The Sun in My Right Hand

Quraysh's first strategy was pressure through the family. Delegations of chiefs went to Abu Talib: your nephew has insulted our gods, called our fathers astray, and divided our community; restrain him, or remove your protection and leave him to us. Abu Talib turned them away gently. The campaign continued; the call grew; they came again, harder: we cannot bear this any longer; stop him, or we fight you both until one side perishes.

Abu Talib was an old man facing the ruin of his standing and the threat of war against his whole clan. He sent for his nephew and said words heavy with weariness: son of my brother, spare me and spare yourself; do not place on my back more than I can carry.

The Prophet ﷺ thought his uncle was abandoning him, and his reply has rung in Muslim hearts ever since: O my uncle, by Allah, if they placed the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left so that I abandon this matter, I would not abandon it until Allah makes it prevail or I perish in its pursuit. Then his eyes filled and he rose to leave.

Abu Talib called him back. Go, son of my brother, he said; say what you wish, for by Allah I will never give you up to them, ever. The old chief kept that word through boycott and siege until his dying breath, and Quraysh learned that the way to the nephew did not run through the uncle.

They tried the opposite road too: Utbah ibn Rabi'ah came offering wealth until he ﷺ would be the richest of them, kingship if he wanted rule, physicians if this was an affliction. The Prophet ﷺ answered by reciting the opening of Surah Fussilat, revelation in its own defence, until Utbah returned to Quraysh with a changed face, advising them: leave this man be; by Allah, the speech I heard is not poetry, nor sorcery, nor soothsaying.