and don't tell anyone about the two of you until God's will is revealed
Welcome, Umar. Welcome to my nephew.
Sit here.
- How did you leave Al-Khattab? - He is well
Have you come just to visit your uncles, or for something else?
This and that.
As for a social visit, you are welcome.
What other news do you have?
Some talk we heard and disliked.
I don't think my uncle Abu Al-Hakam is unaware of it.
You mean Muhammad.
If what we heard be true,
we have nothing to hold against him until he comes out into the open.
We do not know his objective.
Nor are we sure if something is the matter with him,
or he is starting a call aiming to raise a force against us
in which case we must stop him.
I am certain that Muhammad is advocating his faith in secret,
approaching only those whom he can trust.
Why hasn't he, then, started with us when we are the chiefs of Quraysh?
He has judged rightly, then.
By Al-Lat we will not accept anything from him.
Even before you hear what he has to say?
We don't need to hear
more than what we have learnt already in order to oppose him.
It is bad enough that he disowned our faith which our forefathers upheld.
It has ensured for us mastery over all Arabs.
When he claims to be a Prophet,
he is saying that we must follow and obey him if we want to obey God.
How can we accept that one of the Hashimites as our leader
and we his followers?
Can we let this happen
when we have competed with them for honor and supremacy?
Were we to say that we don't accept the Hashimites as our leaders,
he would say: I am not asking you to accept the rule of the Hashimites,
but to accept the rule of God
who has sent me as His messenger to you and to all mankind.
And to this one!
Isn't she one of the people?
Aren't you one of the people, Sumayyah?
Yes... I mean... I don't understand what you are aiming at, Sir,
so that I give the right answer to please you.
This is a sensible woman who wants to give a pleasing answer.
Do speak. Don't worry.
You are one of the people, aren't you?
Indeed, sir. I am one of the people.
Good! What are we, then?
- And you also, sir. - Also?
But people have different ranks, sir.
We are your allies and followers.
Haven't I told you that Sumayyah is a sensible woman?
Our late cousin, Abu Hudhayfah did well when he granted her freedom
and gave her in marriage to his ally Yassir Al-Ansi.
Don't worry. Don't worry. I don't need the milk. Thank you.
Do you understand me, my nephew?
Should Muhammad call on people to follow his faith,
he will be in fact asking us to accept his rule under the guise of prophethood,
and he will remain one of the Hashimites.
By Al-Lat, if he calls on us to follow his faith,
we will give him a very rude answer. Sumayyah.
For dinner today, do prepare the food and the pans for whoever comes.
Prepare food in plenty. Do not economise.
Very well, sir.
Ikrimah, order our servants to invite people to our dinner.
They should invite every guest, passerby or poor person.
Let us be the first to invite them.
"The third year after the Prophet's mission"
Hello, women
What are you doing among women, you boy?
You have become a man.
Hello, old man.
So, the reports are true;
yet nothing is like seeing with your own eyes.
So, this is how you pray.
We have been hearing about Muhammad and his faith
as he abandoned our religion.
What came first in whispers has now become louder.
Some of us believed it; some did not.
How awful! I think that you are now in numbers,
while we were oblivious to what is happening, thinking it simple.
Abu Sufyan, we have tried our best
not to let you see what may displease you,
and not to face your unpleasant reaction.
Hence, we come to this spot to pray.
We do so in obedience to God's messenger (peace be upon him).
God's messenger?
God has willed that you see us today.
Leave us alone, as we have left you and go back with our good wishes.
You do not ask about what we do, and we will not ask about what you do,
Well, well. Stranger things could happen.
Abdullah Ibn Massoud, or rather, Ibn Umm Abd,
the shepherd employed by Uqbah Ibn Abi Muait,
speaks up to the chiefs of Quraysh.
You put yourself at our level.
You want us not to ask you what you do, and you don't ask us what we do.
And you Saad, are willing to be in company with these low people,
while you belong to Zuhrah, a clan of Quraysh,
They are better than me.
Nay. It is you who are worse than them.
Hold it, man. Leave us alone.
No, by Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, we will not leave you alone
until we have shown you our strength
so that you will abandon this stupidity.
- Who did this to you? - It is nothing.
You must tell us.
We gave them as much as we took from them.
I could never care less for them.
Who are they?
Abu Sufyan and his group!
- Whom did you say? - Abu Sufyan and his group!
Abu Sufyan? The chief of the Abd Shams clan?
Who are you to quarrel with one of the chiefs of Quraysh,
giving him as much as he gives you, as you have just said?
Have you gone mad? Don't you remember who we are?
I do, indeed. We do not belong to Quraysh, but to Ans,
and we are allies to the Makhzoom clan.
My mother was a slave woman belonging to Abu Hudhayfah of Makhzoom.
