After introducing Islam to his relatives, the Holy Prophet (S) began to tell all the people of Makka about his mission. He called all the tribes to the mountain of Safa, and then said to them:

Then the Holy Prophet (S) said, "Save yourself from the punishment of Hell fire. Believe that there is no god but Allah, and you will be successful in your life."

When they heard this message, there was confusion amongst the people and Abu Lahab said loudly, "You have wasted our time with all this nonsense."

The people of Makka forgot that they themselves used to call the Holy Prophet (S) "As-Sadiq", which means "the Truthful one". Instead they began to call him a liar and a mad man. They began to make life difficult for him by spreading thorns on his path and getting children to throw stones at him. Sometimes they would throw rubbish on him as he passed under their windows.

All these acts had no effect on the Holy Prophet (S), and he did not give up preaching belief in One God. When the number of Muslims began to slowly increase, the chiefs of some tribes became worried, and they came to Abu Talib, the uncle and guardian of the Holy Prophet (S), and asked him to stop his nephew from preaching his religion.

They offered to give the Holy Prophet (S) money, power or anything he wanted, as long as he would give up talking against their gods. When Abu Talib told the Holy Prophet (S) about their message, he said, "By Allah, even if these people put the sun in my one hand and the moon in the other, I would not give up what I have been commanded by Allah to do."

The Bani Umayyah, who were the enemies of Bani Hashim, began to harass the Holy Prophet (S) all the time. The main trouble makers included Abu Sufyan, Abu Jahl, and Utba bin Rabee'. Although they could not attack him openly because of the power and influence of Abu Talib, they took every opportunity to create difficulties for him.

The Makkans then turned their attention to the new Muslims. Some Muslims came from powerful tribes, so they were safe from trouble. However, many Muslims were poor or slaves and these began to face the most terrible cruelties at the hands of the Makkans.

Abu Dhar Ghiffari was one of the early Muslims. When he declared that he had accepted Islam, the Quraish beat him up so badly that he was half dead. When the uncle of the Holy Prophet (S), Abbas, passed by and saw what they were doing, he reminded the Quraish that Abu Dhar was from the tribe of Bani Ghiffar who used to live next to the route of the trade caravans. If they learnt that a member of their tribe had been tortured by the Quraish, they would not let the trade caravans pass safely. On hearing this, the greedy Quraish left Abu Dhar alone.

Bilal Habashi was the Mu'azzin (Prayer Caller) of the Holy Prophet (S). He was a slave. When Bilal accepted Islam, his cruel master was very angry and began to torture him mercilessly. He would make Bilal lie bare-backed on the hot sands of the desert and place a large stone on his chest so that he could not escape the burning sand. Despite these cruelties, Bilal continued to say "Ahad, Ahad", which means that "Allah is One". Finally the Holy Prophet (S)'s uncle Abbas bought him and then freed him. 

Umar bin Khattab, who later was made Caliph of the Muslims, had a slave maid called Lubeena Khatun. When Lubeena became a Muslim, he would beat her so much that he himself would get tired.

Ammar bin Yasir and his parents Yasir and Sumayya were amongst the first Muslims. The unbelievers tried to make them change their minds but they refused. The three of them were taken to the desert and beaten and tortured. This was repeated many times until at one time, Yasir died. When his pregnant wife Sumayya complained to Abu Jahl about this inhuman treatment he took his spear and thrust it into her heart.

Then they turned to Ammar bin Yasir and beat him so terribly that he was about to die. They threatened to kill him unless he declared that he was no longer a Muslim. To save his life, Ammar had to agree. Later, the Holy Prophet (S) approved his action saying that as long as Ammar had the faith in his heart, it did not matter what he was forced to say. Despite the tortures suffered by the Muslims, none of them changed their faith and their numbers increased day by day.

What is it called when someone hides their faith in order to save their life?