Imam Abu Ja’far At-Tabari (ra) states, “After three years of his Prophethood Allah (swt) commanded His Messenger (saw) to go out and proclaim the Message to the people publicly (enter the society) and summon them to it. Allah (swt) said to him,

“So proclaim what you have been commanded and tun away from the Polytheists”(TMQ al-Hijr, verse 94) (at-Tareekh at-Tabari Vol. 6 Par 1170).

It was in this phase of the Da’awah that the Prophet (saw) interacted with the society. He (saw) carried Islam to the people, in order to be established in authority. He (saw) challenged the authority of the Quraysh. He(saw) challenged the corrupt way they were running the affairs in their society i.e. the existing relationships. He (saw) also exposed their practices, facing with his Sahabah (ra) all types of persecution, boycotts and slander as a result. He (saw) rejected all attempts of the Quraysh and their leaders to be pliant and compromise on any aspect whatsoever. He carried Islam as the only leadership for the Arabs and the whole of humanity.

Hence the Da’awah took the way of an intellectual and political struggle in order to change every aspect of the system to establish the Deen of Allah, to uproot Kufr from its very basis and replace it with Islam.

This has all been narrated in the books of Sunnah and Seerah regarding the revelation of the verses of the Qur’an, the incidents surrounding them and the way in which the Prophet (saw) carried them to the people through the struggle.

The addressing of the relationships in the society

Allah (swt) in the various ayaat of the Qur’an addressed the various relationships and practices in the society. An example is when the Qur’an posed the question

“When the infant child asks, for what crime was she killed” (TMQ al-Takweer, verse 8-9)

The books of Seerah narrate that this Ayah had a profound effect across the society as burying the daughters was a widespread phenomena at that time, albeit a tradition that they were finding difficult to justify. It has been narrated that Sumayah (ra), the mother of ‘Ammar (ra) embraced Islam after these ayaat made her think of her own corrupt practices and therefore the new Deen of Muhammad (saw).

The Prophet (saw) also addressed, via the revelation, the way that cheating took place in the market place, the Qurayshi leaders were at the head of this particular practice and specifically when the unsuspecting pilgrims came. Allah (swt) stated in the Qur’an,

“Woe to those who deal in fraud” (TMQ al-Muttaffifeen, verse 1).

This was described by at-Tabari quoting Ibn Ishaq through Ibn Humayd from Salamah, “The Messenger of Allah (saw) proclaimed his Message to the people openly and declared Islam publicly …they did not withdraw from him or reject him in any way as far as I have heard (i.e. narration) until he spoke of their gods and denounced them. When he did this they took exception to him and united in their hostility to him…They objected to his departure from their ways and denouncing their gods…they approached Abu Talib (The uncle of the Prophet [saw] who was protecting his nephew from the Quraysh) and said, “Abu Talib your nephew has reviled our gods, denounced our Deen, derided our traditional values and told us our forefathers were ignorant.” According to the narration of Ibn Sad: “There isn’t a single evil that he hasn’t done.”

Hence we can see that the Da’awah of the Prophet (saw) was calling for a radical change in the way they were living their lives, and the manner in which the society was dealing in its worships, social values, economic practices. Their whole way of life and identity was being addressed, with a view to replacing them with a new Deen and a new way of life. Hence, he(saw) used to address the whole system of life by which the Quraysh lived their lives and was offering the system of Islam as an alternative led by the Prophet (saw) himself.

Struggle against the political leadership

These actions of the Prophet (saw) naturally brought him into struggle against the political leaders of the Quraysh who stood in the way of the Deen. As the Prophet (saw) persisted in this struggle against them and exposed them as a people standing in the way of the truth his struggle intensified into a full blown political struggle. The Qur’an addressed each of the rulers of the Quraysh in frank clear and un-ambiguous terms.

Al Wahidi in his Asbab un Nuzul Qur’an (page 502) relates that Abu Sufyan ibn Harb (before his embracement of Islam) one of the Quraishi leaders (who was the representative of the Quraish in many treaties including with the Messenger of Allah later (saw)) held a banquet and had a feast wheren he slaughtered two sheep. An orphan came to the house and asked him for some food, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb was so vexed at this that he swore at the child and beat him over the head with a stick. Then Allah (swt) revealed concerning him Surah al-Ma’un,

“Have you seen the one who belies the Deen? That is he who repels the orphan. And urges not on the feeding of the poor. So woe unto those performers of Salah (hypocrites). Those who delay their Salah. Those who do good deeds only to be seen. And withold small kindness.” (TMQ al-Ma’un, verses 1-7)

