The Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ experienced extreme violence and much suffering at the behest of the Quraysh, particularly when he went to offer prayers at the Ka’ba. The greatest perpetrators against the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ was a group called al-Mustahziūn, the Scorners.

The first and most brazen was Abū Jahl, ‘Amar bin Hishām bin al-Mughīra al-Makhzūmī al-Qarashī. He announced one day: “O people of Quraysh! Muhammad offers what you see by faulting your religion, ridiculing your deities, doubting your prospects and insulting your forefathers. By Allah, I promise I will await him tomorrow with a large and heavy rock. When he falls in prostration during his prayers I will shatter his skull with it. Forsake me after it or protect me, let the Banū ‘Abd Munāf do with me what they want!” The next morning he selected a rock like he had described and sat waiting for the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ. He ‎ﷺ arrived for his prayers routinely. The Quraysh waited in their huddles for what Abū Jahl was going to do. When he ‎ﷺ prostrated, Abū Jahl took the stone and headed in his direction. As he approached, he retreated with his face losing its colour out of fear. He abandoned the rock in his hand.

The men of Quraysh surrounded him and questioned: “What happened to you O father of Hakam?” He stuttered, “I came over to him to do what I said I would, but as I approached I saw a terrifying camel, the likes of which I have never seen before. I thought it would eat me!” When this was mentioned to the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ, he informed: “That was archangel Jibrīl. Had he come closer, he would have taken him!”

Abū Jahl would often prevent the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ from prayers at the Ka’ba. He said to him ‎ﷺ on one occasion after seeing him pray, “Did I not forbid you from this?” The Messenger ‎ﷺ responded to him sternly and warned him. He retorted, “Are you threatening me when I have the most support in the valley?” Allah Almighty ﷻ revealed a warning for him in the final verses of Sūrat ul-‘Alaq:

“No, but if he ceases not We will cease him by the forelock. The lying, sinful forelock. Then let him call his henchmen. We will call the guards of Hell. No, do not obey him, but prostrate and draw near.” [The Quran – 96:15-19]

Of his hostility towards the Messenger ‎ﷺ ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ūd narrates from the narrations of al-Bukhārī. He says: “We were with the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ in the masjid whilst he ﷺ was praying. Abū Jahl said: “Is there anyone who will fetch the entrails of the camels of so-and-so, and throw them over Muhammad whilst he is in prostration?” ‘Uqba bin Abī Mu’īt bin Abī ‘Amr bin Umayya bin ‘Abd Shams, arose and brought those entrails. He threw them over upon the Prophet ‎ﷺ whilst he was in prostration. None of the Muslims present in the masjid were able to remove them from him ‎ﷺ due to their weakness in resisting their enemy. He ‎ﷺ remained in prostration until his daughter Fatima came, removed the squalor and threw it. When he ‎ﷺ stood up he supplicated against the perpetrators of this heinous act: “Lord! The matter of the Quraysh is with You.” He named a people and I saw them fall on the day of Badr.”

From the encounters of the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ with Abū Jahl was when he bought some camels from a man called al-Arāshī and withheld the payment from him. The man came to the gathering of the Quraysh in hope that they will assist in recouping his money. They directed him to the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ to get his justice from Abū Jahl. A sinister joke, for they knew the ways of this wicked man with the Messenger ‎ﷺ. The man came to him ‎ﷺ and asked for help against Abū Jahl. He ‎ﷺ went with him and knocked on his door. He asked: “Who is it?” He ‎ﷺ replied: “Muhammad.” He came out, pale skinned. The Messenger ‎ﷺ said to him: “Give him his right.” Abū Jahl said: “Don’t move, I’ll go get it.” The man didn’t leave until he had taken all what he was owed. The Quraysh said: “Be ruined Abū Hakam?! We’ve never seen anything like what you have done.” He responded: “You be ruined! By Allah, no sooner had he knocked on my door that I heard a loud voice that filled me with fear. Above me was a terrifying camel, the likes of which I have never seen before.”

From the Scorners was Abū Lahab bin ‘Abd ul-Muttalib; the uncle of the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ. He was worse to him ‎ﷺ than those unrelated. He would throw filth at his ‎ﷺ door, as he was his neighbour. The Messenger ‎ﷺ would remove it and ask: “O Banū ‘Abd Munāf, what kind of neighbourhood is this?” His wife, Umm Jamīl bint Harb bin Umayya, would share in his wickedness. She would often hurl obscenity at the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ and spread false rumours, especially after Sūrat ul-Masad was revealed about her and her husband.

