The polytheists' statements opposing the Islamic call in light of the Holy Qur’an

Abstract

      The  polytheists  countered  the  Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) call  with  various  techniques  aimed at turning people away from the path of  God  and  distorting  the  truth  of the  Islamic  religion .Among the means they resorted to were: mockery to ridicule, attacking the person of the Messenger ( peace and blessings be  upon him),  and attaching various accusations  to  him  in  order   to   turn  people  away  from  his call  and weaken the resolve  of the believers in him.

They accused him of madness at times , and of  sorcery  at  others ,  and some of them claimed that he was a poet who fabricated what he said. However, they soon found themselves impressed by the strength  of his eloquence , unable to oppose him, their hearts trembling at the truth of  his words  even  though  they  denied  it  with  their  tongues. At the beginning of the call, the leaders of Quraysh did not pay much attention to it, as they did not yet realize the extent of the threat it posed to their interests. But when the Quran came to expose the falsehood of their beliefs and reveal  the corruption  of  their veneration   of  stones and their taking them as  gods  that neither benefit  nor harm  , the idea of​​compromise occurred to them, and their attempts began to go through several stages, which are:

1- The stage of relentless efforts to extinguish   the call in  its  infancy : From the very beginning, the Quraysh tried to extinguish the light of the  call  and  prevent  it  from  spreading  in  their society .  They attempted to stop it at its root before its principles could take  hold  in   people's   hearts. They approached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), offering him wealth, prestige, and power, hoping he would abandon his message and follow their desires.

2- The stage of mutual  appeasement   and  seeking   coexistence  without  conflict : After the failure  of the Quraysh's attempts to stop the call to Islam by force and enticement, they resorted to a less confrontational  approach, proposing mutual appeasement. This meant that each side would refrain from criticizing the other's beliefs and allow each  other to pursue their affairs and interests without   interference.   Their aim was to  secure   concessions that would preserve their interests and allow them to continue living a stable social life without direct confrontation with the call to Islam.

3- The stage of negotiating conditions: After the failure of direct attempts to stop the call,  the  Quraysh  resorted  to a more cunning method, which was negotiating conditions, trying to   impose   restrictions   that   would   guarantee the continuation of their influence and status amidst the spread of the  call.  They wanted the   call to  be  established , but within limits that they defined, so that the wealthy and powerful would retain clear privileges that distinguished them from the general public.