Ibn ‘Abbas (ra) narrated that “The Prophet (saw) went out towards al-Batha and ascended the mountains and shouted out ‘O Sabaha’ so the Qurayshi people gathered around him. He (saw) said, ‘Do you see if I tell an enemy is going to attack you in the morning or in the evening, will you believe me?’ They replied, ‘Yes’. He said, ‘Then I am a plain warner unto you of a severe punishment’. Abu Lahab said, ‘is it for this that you have gathered us? Taballak (May you perish)’. Then Allah (swt) revealed,

“Perish be the power of Abu Lahab! And perish again! His wealth will not enrich him. He will be burnt in a Fire of blazing flames. And his wife, too, who carries wood. In her neck is a twisted rope of palm fibre”. (TMQ al-Lahab, verses 1-5) (Bukhari Vol. 6 No 496.)

The direct result of this struggle was the persecution of the Sahabah (ra). Sumayah, as stated earlier, was tortured and killed amongst other Sahabah (ra) but the Prophet (saw) did not give up and continued carrying the Da’awah and struggling against the Qurayshi authorities in defiance to them. This is another indication of the obligatory nature of this aspect i.e. the political struggle.

It was also narrated that when Hamza (ra) embraced Islam he went to Abu Jahl and warned him from reviling his nephew i.e. the Prophet (saw) and that he was one of the followers of his Deen. The Prophet (saw) addressed this when he stated in a well known Hadith narrated by Abu Dawud, “The master of martyrs is Hamza and any man who stands in front of a tyrant ruler and orders him (with good i.e. the implementation of the Deen) and prohibits him (from the evil of other than the Deen) and is slain by him”. (Authenticated by Ibn Hajr al-Hathami in Majmoo’ al-Zaaid.)

Hence, the Prophet (saw) describes those Muslims who die in the struggle against tyrant rulers and the Sahabah (ra), who were killed by tyrants due to their Da’awah, not only as martyrs but as the masters of martyrs. This also gives an insight into two things, that the nature of the struggle against the rulers should be brave, frank with strength and remaining upon the truth and also that the Muslims should be prepared to die for this i.e. that it is a wajib element of the Da’awah to resume the Islamic way of life.

The attempts of the Quraysh to compromise with the Prophet (saw)

There were many attempts that were made by the Quraysh through Abu Talib the uncle of the Prophet (saw) at pliancy and compromise with the Qurayshi rulers but the Prophet (saw) rejected them all, stating that he was prepared to die carrying his Da’awah. They offered him kingship, money, women and a share in the rule. They stated that they would consult the Prophet (saw) in all matters but the he(saw) was clear in his response, “...by Allah, if they were to put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, on condition that I relinquish this matter, I would not relinquish it until Allah has made it dominant or I perish therein” (Imam al-Tabari in his Tareekh Vol. 6 par. 1179). In another instance he responded to them with a political vision under his leadership although he knew they would refuse. Imam Abu Ja’far at-Tabari narrates, (Abu Talib said to the Prophet (saw)) “Nephew here are the Shaykhs and the nobles of your tribe. They have asked for justice against you that you desist in reviling their gods and they will leave you to your god’. ‘Uncle’ he (saw) said, ‘Shall I not summon them to something, which is better than their gods?’ ‘What do you summon them to?’ he asked. The Prophet (saw) replied, ‘I summon them to utter a saying through which the Arabs will submit to them and they will rule over the non-Arabs.” Abu Jahl from among the gathering then said, ‘What is it by your father? We will give you ten the like of it!’ He (saw) said ‘That you should say, la ilaha ill Allah”. They took fright and said ‘Ask for anything other than this”. (Tareekh al-Tabari Vol. 6 Par 1177.)

Hence, the Prophet (saw) was by no means a compromiser, he(saw) insisted upon only Islam being dominant, with absolutely no Kufr sharing with it, or he’d die in the attempt at this. He(saw) was working for the radical political change of the whole of the system not merely a part of the system i.e. a partial change. He(saw) was working for a radical and comprehensive change from the basis upwards in every aspect of life.He(saw) was seeking to establish the authority for Islam that would be able to carry this Deen to the rest of the world. He was seeking to remove from the authority the Kufr and its rulers. Hence, the obligatory elements of this second phase of the Da’awah were the intellectual and political struggle against the Quraysh through highlighting the corruption of Kufr and the vision of the authority of Islam. He (saw) persisted in this despite the torture, persecution and the attempts of compromise.

He (saw) was prepared to die rather than compromise any element of his Da’awah and bore the hardships in this path. All these are clear Qara’in (indications) of the obligatory element of the political and intellectual struggle.