6.4 The Boycott

The Harsh Turning Point in Makkah

When the message of Islam continued to spread in Makkah despite persecution, Quraysh moved from individual acts of abuse to a collective and organized plan to break the resolve of the Prophet ﷺ and his followers. This plan took the form of a total social and economic boycott that targeted not only the Muslims, but also the entire clan that protected the Prophet ﷺ.

The boycott is a key turning point in the Makkan period. It shows how far Quraysh were ready to go in order to stop the message of tawhid, and it also reveals the deep patience and trust in Allah that the Prophet ﷺ and his supporters displayed during the most severe pressure.

Quraysh had tried mockery, threats, negotiation, and even torture of weak believers. When none of this stopped the da‘wah, they turned to a strategy of isolation. They aimed to cut off the Prophet ﷺ not only from material support, but from every form of social relationship in Makkan society.

وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ
“And they planned, and Allah planned. And Allah is the best of planners.”
(Surah Al Imran 3:54)

From Hostility to Collective Punishment

The boycott did not come suddenly. Quraysh leaders had watched Islam grow from a small, secret group to an open call that challenged their religious and social authority. The Prophet ﷺ called them to abandon their idols, their unjust customs, and their pride in lineage alone.

As Islam gained followers from various tribes and classes, Quraysh began to fear that their unity, trade reputation, and political dominance around the Ka‘bah were at risk. The protection of the Prophet ﷺ by his clan Banu Hashim and parts of Banu al-Muttalib made it difficult for them to harm him directly.

Unable to reach their goal through direct assassination, they decided to pressure his protectors. The boycott was a political and social weapon. It was designed to force Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib to withdraw their protection and hand over the Prophet ﷺ to Quraysh.

This step showed that Quraysh did not only reject the message, but were willing to punish anyone who stood between them and their aim to silence the Prophet ﷺ.

Agreement of the Boycott and Its Terms

The leaders of Quraysh gathered and wrote a formal pact to enforce the boycott. This pact was hung inside the Ka‘bah to give it weight and to present it as a firm and unbreakable agreement among the major clans of Makkah.

Multiple early historical sources report that the agreement contained key points. Quraysh pledged that they would not marry into Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib, would not allow their daughters to marry them, would not sell to them or buy from them, and would not sit with them or enter their gatherings. Every normal bond of Arab social life was to be cut.

The agreement is reported to have included a statement that they would not make peace with the clan of the Prophet ﷺ unless they handed him over for execution. The boycott was not only economic. It was also emotional and social, aimed to humiliate and isolate.

Some narrations mention that the one who wrote the document was an individual from Quraysh. Allah later punished him as some reports state that his hand became paralyzed. Although such reports are mentioned in Seerah works, the main focus in our study is the effect of the boycott and the lessons it carried.

The pact, once written, was sealed and placed inside the Ka‘bah. Quraysh believed that this gave it sacredness. In reality, they placed oppression in the most sacred place on earth. This contrast shows the depth of their misguidance.

أَفَبِالْبَاطِلِ يُؤْمِنُونَ وَبِنِعْمَتِ اللَّهِ يَكْفُرُونَ
“Do they then believe in falsehood and deny the favor of Allah?”
(Surah An-Nahl 16:72)

Who Was Targeted by the Boycott

A unique feature of the boycott is that it did not only target believers. It fell upon an entire clan, including Muslims and non Muslims, because they chose to honor their duty of protection.

Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib, the Prophet’s clan and their close allies, were the main targets. Almost all of them withdrew to a valley outside central Makkah, known as Shi‘b Abi Talib. This included those who did not accept Islam but refused to betray their family duty, such as Abu Talib and many other clan members.

Only those within Banu Hashim who openly took the side of Quraysh against the Prophet ﷺ are reported to have remained outside the boycott. One of them was Abu Lahab, who actively opposed the Prophet ﷺ. The Qur’an condemned him in clear words:

تَبَّتْ يَدَا أَبِي لَهَبٍ وَتَبَّ
“Perish the hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he.”
(Surah Al Masad 111:1)

The Prophet ﷺ therefore experienced an unusual situation. Some people facing hardship with him were believers, and some were not, yet all were suffering for the decision to protect him. This shows how the norms of tribal protection served, by Allah’s wisdom, as a shield for the Prophet ﷺ in this phase.

The boycott also affected other Muslims in Makkah who did not belong to Banu Hashim. Though they were not physically confined to the valley, they faced difficulty in trade, marriage, and general life, since Quraysh tried to weaken any support for Islam.

Life in Shi‘b Abi Talib

The valley of Abu Talib was a small area between mountains on the outskirts of Makkah. Once the boycott started, the clan moved there and lived under a form of siege. The Quraysh would stand at the entrance area during seasons and block any attempts by others to trade with or help those inside.

Muslim and Seerah historians describe scenes of intense hunger. Food supplies were very limited. Prices of any item that reached them were raised so high that very little could be bought. Many nights passed where children cried from hunger. People were said to eat leaves or whatever they could find to survive.

Every year, during the sacred months when fighting and open aggression were generally avoided among Arabs, Banu Hashim would be allowed to come out to attend the markets or visit the Ka‘bah. However, Quraysh used these times to loudly warn traders and visitors not to deal with them. The ban was enforced through public pressure and threats.

