Previous events

Initially the preaching of Islam by Muhammad had been confined to Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

, and his success was rather modest, limited to 170 men and women in the city during a ten year period. However, in 619, after the Year of Sorrow

Year of Sorrow

The Year of Sorrow is an Islamic term for a Hijri year that coincided with 619 or 623 CE. It is called so since both Abu Talib and Khadijah—the Islamic prophet Muhammad's uncle and first wife, respectively—died that year....

 when his main source of support, Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib

Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib

Abi Tlib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib also known as Abu Talib ibn al-Muttalib.Talib was in reality the elder son of Abd Munāf and elder brother to Ali Ibn Abd Munāf. He was an head of Bani Hashim clan of Quraysh tribe of Mecca in Arabia. He was married to Fatima bint Asad and was an uncle of the...

 and his loving wife Hazrat Khadija had died .

Now, not just the elite of Mecca attacked Muhammad, but even young children hurled dust and insults at him. Muhammad soon realized that there was no hope left for the Meccans to accept his religion, and he thus looked to the south, to the sister city of Ta’if, for aid and support, so Muhammad and his adopted son, Zayd ibn Harithah

Zayd ibn Harithah

Zayd ibn Harithah or Zayd mawla Muhammad was a prominent figure in the early Islamic community and the only one of sahaba whose name is spelled directly in the Qur'an. As he was the adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, before Islam abolished adoption in exchange of Kafala. He was an...

 went to Ta’if to invite the people there to Islam.

Leaders of Ta’if

Muhammad was received by the three chiefs of the local tribes of Ta’if and they let him freely have his say, however, they paid little heed to his message. After a while they even showed signs of apprehension lest his welcome in Ta’if might embroil them with the Meccans, so they left him to be dealt with by street urchins and the riff raff of the town.

Rejection

By rejecting Muhammad's religion, the people of Ta'if ordered their children to throw rocks and stones at Muhammad and Zayd to make them leave the city and never come back. Muhammad and Zayd were finally turned out by mocking and jeering crowds. The rocks that were thrown at Muhammad and Zayd by the Ta'if children caused them to bleed. Both were wounded and bleeding as they left Ta’if behind them. Muhammad bled so profusely from the stoning that his feet became clotted to his shoes.

Vineyard

Once Muhammad and Zayd were outside the city walls, Muhammad almost collapsed. They went a short distance outside of the town and stopped in a vineyard that belonged to two Meccans who were there at the time.

The owners of the vineyard

Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

 had seen Muhammad been persecuted in Mecca and on this occasion they felt some sympathy toward their fellow townsman. They sent a slave who took Muhammad into his hut, dressed his wounds, and let him rest and recuperate until he felt strong enough to resume his journey across the rough terrain between Ta’if and Mecca. It was there that the angel

Angel

Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

 Gabriel

Gabriel

In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretells the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus...

 came to him with the angel of mountains and said that if Muhammad wanted would blow the mountains over the people of Ta’if.

Muhammad prayed:
The owners also told their Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 slave named Addas

Addas

Addas was a young Christian slave boy who lived in Taif, a mountainous area south of Mecca, during the times of Muhammad. He was the first person from the western province of Taif to convert to the new religion of Islam. He was originally from Nineveh....

 from Nineveh

Nineveh

Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....

 to give a tray of grapes to the visitors .

Muhammad took the grape and before putting it into his mouth he recited what has become the Muslim grace

Grace (prayer)

Grace is a name for any of a number of short prayers said or an unvoiced intention held prior to or after eating, thanking God and/or the entities that have given of themselves to furnish nutrients to those partaking in the meal. Some traditions hold that grace and thanksgiving imparts a blessing...

: "In the name of God, Ever Gracious

Ar-Rahman

Surat ar-Rahman is the 55th sura of the Qur'an with 78 ayats.It has the refrain: "Then which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?"- Verse :Ar-Rahman is often regarded as the 'beauty of the Quran', in accordance with a hadith:...

, Most Merciful." (Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 Bismillah ar-Rahman, ar-Raheem

Basmala

Basmala or Bismillah is an Arabic noun used as a collective name for the whole of the recurring Islamic phrase b-ismi-llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi, It is sometimes translated as "In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful"...

). Addas became curious and inquired about the identity of Muhmmad who presented himself. The conversation that ensued led Addas to declare his acceptance of Islam, so that Muhammad's journey to Ta’if did not prove entirely fruitless.

He stayed preaching to the common people for 10 days.

Return

Muhammad did not dare to return openly to Mecca because he realized that if he entered the city, he would be killed. Thus there was no other place to go to. Muhammad sent Zayd to seek asylum for him among three nobles in the city. Three of them, ‘Abd Yalil ibn ‘Abd Kalal and then Akhnas ibn Shariq

Akhnas ibn Shariq

Akhnas ibn Shariq al-Thaqifi or Abi al-Hakam ibn Akhnas ibn Sharif ath-Thaqafi was a contemporary to Muhammad and one of the leaders of Mecca .-Muhammad's visit to Ta'if — 619:...

 and Suhayl ibn Amr

Suhayl ibn Amr

Suhayl ibn Amr was a prominent leader among the Quraysh, being known as the Khatib or orator of the tribe. Clever and articulate, Suhayl's personal opinion carried great weight among his tribe.-Biography:...

, refused but the third one, Mut‘im ibn ‘Adi

Mut‘im ibn ‘Adi

Mut‘im ibn ‘Uday was a non-Muslim, uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the chief of the Banu Nawfal clan of the Banu Quraish tribe.-‘A’isha :...

, responded.

Mut‘im ordered his sons, nephews and other young men of his clan to put on their battle-dress and then marched, in full panoply of war, at their head, out of the city. He brought Muhammad with him, first into the precincts of the Kaaba

Kaaba

The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...

 where the latter made the customary seven circuits , and then escorted him to his home.

Sunni view

Javeed Akhterwrites in The Seven Phases Of Prophet Muhammad’s Life:

Shi'a view

Ali Asgher Razwy, a 20th century Shia Twelver, scholar

Ulema

Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...

 writes in A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims

A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims

A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims CE 570 to 661 is a 1996 book written by Sayed Ali Asgher Razwy, in which most of the history of Islam is retold in the Twelver Shi'a perspective. Published by World Federation of KSI Muslim Communities, United Kingdom ISBN 0-9509879-1-3 -External...