Amongst the Scorners was ‘Uqba bin Abī Mu’īt. He was the other neighbour to the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ. He would do with him ‎ﷺ as Abū Lahab did. He arranged a feast once and invited the elders of Quraysh to it. Amongst them was the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ. He ‎ﷺ said: “By Allah, I will not eat your food until you believe in Allah”. He declared his belief. This reached Ubayy bin Khalf al-Jumhī al-Qarashī, one of his friends, who asked: “What have I heard about you?” He replied: “Nothing. An honourable man came to my home and refused to eat my food until I declared my faith. I was ashamed if he left my house without eating, so I declared it.” Ubayy pushed: “I refuse to even look at you if you didn’t meet Muhammad and disgrace him, spit in his face and strike his eye!” When ‘Uqba saw the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ he did that. Regarding him Allah Almighty ﷻ revealed in Sūrat ul-Furqān:

“On the day when the wrongdoer gnaws his hands, he will say: Ah, would that I had chosen a way together with the Messenger. Alas for me! Ah, would that I had never taken such an one for friend! He led me astray from the reminder after it had reached me. Satan was ever man’s deserter in the hour of need.” [The Quran – 25:27-29]

The worst of what that evil man did to the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ is reported by al-Bukhārī in his authentic collection. He says as the Prophet ‎ﷺ was praying in the purlieus of the Ka’ba, ‘Uqba bin Abī Mu’īt came and placed his shawl around the neck of the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ. He strangled him intensely until Abū Bakr, Allah ﷻ be pleased with him, came and took him by the shoulders. He pushed him away from the Prophet ‎ﷺ and said: “Would you kill a man because he said: My Lord is Allah, and has brought you clear proofs from your Lord?” [The Quran – 40:28]

From the mob of Scorners was al-‘Āss bin Wāil as-Sahmī al-Qarashī, the father of ‘Amr bin al-‘Āss, Allah ﷻ be pleased with him. He had an extreme hatred for the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ. He would say: “Muhammad has deceived his companions that they will live on after death! By Allah, only time will destroy us.” Allah ﷻ replied to his claim in Sūrat ul-Jāthīya:

“And they say: There is nothing but our life of the world; we die and we live; and nothing destroys us save time; when they have no knowledge whatsoever of that; they do but guess.” [The Quran – 45:24]

He owed a sum of money to Khabbāb bin al-Aratt, a Muslim, which he had held back. al-‘Āss mocked: “Does Muhammad, who’s religion you follow, not claim that in paradise its residents will have what they desire from gold, silver, garments and slaves?” Khabbāb, Allah ﷻ be pleased with him, replied: “Yes.” He joked: “Wait for me till that day. I will come with abundant wealth and children. I will repay your debt!” Allah ﷻ revealed in Sūra Maryam:

“Have you seen him who disbelieves in Our revelations and says: Assuredly I shall be given wealth and children? Has he pursued the unseen, or has he made a pact with the Beneficent? No, but we shall record that which he says and prolong for him a span of torment. And We shall inherit from him that whereof he spoke, and he will come to Us, alone.” [The Quran – 19:77-80]

From the band of Scorners was al-Aswad bin ‘Abd Yaghūth az-Zuhrī al-Qarashī of the tribe of Banū Zuhra, maternal-relatives of the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ. When he would see the companions of the Prophet ‎ﷺ approaching he would say: “The kings of Earth have come to you”, mocking them because they were rough; their clothes grim and food stale. He would say sarcastically to the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ: “Did you converse with the heavens today?”

