Part 1 · Pages 298-299
Abu Jahl Is Prevented from Throwing the Stone
English rendering of the source section
Local English translation from the Arabic text; Qur’anic citations and editorial explanations are distinguished.
This local English rendering may condense the Arabic narration and editorial notes. It is not a complete published English edition. Consult the Arabic source for exact wording and context.
Read the corresponding Arabic sectionThe next morning Abu Jahl took a stone and waited. The Messenger prayed facing toward Syria, with the Ka‘bah between him and that direction. When the Messenger prostrated, Abu Jahl approached with the stone, then retreated in terror, his color changed and his hands stiff around it. He dropped it. Asked what happened, he said a huge camel had appeared between him and the Messenger, unlike any he had ever seen, and seemed ready to devour him. Ibn Ishaq was told that the Messenger said it was Gabriel and that, had Abu Jahl come nearer, the angel would have seized him.
The source records variant descriptions of the Ka‘bah’s corners and of the apparition Abu Jahl saw. A separate hadith report describes a trench of fire and angels between him and the Messenger. Genealogical variants are given for al-Nadr.