I know all this, father. Had I ever forgotten it,
the chiefs of Quraysh and its younger people would have reminded me.
- Then how dare you... - Sit down, father. Sit down
And you too, mother.
"I seek shelter with God against Satan, the accursed."
"In the name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever-Merciful."
"By the bright morning hours, and the night when it grows still and dark,"
"Your Lord has neither forsaken you, nor does He hate you."
"Surely the life to come will be better for you than this present life."
"And, certainly, in time your Lord will be bounteous to you"
"and you will be well pleased."
"Has He not found you an orphan and given you a shelter?"
"And found you in error, and guided you?"
"And found you poor and enriched you?"
"Therefore do not wrong the orphan,"
"nor chide away the beggar,"
"but speak of your Lord's favours."
What is this news we have heard, Abu Sufyan?
Is it true that...
Yes, indeed. As you have heard.
When you saw them at the mountain path,
why didn't you leave them alone?
Father, for how long will you continue to do like an ostrich?
Don't fan the fire, Hind.
Then you agree that it is a fire,
and it starts with a spark.
Unless you put it out straightaway,
it will take off and may burn your homes.
They are relatives, Hind.
Are we to behave like one who cuts his own nose?
Nay. It is like one with a decayed finger.
If he leaves it, the decay will spread throughout his arm,
then the rest of his body.
Wisdom requires that he cuts it off to save himself.
Someone made a personal choice. What's that got to do with us?
Muhammad? Had he made a personal choice, as you say,
he would have gone to some mountain to worship alone, that would be fine.
But he is advocating his faith.
People have followed him. Some of them we know, others we don't.
The ones we know include Abu Bakr, Uthman Ibn Affan,
Uthman Ibn Mazoun, Saad Ibn Abi Waqqas, Abd Al-Rahman Ibn Awf,
and a number of the low people.
Whoever joins him is rebelling against you.
They obey him in as much as they disobey you,
When Muhammad is the master,
then the Hashimites are masters with him.
We, the Abd Shams clan,
have been matching them like two horses in a race,
but we led by virtue of our wealth.
Now Abu Talib's foster son is claiming that he is a Prophet
and that your religion is worthless.
But he does not address himself to the Abd Shams clan only
Stop arguing now.
Here we are arguing about Muhammad
before he even speaks to us about his faith
or criticizes anything we do.
Only a small number of us have followed him.
We must not be the ones to sever relations with kinsfolk.
True, he belongs to Hashim,
but we and they join together as descendants from Abd Manaf.
They are our closest clan of Quraysh.
Then you intend to leave Muhammad and his companions alone
until they represent a serious threat.
No, until they have overstepped their limits.
Then all the Qurayshi clans will join us
if we find ourselves in conflict with them.
The Hashimite clan will have a choice:
Either they give him up to us, and he will be without protection,
or they will protect him.
In the latter case, they will bear the consequences,
as they will be abandoned by the rest of the Quraysh clans who will follow us.
This will give the Abd Shams clan undisputed mastery.
Patience! Wisdom!
The claim of prophethood will ultimately be for us either a gain or a loss.
What determines either is good management.
This is what I have to say.
All of you listen and obey...
By God, this is a fine word.
It is certainly not a man's word.
It is as if I was blindfolded and now I can see.
One God having created us all from a single soul,
which makes us all equal in creation, rights and duties.
No privilege is attached to wealth or lineage.
Turning to God, maintaining what is right, fair, benevolent
and good are the only criteria for reward.
But, if Abu Sufyan and his companions did what they did today
when Saad Ibn Abi Waqqas was with you,
what will they do to us
if we were to abandon their ways and follow the Prophet?
Abu Ammar. You have committed yourself
when you felt the truth in what your son has said
and reported of God's messenger.
Whom should you fear: our allies, the Makhzooms
or God, our and their Master?
Yes, indeed, I was a slave woman in Abu Hudhayfah's home,
and he was an honorable and kind man.
He set me free and gave me in marriage to you.
Yet, the women of Quraysh have always treated me as a slave.
When they see me, they say, "Abu Hudhayfah's slave girl."
If any of them calls me to go over to her,
she only wants me to serve her.
I am never allowed to sit with them.
Only now I learn that when I am God's servant,
no creature may have any authority over me,
Ammar, take me now to the Prophet
so that I embrace Islam, as you have done.
If your father prefers to stay behind,
fearing his allies of the Makhzoom clan, so be it.
I will remain dutiful to him in every way,
as long as I don't disobey God.
Bilal!
Show us what you can do.
I have no need to fight him.
Who cares what you need? You do what I need. Go!
Your father is unfair to him.
What can the son of Hamamah do with such a mighty fellow!
Come on you, son of Hamamah,
show us your strength.
