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The tenth year of prophethood is a year of mourning, often called “the year of sorrow”. Khadija dies, then Abu Talib, the uncle who protected the Prophet ﷺ. Ibn Ishaq relates that Quraysh at once grew bolder. One day, a man throws dust on his head. He goes home, and one of his daughters washes his head, weeping. He says to her: « لَا تَبْكِي يَا بُنَيَّةُ، فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ مَانِعٌ أَبَاكَ » (“Do not weep, my little daughter: Allah will protect your father”).
He then sets out for Taif, to seek support and refuge with Thaqif. Ibn Saʿd dates the journey to the last days of Shawwal. He states that the Prophet ﷺ was accompanied by Zayd ibn Haritha, while Ibn Ishaq says that he went alone. It is also reported that he made the journey on foot.
Ibn Ishaq relates that he first goes to the three brothers who lead Thaqif: ʿAbd Yalil, Masʿud and Habib, sons of ʿAmr ibn ʿUmayr. He calls them to Allah and asks them to support him. The first answers: « هُوَ يَمْرُطُ ثِيَابَ الْكَعْبَةِ إِنْ كَانَ اللَّهُ أَرْسَلَكَ » (“May he tear the covering of the Kaʿba if Allah has sent you!”). The second: « أَمَا وَجَدَ اللَّهُ أَحَدًا يُرْسِلُهُ غَيْرَكَ ! » (“Could Allah find no one but you to send?”). The third refuses even to speak to him. The Prophet ﷺ gets up, without hope. He only asks them to keep the matter secret, so that Quraysh do not use it against him.
They do not. According to Ibn Ishaq, they set on him « سُفَهَاءَهُمْ وَعَبِيدَهُمْ », their fools and their slaves, who insult him and shout after him. Ibn Saʿd says that he stayed ten days in Taif and saw all the notables, who ended up driving him out. He adds that the young men threw stones at him, « حَتَّى إِنَّ رِجْلَيْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ لَتَدْمَيَانِ » (“until the feet of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were bleeding”). Zayd shields him with his body, « حَتَّى لَقَدْ شُجَّ فِي رَأْسِهِ شِجَاجٌ » (“until he was wounded in the head”).
The crowd pushes him as far as an orchard, « حَائِطٍ لِعُتْبَةَ بْنِ رَبِيعَةَ وَشَيْبَةَ بْنِ رَبِيعَةَ » (an orchard belonging to ʿUtba ibn Rabiʿa and Shayba ibn Rabiʿa), two notables of Mecca. His pursuers turn back. He sits down in the shade of a vine. The two sons of Rabiʿa are there and have seen everything. Despite their hostility to Islam, kinship moves them. They call their Christian slave, ʿAddas, and tell him to take the Prophet ﷺ a bunch of grapes on a platter.
The Prophet ﷺ stretches out his hand and says: « بِاسْمِ اللَّهِ » (“In the name of Allah”). ʿAddas is surprised: « وَاللَّهِ إِنَّ هَذَا الْكَلَامَ مَا يَقُولُهُ أَهْلُ هَذِهِ الْبِلَادِ » (“By Allah, the people of this land do not say these words”). The Prophet ﷺ asks him where he comes from and what his religion is. “I am a Christian, from Nineveh,” ʿAddas replies. The Prophet ﷺ says: « مِنْ قَرْيَةِ الرَّجُلِ الصَّالِحِ يُونُسَ بْنِ مَتَّى » (“From the town of the righteous man, Yunus son of Matta!”). ʿAddas asks: “And what do you know of Yunus son of Matta?” He answers: « ذَاكَ أَخِي، كَانَ نَبِيًّا وَأَنَا نَبِيٌّ » (“He is my brother: he was a prophet, and I am a prophet”). ʿAddas bends over him and kisses his head, his hands and his feet. His masters reproach him for it. He answers them: « يَا سَيِّدِي، مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ شَيْءٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ هَذَا » (“My master, there is nothing on earth better than this man”). According to al-Waqidi, four years later, ʿAddas begged ʿUtba and Shayba not to go and fight the Prophet ﷺ at Badr: « وَاللَّهِ إِنَّهُ لَنَبِيٌّ » (“By Allah, he is a prophet”). They did not listen to him and were killed at Badr.