Despite this extreme difficulty, the Prophet ﷺ continued to convey the message whenever possible, especially when pilgrims from outside Makkah came during Hajj seasons. The valley was a place of trial, but also of quiet steadfastness.

The patience of those in Shi‘b Abi Talib during these years reflected the Qur’anic description of believers:

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ
الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
“And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to the patient, those who, when calamity strikes them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.’”
(Surah Al Baqarah 2:155–156)

The Prophet ﷺ himself shared these hardships. He did not receive food from special secret sources that others lacked. He stood with his family and followers in patience. This created a deep bond between him and those who suffered alongside him.

Quiet Acts of Support and Hidden Mercy

Although Quraysh tried to make the boycott airtight, Allah opened doors of mercy through individuals whose hearts were moved by fairness and kinship.

Among those who helped secretly was Hakim ibn Hizam, a nephew of Khadijah رضي الله عنها. He is mentioned in Seerah reports as someone who tried to send food and grain to his aunt and others in the valley. Quraysh sometimes confronted him at the entrance to the valley, but sometimes he was able to deliver help.

In another report, some compassionate people of Quraysh would, under the cover of night, send food or let their camels carrying supplies find their way towards the valley. This shows that not every individual in Quraysh was completely pleased with the extreme harshness of the pact.

These small acts did not remove the overall suffering, but they kept some hope and demonstrated that even during times of collective injustice, individual consciences can still awaken.

وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ النَّاسِ لَفَاسِقُونَ
“And indeed, many among mankind are defiantly disobedient.”
(Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:49)

Alongside that, there were also noble hearts who started to question the very idea of the boycott itself. Over time this inner resistance grew stronger.

Growing Discomfort Among Fair-minded Quraysh

The boycott lasted for years. Most historians mention that it continued for roughly three years of very hard conditions. Over this period, some of the noble men of Quraysh began to feel shame and a sense that this cruelty went against the basic Arab values of mercy, kinship, and protection of the weak.

Among those who opposed the boycott were individuals such as Hisham ibn Amr, Zuhayr ibn Abi Umayyah, Mut‘im ibn ‘Adi, Zam‘ah ibn al-Aswad, and Abu Al-Bukhtari. Different reports mention these names among those who later acted to end the pact. Although not all of them were Muslims, they recognized how unjust the situation had become.

One of them is reported to have said to the others that they eat food and wear clothes while their relatives are starving, and that this was not an honorable way to act. They agreed among themselves that they would stand up publicly in the Quraysh gathering and call for an end to the boycott.

This internal movement is important. It shows that Allah can place mercy and courage even in the hearts of those who have not yet believed, and that oppression can collapse when people within the oppressing group wake up to its reality.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ
“Indeed, Allah commands justice and excellence.”
(Surah An-Nahl 16:90)

The Miraculous End of the Boycott

The sources of Seerah mention a remarkable event related to the end of the boycott. The Prophet ﷺ informed his uncle Abu Talib that Allah had sent a type of worm or insect upon the written document inside the Ka‘bah. It ate all the words on the parchment except the name of Allah.

Abu Talib, who still had a position of respect among Quraysh, went to them and said that his nephew claimed that such and such had happened to their pact. He proposed a test. If the Prophet ﷺ was telling the truth, they should end the boycott. If he was not, Abu Talib promised he would no longer protect him.

Quraysh accepted to check. When they opened the document, they found that it had indeed been eaten away except for the words that had Allah’s name. At the same time, the group of fair minded leaders stood up in the gathering and denounced the continued boycott. Their voices gave further pressure to end the pact.

Faced with the physical state of the document and the inner opposition of some of their own chiefs, the people of Quraysh had no firm ground left to keep the boycott in place. The agreement was effectively broken. The clan of Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib left Shi‘b Abi Talib and returned to live among the people of Makkah.

While some details of this incident differ slightly among narrations, the core points are widely reported in Seerah works. They show Allah’s support for His Messenger ﷺ in a way that combined a visible sign with the courage of individuals who opposed injustice.

فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
“For indeed, with hardship comes ease. Indeed, with hardship comes ease.”
(Surah Ash-Sharh 94:5–6)

Aftermath and Deeper Consequences

When the boycott ended, it did not mean that the hostility of Quraysh disappeared. Their hatred of the message of Islam remained, and their attempts to block its spread continued.

However, the experience of the boycott had lasting effects on the Muslim community and on the personal life of the Prophet ﷺ. Those years of siege weakened some of the elderly supporters around him, especially Abu Talib and Khadijah رضي الله عنها. Their health and strength had been tested through hunger, stress, and long hardship.

Soon after the end of the boycott, both Abu Talib and Khadijah رضي الله عنها passed away, in what became known as the Year of Sorrow. The long struggle in Shi‘b Abi Talib had prepared the ground for that next severe test.

Despite this, the Muslims came out of the boycott with stronger faith, deeper bonds of brotherhood, and a clear understanding that following the Prophet ﷺ could mean enduring all types of worldly loss. Their trust in Allah grew through witnessing that even the strongest plans of Quraysh could not stand once Allah decided to remove them.

إِن يَنصُرْكُمُ اللَّهُ فَلَا غَالِبَ لَكُمْ
“If Allah helps you, none can overcome you.”
(Surah Al Imran 3:160)

The boycott stage in the Seerah shows that the path of truth often passes through isolation and deprivation. It teaches that principles may require real sacrifice, but that Allah watches, records, and ultimately brings relief in ways beyond human planning.