From them was al-Aswad bin ‘Abdul Muttalib al-Asadī, the cousin of Lady Khadīja, Allah ﷻ be pleased with her. When the Muslims would pass by them, he and his mob would make denunciatory gestures toward them. About them was revealed in Sūrat ul-Mutaffifīn:

“Indeed the guilty used to laugh at those who believed. And wink one to another when they passed them; And when they returned to their own folk, they returned jesting; And when they saw them they said: Indeed these have gone astray.” [The Quran – 83:29-32]

From them was al-Walīd bin al-Mughīra, paternal-uncle of Abū Jahl. He was a noble of Quraysh and lived in luxury. He once heard the Quran recited by the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ and addressed his people, the Banū Makhzūm: “By Allah, I just heard some words of Muhammad, which are not the words of man nor that of the Jinn. It has a sweetness and a beauty engulfs it. Hovering over it is prosperity and flowing beneath it is abundance. It is most lofty and cannot be bettered.” The Quraysh replied: “By Allah, al-Walīd has defected and surely all Quraysh will defect.” Abū Jahl said: “I will deal with him.” He went to him and sat with him demoralised and spoke of what was bothering him. al-Walīd stood and came to them. He questioned: “Do you think Muhammad is a madman? Have you experienced him in delusion? You say he is a fortune teller, have you ever heard him foretell? You claim he is a poet, have you ever seen him render a couplet? You think he is a liar, have you ever witnessed any lie of his?” They replied to all that: “By God, no. So what is he?” He thought a while and then said: “He is a sorcerer. Do you not see that he separates man from his family, children and wealth?” The crowd roared with delight. Allah ﷻ revealed regarding al-Walīd in Sūrat ul-Muddaththir, addressing His ﷻ Messenger ‎ﷺ:

“Leave Me with him whom I created lonely. And then bestowed on him ample means. And sons abiding in his presence. And made smooth for him. Yet he desires that I should give him more. No! For surely he has been stubborn to Our revelations. On him I shall impose a fearful doom. For surely he did consider; then he planned. Destroyed is he, how he planned! Again, destroyed is he, how he planned! Then looked he. Then frowned he and showed displeasure. Then turned he away in pride. And said: This is nothing else than magic from of old. This is nothing else than speech of mortal man. Him shall I fling into the burning.” [The Quran – 74:11-26]

About him too it is revealed in Sūrat ul-Qalam:

“Neither obey you each oath-monger…”

The one who takes many oaths. This is enough of a rebuke for the one who constantly takes oaths.

“…most feeble.”

Lowly. It means a liar, who is self-depreciated.

“Detractor, spreader abroad of slanders.”

Fault-finder and accuser. Carrier of news to instigate problems between people.

“Hinderer of the good, transgressor, malefactor.”

Coarse and cold hearted.

“Greedy therewithall, intrusive.”

Interfering.

“It is because he is possessed of wealth and children. That, when our revelations are recited to him, he says: Mere fables of the men of old. We shall brand him on the nose.” [The Quran – 68:10-16]

A metaphor for humiliation and embarrassment, as the face is the most honourable part of the body. The nose is most prominent on it. For that, anything that indicates honour will be removed from him; such as pride, which is his protection. So, a mark on the most distinguished part is humiliation and degradation.

Also from the Scorners was an-Nadr bin Hārith al-‘Abdarī of the tribe of ‘Abd ud-Dār bin Qusayy. When the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ would sit with a few listeners to talk to them and recall events of their past, Nadr would call out: “Gather O people Quraysh! I speak better than him.” He would proceed to talk of kings of Persia as he was acquainted with their tales. He would scoff: “Muhammad’s tales are not but myths of the predecessors.” Regarding him it was revealed in Sūrat Luqmān:

“And of mankind is he who pays for mere pastime of discourse, that he may mislead from Allah’s way without knowledge, and makes it the butt of mockery For such there is a shameful doom. And when Our revelations are recited to him he turns away in his pride as if he heard them not, as of there were a deafness in his ears. So give him tidings of a painful doom.” [Blessed Quran – 31:6-7]

Allah ﷻ punished all of these individuals, as He ﷻ promised in Sūrat ul-Hijr:

“We are sufficient for you against the scoffers. Who set some other god along with Allah. But they will come to know. [Blessed Quran – 15:95-96]

Allah ﷻ expresses the punishment in the form of the past tense to strengthen its inevitability. The verse is of the Makkan period and the destruction of this group was after the migration. Some of them were killed, like Abū Jahl, Nadr bin al-Hārith and ‘Uqba bin Abī Mu’īt. Some of them were subjected by Allah ﷻ to excruciating diseases and they perished with it, like Abū Lahab, al-‘Āss bin Wāil and Walīd bin al-Mughīra.