the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). They said, 'We have never seen anything like the patience we have shown toward this man! He has declared our intelligence foolish, insulted our forefathers, criticized our religion, divided our community, and abused our gods. We have endured a serious matter from him,' or words to that effect. While they were engaged in this, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) appeared and began walking until he kissed the corner [of the Ka'bah], then passed by them while circumambulating the House. When he passed by them, they made snide remarks about him. He [the narrator] said: I recognized that on the face of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Then he continued circumambulating. When he passed by them a second time, they made similar remarks, so he stopped and said, 'Do you hear, O assembly of Quraysh? By Him in Whose hand is my soul, I have come to you with slaughter.' His words took hold of the people, such that there was not a man among them but that it was as if a bird were perched upon his head. Even the one among them who was most severe in his hostility toward him before that would try to appease him with the best words he could find, to the extent that he would say, 'Depart, O Abu al-Qasim, in righteousness, for by Allah, you were never ignorant.'

He said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) departed. When the next day came, they gathered in the Hijr, and I was with them. Some of them said to others, 'You mentioned the man and what he reached of you, and what reached you from him, until when he began to cause you to hate [what he said], you left him alone.' While they were in this state, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) appeared, and they leaped toward him as one man and surrounded him, saying to him, 'Are you the one who says such-and-such?' regarding what reached them of his criticism of their gods and their religion. He said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied, 'Yes, I am the one who says that.' He said: I saw a man seize him by the garment. He said: Then Abu Bakr al-Siddiq stood in his defense, saying while he wept, 'Woe to you! Would you kill a man for saying, "My Lord is Allah"?' Then they turned away from him. I considered that the most intense [confrontation] I had ever seen Quraysh reach with him.

His saying, the Exalted: "And they will come to know when they see the punishment" to the end of the verse.

15198 - Abu Sa'id al-Ashajj narrated to us, Ibn Fudayl reported to us, from his father, from Isma'il ibn Muslim, from al-Hasan: "And they will come to know." He said: "A threat."

His saying, the Exalted: "Who is more astray in way?"

Its interpretation has preceded in this Surah.

His saying, the Exalted: "Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire?"

15199 - My father narrated to us, Yahya ibn 'Abd al-Hamid al-Himmani reported to us, Ya'qub ibn 'Abd Allah reported to us, from Ja'far, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn 'Abbas regarding His saying: "Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire?" He said: "A man would worship a white stone for a period of time in the Pre-Islamic period (Jahiliyyah), and if he found a stone more beautiful than it, he would worship the other and leave the first." And the same was narrated from Sa'id ibn Jubayr.