LHAI'Il:.R 5EVE...'17 Trials, Elevation, and Hopes
In Mecca, the situation was getting worse. Islam's fiercest opponents,
along with Abu Lahab and the so-called Abu Jahl, included Umar ibn al-
Khnrab. The last of these had already stood out by violently beating a
newly converted woman.
U m a r ib n a l-KhattabVmar was exasperated by the turn of events. He decided the only thing
that could be done was to kill the Propbt:t. This was the surest means of
putting an end to the disorder and sedition that were welling up and
endangering Meccan society as a whole.
He went out of his house, his sword in his hand, to look for
Muhammad. On the way. he met Nuaym ibn Abdullah, who had secretly
converted to Isl am. Nuaym asked him why he looked so angry, and Umar
tOld him about his intention to kill the Prophet. Nua}rtn quickly thought
of a means to divert him from his plan: he advised Umar to restore order
in his own family before setting upon .Muhammad. H e informed him that
his sister Facimah and his brother-in-law Said had already converted to
Islam. Astonished and infuriated, Umar changed his plans and made
straight for his sister's home.
She and her husband were reading and studying the Quran with a young
companion, Khabbab, when they heard someone approaching their house.
Khabbab stopped reading and hid. Umar had heard the sound of the
recitation inside, and he accosted them coldly, bluntly asking what tht:}' had