لَمَّا بُعِثَ الرَّسُولُ ﷺ مِنَ اللهِ، اسْتَخَفَّ النَّاسُ بِهِ وَبِرِسَالَتِهِ. فَأَعْرَضَتْ عَنْهُ قُرَيْشٌ فِي بِدَايَةِ الأَمْرِ، ظَانِّينَ أَنَّ دَعْوَتَهُ لَنْ تَكُونَ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ حَدِيثِ الرُّهْبَانِ وَالحُكَمَاءِ، وَأَنَّ النَّاسَ سَيَرْجِعُونَ آخِرَ الأَمْرِ إِلَى دِينِ آبَائِهِمْ وَأَجْدَادِهِمْ.

When the Messenger (pbuh) was sent by Allah, people belittled him and his Message. The Quraysh ignored him at first thinking that his call would be no more than the talk of monks and sages and that people would eventually return to the faith of their fathers and ancestors.

لهذا لم يكترثوا به. فكلما مرّ بهم كانوا يقولون: "هذا ابن عبد المطلب الذي يُكلَّم من السماء." ولكن بعد حين أدركوا خطر دعوته، فقرروا قتاله. وفي البداية لجأوا إلى الاستخفاف بدعواه النبوة وتسفيهها. ثم أعقبوا ذلك بتحديه أن يأتي بالمعجزات دليلًا على رسالته. فكانوا يقولون: لماذا لا يحوّل محمدٌ الصفا والمروة ذهبًا؟ ولماذا لا ينزل عليه الكتاب من السماء مكتوبًا؟ ولماذا لا يظهر لهم جبريل الذي لا يفتأ محمدٌ يتحدث عنه؟ ولماذا لا يُحيي الموتى؟ ولماذا لا يزيل الجبال المحيطة بمكة؟ ولماذا لا يحفر عينًا أعذب من زمزم، وقومه في أمسّ الحاجة إلى الماء؟ ولماذا لا يُخبر إلهه بأسعار السلع المستقبلية حتى يتمكنوا من المزايدة عليها؟

This is why they did not bother with him. Whenever he passed by them they would say, “Here is the son of ‘Abd al-Muttalib who is spoken to from the heavens.” After a while however, they realized the threat of his campaign and decided to fight him. At first they simply resorted to degrading and ridiculing his claims of prophecy. They followed this by challenging him to perform miracles as a proof of his Message. They would say: Why does Muhammad not transform al-Safa and al-Marwa into gold? Why does the book revealed to him not descend from the sky already written? Why does Jibreel, whom Muhammad keeps talking about, not appear to them? Why does he not bring life to the dead? Why does he not remove the mountains which surround Makkah? Why does he not dig a source more fresher than Zamzam, knowing that his people badly need water? Why does his Allah not forecast the future prices of goods so that they can bid for them?