Lesley hazleton the first muslim the story of muhammad

sons of our mother and father, / When asked for help, they say, ‘It’s none of our business’. . . / You have flung us aside like a burning coal, / You have slandered your brothers among the people.” And he excoriated the Umayyad leader abu-Sufyan, whom he’d considered a friend and ally: “He averted his face from me as he passed, / Sweeping along as though he were one of the great ones of the earth. / He tells us that he is sorry for us like a good friend, / But hides evil designs in his heart.”

This boycott was “a heinous offense” against all accepted ethics and values, abu-Talib concluded, and called on tribal solidarity, warning that “if we perish, you too will perish.”

A bu-Jahl fought back, doing his utmost to bolster the boycott by pressuring other leaders to enforce clan discipline and bring any of Muhammad’s followers within their ranks into line. In response, a small group of believers left Mecca for Ethiopia, determined to stay there until such time as tempers calmed in Mecca and the boycott was called off. Eleven men and four women, they were led by Muhammad’s eldest daughter and her new husband Uthman, one of Muhammad’s few wealthy followers, who had married her the moment her first husband had succumbed to the pressure to divorce her.

Ethiopia offered them not only refuge, but as ibn-Ishaq put it, “an ample living, security, and a good market” as well