In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad

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heart. Later on, Muslim scholars were to rely on this example, among oth-
ers, in asserting that Muslims could, in an extreme siruation where their
lives we-re at risk at the hands of an unjust power, say with their lips what
their torturers wanted to hear. This refers to the notion o f taq!Jyab (imply-
ing the act of dissimulating) and has been legitimated, as here in Ammar's
case, only when an individual has to save his or her life in an extreme sit-
uation involving unbearable torture. I n any other situation, as we shall see,
:Muslims were to say the truth, whatever the price might be.

Stakes

The Quraysh's opposItion was not merely to a man and a message.

Indeed, jf all of G o d's messengers have met with the same reeeption-

the same opposition and hatred from a considerable part of their own

community-it is because the contents of wha they brought meant a rad-

ical revolution in the order of things in society.

The Quran reports the words that greeted the messengers, in different

ages, when they came to convey the message to their respective peoples.

The first response was most often a rejection of change mingled with the

fear of losing power, as in the answer given to J\Ioses and Aaron by

Pharaoh's people: "Have you come to us to turn us away ftom th e ways

we found our fathers following, in order that you and your brother may

have greatness in the land? But we shall not believe in you!,,8 Under-

standing this relationship to memory, ancestors, and habits is essential to

understanding how different peoples reacted when confronted with the

transformations that were bound to come in the wake of a new belief

:;.nd, r:nnset}l1ently, of It new presence in the social body. Th" rt'":lrtinn is

::'lways reflexive and passionate, because what l S at stake has to do with the

identity and stability on which the society involved relies. The Prophet

Muhammad, with his message and the increasingly visible development of

his community, elicited the same reactions most intensely, and the

Quraysh, carried away by the fear of what seemed to threaten their land-

marks, opposed him fiercely and relentlessly.

The issue of power is obviously a crucial one: all the peoples who

received prophets initially believed that they sought nothing but power

and status, and Muhammad's case was no exception. People obviously use