At a glance
Stage 2Told to warn his closest relatives, the Prophet ﷺ invited his family to a meal, and some of his uncles gave him protection while another set himself against the message.
- When
- c. 613 CE
- Where
- Makkah
- Key places
- Makkah, the homes of the clan of Hashim
- Read time
- 5 minutes
Part oneThe command to warn
About three years had passed since Hira. In that time the number of believers had grown slowly, one trusted person at a time. Then a new instruction came. Surah ash-Shu'ara tells the Prophet ﷺ to warn his nearest kin.
From the Quran
وَأَنذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ ٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ ٢١٤
And warn ˹all, starting with˺ your closest relatives,
In Makkah, family was everything. A person's safety, name and place in society came from the clan. If a member of a clan was harmed, the whole clan was expected to answer, and a man with no clan to speak for him was in real danger. The Prophet ﷺ belonged to the clan of Hashim, part of the larger tribe of Quraysh. His grandfather Abd al-Muttalib had been a leader of the city and had cared for the pilgrims who came to the Kaaba, and the family still carried the dignity of that service.
It made sense to begin with them. They had watched him grow up. They had seen him as an orphan, a shepherd, a trader and a husband, and they had called him al-Amin. If anyone could judge whether he spoke the truth, it was the people who had known him longest.
His family was large, and each member would answer the call in his own way. Four of his uncles matter most to this chapter.
The uncles
- Abu Talib: the head of the clan of Hashim, who had raised him after Abd al-Muttalib died.
- Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with him): close to him in age, a hunter and one of the strongest men in Makkah.
- Al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him): a successful merchant, well known and well connected.
- Abu Lahab: born Abd al-Uzza, and known by the nickname Abu Lahab, the father of flame.
Part twoThe meal
Soon afterwards, the Prophet ﷺ gathered the family of Abd al-Muttalib for a meal. A shared meal was the natural way to bring a clan together, and a host expected to be heard once his guests had eaten.
The first gathering did not go as he hoped. Abu Lahab spoke against him before he could explain himself, and the guests left without hearing the message. The Prophet ﷺ did not give up. He invited them again, and this time he was able to speak.
What he said was simple. There is one God, who created them and everything around them. He had been sent to them as His messenger. There would come a day when every person would answer for how they had lived, and it was a warning meant to save them from the loss of that day. He spoke as a relative who wanted the best for his own people.
No single voice answered for the family. Abu Lahab opposed the message from that day until his death, and he never softened. Abu Talib did not accept Islam, but he made it clear that he would stand by his nephew, and for the rest of his life he kept that promise. He loved the boy he had raised, and he trusted his honesty. Yet he felt tied to the faith of his forefathers and to the standing of his clan, and he could not bring himself to leave them. His protection mattered all the same. In a city where a person's clan was his shield, it stopped Quraysh from striking at the Prophet ﷺ openly.
Others took longer. Hamzah would come to Islam some time later, after an incident that is told in a later chapter. Al-Abbas stood by his nephew loyally for years, although he accepted Islam much later. Inside the Prophet's ﷺ own household, his wife, his daughters and young Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) had already believed.
So the family was divided, which was a sorrow in itself. A man who had been loved and trusted by all of them now saw some become protectors, some stay silent and one become an enemy. Belief, it turned out, was not inherited or decided by blood. Each person had to choose for himself.
This pattern repeats through the whole story. Some of the closest people to the Prophet ﷺ were among the last to believe, and some people from far away believed at once. The call did not belong to one family. It was for everyone, and it began in a household only because that was where trust was already strongest.
One more thing changed with that meal. Until then the call had been a quiet one. After this, the Prophet ﷺ would take it to the whole city, from a small hill beside the Kaaba.
Belief was not inherited or decided by blood. Each person had to choose for himself.
More on How to Muslim
WatchLectures for this chapter
The mapWhere it happened
- Makkah
- the Kaaba
- the quarter of the clan of Hashim
This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.
SourcesSources for this chapter
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