so obdurate that, even after punishment, they would be unconvinced. The words
are:
Some among them hearken unto thee;1 but we have cast a veil over
their hearts that they should not understand it (Qur'an) and a weight into
their ears; and though they should see all kinds of signs, they will refuse
all faith in them until when they come to thee, to dispute with thee. The
infidels say, Verily, this is nothing but fables of the ancients.'
And they will forbid it and depart from it, but they are only the authors of
their own perdition, and know it not. Suratu'l-An'am (vi) 25-6.
Abu Jahl,2 another bitter opponent, is referred to in Suratu'l-'Alaq
(xcvi) :
Nay, verily, man is insolent,
Because he seeth himself possessed of riches. 6-7.
It is said by Baidawi, that he threatened to put his foot on the neck of the
Prophet, when he was prostrate in prayer.
Again in the Suratu'l-Hajj (xxii) we read :
A man there is who disputeth about God without knowledge or guidance or
enlightening Book.
This is a Madina Sura and so the reference is historical and retrospective,
but that is not uncommon in the later Suras. In another late Madina Sura we
have: