The Quraysh Try to Hurt the Prophet
When the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ tried to tell the people of Makkah about Islam, they did not listen. They were harsh with him and they said mean things, but this did not stop the Prophet ﷺ from speaking the truth. Even though they hurt him, he kept on trying to tell them that there is only one God, no matter what they did to him. The leaders of Makkah, who were members of the Quraysh tribe, soon became tired of the Prophet ﷺ. They did not want him to destroy their way of life. They made money from idol worship, and they did not care about the true faith.
The people of Quraysh had tried ignoring Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. They had tried throwing rocks and stones at him. They had offered him money and lead- ership if he would stop teach- ing people about Islam. But the Prophet was strong and patient. He let them throw rocks and say mean things. He did not want money or leadership. He only wanted people to listen to the truth; there is only one God. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ did not stop preaching.
Some people started to listen to the Prophet. Allah guided them, and they understood that worshipping idols was wrong. These people accepted Islam. The leaders of Makkah were getting wor- ried that they would lose con- trol of their people. They were worried that Muhammad ﷺ was challenging their religion and way of life. The Quraysh knew that they would not be able to stop Muhammad ﷺ without strong action.
Finally, they decided to stop Muhammad ﷺ forever.
The Quraysh decided that the only way to stop Muhammad ﷺ was to kill him. But who would kill him? No one wanted to take the blame. If only one person or group killed the Prophet ﷺ, his supporters and followers would kill them in retalliation.
Then, someone had an idea. At a secret night meeting, a group of Makkan leaders came together. However, there was another person in the group. It was Shaytan, disguised as a man. He helped the group come up with an evil plan. Several different young men would attack the Prophet at the same time! Each youth would be from a different tribe. This would make it impossible to punish anyone for Muhammad's death. Most of the Quraysh people thought this was a perfect idea. However, there were some people who did not think it was a good idea.
The Quraysh planned to murder the Prophet at night, when he would be sleeping. They wanted to take him by surprise, so he would not be able to protect himself.
The Quraysh did not know that Muhammad had the best protection of all.
The Quraysh did not believe that Allah was on the Prophet's side, so they did not know that He was watching them all the time and hearing everything they said. Allah sent Angel Jibreel to warn the Prophet of the Quraysh tribe's plan.
Allah did not want the Quraysh to hurt the Prophet ﷺ . It was not Prophet Muhammad's time to die.
When the Prophet ﷺ found out that the Quraysh were plan- ning to kill him, his cousin, 'All bin Abi Talib رضي الله عنه spoke up He loved the Prophet more than he loved himself. He knew how important the Prophet's life was. Muhammad ﷺ still had to teach many more people about Islam, Ali volunteered to lie in Prophet Muhammad's bed on the planned night, pretending to be the Prophet. This would give Muhammad ﷺ a chance to escape from Makkah. The city was getting too dangerous for Rasoolullah and the Muslims.
On the night of the plan, the group of young men from the Quraysh walked quietly and quickly to Muhammad's house. They were all carrying spears and swords they would use to kill Muhammad ﷺ.
They did not make any noise and they hid along the way. Once the young men reached Muhammad's house, they listened to make sure he was asleep. They did not hear anything, so they got ready to go in and attack him. They burst into the house with their weapons, and pulled the sheet off of the man lying on the bed. They were just about to kill him, when one youth shouted, "STOP!"
The young man had seen Ali, not Muhammad ﷺ in the bed.
They did not want to kill 'Ali, Prophet Muhammad was their target.
The leaders were very angry. Their plan had failed, and they did not understand why people loved Muhammad ﷺ so much. They did not understand that Allah was on Muhammad's side, and that they were fighting somebody they could not beat.
After all this, the Prophet ﷺ went ahead with his plan to leave Makkah.