I asked ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr about the worst thing the polytheists did to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). He said: I saw ‘Uqbah ibn Abi Mu‘ayt coming to the Prophet while he was praying. ‘Uqbah wrapped his garment around the Prophet's neck and strangled him therewith severely

Explanation

‘Urwah ibn Az-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwām (may Allah have mercy upon him) asked ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ās (may Allah be pleased with him) about the worst harm and persecution the polytheists had ever done to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). He told him that he saw ‘Uqbah ibn Abi Mu‘ayt approaching the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) while he was praying in the Hijr of the Ka‘bah. He wrapped the Prophet's neck with his garment or that of the Prophet, and squeezed it severely. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came and pushed him away while crying and said: "{Do you kill a man [merely] because he says: 'My Lord is Allah' while he has brought you clear proofs from your Lord?} [Sūrat Ghāfir: 28]" This was the worst thing ‘Abdullāh (may Allah be pleased with him) had ever seen. ‘Urwah found out that there was a severer persecution as in the report he narrated from ‘Ā'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) the Prophet's wife where she said that she asked the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him): "Have you ever encountered a day harder than the day of the battle of Uhud?" The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) replied: "Your people have troubled me a lot, and the worst trouble was what I experienced on the Day of ‘Aqabah when I presented myself to Ibn ‘Abd Yālīl ibn ‘Abd Kulāl and he did not respond to my call. So I departed, overwhelmed with excessive sorrow, and proceeded on, and could not recover till I found myself at Qarn Ath-Tha‘ālib where I lifted my head towards the sky to see a cloud shading me unexpectedly. I looked up and saw Jibrīl in it. He called me saying: 'Allah heard what your people had said to you, and what they had said in response to your call. He has sent the angel of the mountains to you, so that you may order him to do whatever you wish him to do to these people.' The angel of the mountains called and greeted me, and then said: 'O Muhammad! Order what you wish. If you like, I will let Al-Akhshabayn (i.e. two mountains) fall upon them.' The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'No but I hope that Allah will let them beget children who will worship Allah alone, and worship none besides Him.'" [Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]