If you beat him, I will give you a prize.
This is Abu Dasamah. Blessed be your hand.
The Abyssinian has been sympathetic to his fellow Abyssinian.
I don't know why I pay for your food and drink.
You have the thickest skin and a sparrow's heart.
Go! Go!
- You! - How admirable you were today.
No one saw me.
Haven't I told you not to visit me?
Do you fear your master, or what people may say?
If I don't fear for myself, I fear for you.
Your master is very pleased with you today,
because you beat all your opponents.
People don't care when a slave meets a slave woman.
Just as they don't care when an animal seeks another.
Then fulfill your promise and speak to your master.
I don't think he would refuse.
The Arabs have always arranged marriages between their slaves
The time is not right yet.
When will it be right?
I don't know. I don't know... Don't keep arguing with me.
I thought that you would be kind to me today
Raihanah!
Don't you understand my feelings?
By God, I would love you to be my wife today, rather than tomorrow.
But you are doing nothing about it.
This is because I don't want to bring into the world a child
who will belong to someone else,
just like an animal fathering a cub.
I want my freedom first.
Can an animal fall in love and get married?
They only take it to another animal, hoping to increase their animals.
Why should I increase the number of their slaves?
Do you really hope that Jubair Ibn Mut'im would ever set you free?
He may do.
How miserable you are, Wahshi! And alas for my misery too.
You can hope, but you will spend your life
looking for something that will never happen.
The Arabs say: Despair is one of two forms of comfort.
The other comfort is death, and to me it is the one I prefer.
"In the name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever-Merciful."
"Warn your nearest kindred,"
"and spread the wing of your tenderness over all of the believers who follow you."
Speed up.
Muhammad has called on his people to come over
only to make his call public.
What has so far been a report is about to become a tangible fact.
Such a fact is certainly unlike a mere report.
You Hashimites! You have heard my nephew, Muhammad,
whom you have known to be the most truthful of people,
the kindest and the best-mannered.
When he asked you whether you would believe him
if he were to tell you that horsemen behind the mountain were about to attack you,
you answered that you would,
as you never experienced him telling a lie.
He then called on you to believe in his faith
and worship none other than God,
and to accept that he is God's Prophet and messenger.
You make your own choice.
It is not for that I have called you today.
He is the one to put his argument and present his evidence.
However, I know that he has come up with something very serious,
unprecedented in Quraysh's history.
I have seen grim faces, and others foretelling evil.
It is only a question of time before they make up their minds
and devise their plot against Muhammad.
As for me, I will never give up my nephew.
You heard me when I said to him:
Go ahead and do what you have been bidden.
By God, I will continue to look after you and protect you.
Let me hear what you have to say.
This is wicked.
This is what I said and will say; this is wicked.
My Hashimite clansmen, take my view,
as I am also his uncle.
By God, I have never known anyone bringing his own people
a worse catastrophe than Muhammad is bringing you.
He is deserting the faith of his forefathers and his people,
and denouncing your gods.
What will you do when all Arabs are ranked against you?
Are we a match for all the Arabs?
It is better that his own clansmen should confine him.
It is much easier than letting the rest of Quraysh,
supported by other Arabs, attack us.
Nay! By God, we shall protect him for as long as we survive.
You have heard me, and heard him.
Who of you will uphold my position?
Abu Talib, you are our master.
- All of us support your position. - Yes, indeed, all of us.
We shall protect him with you, even if it means that we all perish.
Then disperse.
How do you feel about him?
Just as you should feel,
and as should be felt by anyone from Quraysh
who wants his people to remain united, closing ranks,
and who hates to see them severing relations with their own kindred,
becoming hostile to one another.
Should they do that, they will be overwhelmed by the rest of the Arabs.
You think this will happen?
Oh! Do you think it is merely a word to be said,
accepted by some and rejected by others,
Zaid, we are the people of the Haram.
The rest of the Arabs pay homage to us because of the Haram.
To them, obeying us is part of religion.
Anyone who goes against our wishes is violating the commands of his gods.
Trade, Umar. It is through the Haram and trade
that the Quraysh gained their supremacy.
By both indeed. No harm does Quraysh suffer
because God has assigned it the custody of the Haram,
bringing it benefits that help it to maintain and serve it,
and to be hospitable to its pilgrims.
All this is fine. It is indeed through the Haram
that the Quraysh people have become wealthy and strong.
They then use their wealth to maintain the Haram and to be hosts to its pilgrims.
Thus, God has given them the privileges of religion and wealth,
By both, they gained supremacy among the Arabs and control over them.
How will things be if the Arabs discover that Quraysh has become divided,
with some people saying that Quraysh's religion has no true basis.
This means that they have no special sanctity.