It is reported that, in this orchard, the Prophet ﷺ addressed this supplication to Allah: « اللَّهُمَّ إِلَيْكَ أَشْكُو ضَعْفَ قُوَّتِي، وَقِلَّةَ حِيلَتِي، وَهَوَانِي عَلَى النَّاسِ… إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ بِكَ عَلَيَّ غَضَبٌ فَلَا أُبَالِي » (“O Allah, to You I complain of my weakness, my lack of means and my lowliness in the eyes of people… If You are not angry with me, I do not care”). This text is famous, but its chain is weak.
The Prophet ﷺ then takes the road back to Mecca. A nearby mosque, al-Kuʿ, is linked by local tradition to this day (see no. 11). The hadith of the angel of the mountains, who offers to crush the people of Mecca between the two mountains, takes place on the way back, at Qarn ath-Thaʿalib, which many identify with Qarn al-Manazil (see no. 02). Then come the jinn who listen to the Quran at Nakhla, and the return to Mecca under the protection of al-Mutʿim ibn ʿAdi.
No early text locates the orchard. The mosque that bears the name of ʿAddas is a small renovated mosque, among the orchards of al-Mathna, on Wadi Wajj, near a spring. Another mosque, in the old town near the tower of Ghalfa, was also called the “mosque of ʿAddas” by late authors.
What is certain and what is not
- Certain: the Prophet ﷺ came to call Thaqif at Taif and was rejected; he himself mentioned this trial in the hadith of the angel of the mountains (al-Bukhari, Muslim).
- Historians' account: the three brothers and their words, the orchard of ʿUtba and Shayba, ʿAddas and Nineveh (Ibn Ishaq). Zayd, the ten days, the bleeding feet and Zayd's wound come from Ibn Saʿd (based on al-Waqidi).
- Weak: the supplication « اللهم إليك أشكو ضعف قوتي » (judged weak by al-Albani and the Lajna Daʾima); the detail of the journey on foot comes from the same chain.
- The place: the location of the mosque is local tradition. Two different mosques have borne the name of ʿAddas.
Sources
1. Ibn Hisham, as-Sira an-nabawiyya, vol. 1, p. 415-416 (deaths of Khadija and Abu Talib, « لا تبكي يا بنية »); vol. 1, p. 418-421 (journey to Taif, the three brothers, the orchard, the supplication « فيما ذكر لي », ʿAddas, Nakhla).
2. Ibn Saʿd, at-Tabaqat al-kubra, vol. 1, p. 164 (date, Zayd, ten days, stones, Zayd's wound, Nakhla, al-Mutʿim ibn ʿAdi).
3. Al-Waqidi, al-Maghazi, vol. 1, p. 32-34 (ʿAddas before Badr).
4. Al-Bukhari, as-Sahih, no. 3231 (the angel of the mountains); Muslim, as-Sahih, no. 1795.
5. Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa n-nihaya, vol. 4, p. 338 (account of ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar: « ماشيا على قدميه », with the supplication).
6. Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, vol. 4, p. 384-385, entry no. 5484 (ʿAddas).
7. IslamQA no. 148943 (grade of the supplication: al-Albani, as-Silsila ad-daʿifa no. 2933; Lajna Daʾima): https://islamqa.info/ar/148943
8. Salih Matar al-Ghamidi, « المثناة تاريخ وادي وج وثقيف », Okaz, 26/02/2009 (mosque of ʿAddas « وسط البساتين بالمثناة على وادي وج قرب عين ماء »): https://www.okaz.com.sa/article/247113
9. Hammad as-Salimi, « المساجد الأثرية في الطائف », Al-Jazirah, 31/10/1999: https://al-jazirah.com/1999/19991031/fu4.htm
10. ʿAbd Allah as-Sufyani, Al-Watan, 16/06/2022 (as-Sanusi mosque, called the mosque of ʿAddas according to al-Hadrawi): https://www.alwatan.com.sa/article/1108864