We shall not follow its faith
or do its rituals until Quraysh itself has changed.
If Quraysh does not change, then we will worship God in our homes,
or else, we fight them over the Haram and take it away from them if we can,
so that we can perform our rituals according to the commands of our true faith.
Where will Quraysh go then? What will be left for it?
This is my view,
and I shall ensure that the Adiy people, young and old, shall enforce it.
What is the matter?
We must not be late for the elders of Quraysh
as they are meeting in Dar Al-Nadwah, discussing a serious matter.
As I have said; what do I have to do with the Quraysh elders?
How do you say this? You know that they are meeting
to discuss what to do about Muhammad and his religion.
Every clan of Quraysh is represented in the meeting.
Is it appropriate that the Adiy clan be absent?
They will not be absent when you are in the meeting.
You are the elder.
But Quraysh knows, as I do,
that you are the one who is more resolute, eloquent, courageous
and held in awe by all people.
Hold it, hold it. I am not taken in by what you say. I only want...
By God I am only saying the truth.
What is the harm if my brother takes a lead over me,
when his clear opinion gives him an edge?
Then, our father, Al-Khattab, chose you to replace him in the people's meetings,
and the Adiy clan accepted that, taking your views with respect,
and then Quraysh has been happy with that,
making you its ambassador who defends its case.
- I am perfectly happy with that. - But I am not happy with it.
Everyone is suited for the role assigned to him.
If what you are meeting for is good,
it is sufficient that one man from Al-Khattab's family shares in it.
If it is evil,
it is sufficient that one of us shoulders it on our behalf.
Are you playing and gambling,
when your elders are inside discussing a very serious matter,
thinking what they should do about Muhammad.
Our elders can take care of the problem.
They with their wise judgement and we with our swords when they wish.
Umar has become one of the elders, although he is younger than me.
He had better stay with us.
His father, Al-Khattab vacated his place for him, and the Adiy clan accepted him.
He is indeed a worthy choice, even though he has a touch of roughness.
Besides, he is a maternal relative of ours. So, watch what you say.
Khalid is right.
Who says that I was about to speak ill of him?
I can see it in your eyes, Amr.
I know you too well.
Now, Umair, place a bet for me and Safwan for two camels.
Two camels! Isn't one sufficient?
It works for both of us. If you win, your pleasure is doubled.
And if I lose, my disappointment is doubled.
Safwan Ibn Umayyah, the desert's most generous son, is worried about poverty,
while he slaughters camels every night for his guests!
I don't mind slaughtering camels for the right purpose.
- As to losing them... - What is the right purpose?
- What did you say? - You feed the people
so that they would call you the desert's most generous son!
Whoever says it is telling the truth.
What do people say about Amr Ibn Al-Aas?
When everyone is confused and cannot find the right way,
all resort to Amr.
I am not sure whether they praise you for cleverness,
or condemn you for dodginess. It is confusing.
No confusion. If it is in our favour, it is valuable cleverness,
and if it is against us, it is low behavior.
What do you say: shall he draw the lots for two camels?
It is two, then.
- With whom do I start? - With Safwan.
With Safwan.
He has lost consciousness!
Al-Gharim, cousin!
Is this what you do to your cousin and friend?
What can I do when I only administer the game?
It's all right, Safwan. You are wealthy, and so is your father.
If you lose some of it, he will help you.
Neither my wealth, nor my father's,
is greater than your father's wealth, Al-Waleed Ibn Al-Mugheerah.
He has subdued many people
in Makkah and Taif by means of his wealth.
I prayed to Al-Lat and Al-Uzza. Yes, indeed I did.
I even walked around them before coming to join you.
I continue to slaughter my sacrifice for them and feed people.
Perhaps they didn't hear you as you did not raise your voice.
Or probably because you do not sacrifice the best of your camels for them.
Would you like to have a game, Amr?
If your friend, Safwan, visited Al-Lat and Al-Uzza before joining us,
and he continues to sacrifice his money and camels for them,
yet they did not answer his prayers.
What will they do to little Amr Ibn Al-Aas
who did not pass by them for a month
and only sacrificed a sickly sheep for them?
- What about you, Abu Jandal? - Huh?
Abu Jandal is more interested in the elders' discussions.
When he has made all the gods into one God
and disowned our deities and idols,
how can it be said that he did nothing we dislike?
Why should we care, if we persevere with our gods?
Or do you fear that Muhammad
might turn you away from your fathers' religion.
If so, then you are unsure of it.
Abu Al-Waleed, people are not the same in such a matter.
Some of us are no longer with us.
Where are Abu Bakr, Uthman, Abu Ubaidah or Abd Al-Rahman Ibn Awf?
We only know of his followers those who belong to clans that protect them.
Hence, they were prepared to declare their faith.