Muhammad visits Ta'if

Initially the preaching of Islam by Muhammad had been confined to Mecca, and his success was rather modest, limited to 170 men and women in the city during a ten year period.

However, in 619,[1] after the Year of Sorrow when his main source of support, Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, had died did the persecution of the Muhammad increase exponentially.

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 message, and he thus looked to the south, to the sister city of Ta’if, for aid and support, so Muhammad and Zayd ibn Harithah went to Ta’if to invite the people there to Islam.

One day Muhammad went to Ta'if to da’wah (invite) them to Islam, but rather than answering him in a civil manner, the residents of the city started throwing stones at him, causing him to bleed heavily. As he was leaving the town that evening, he sat by a fountain to clean himself, he was still bleeding so heavily that he could barely see straight, the Angel Gabriel came to Muhammad and asked him if he wanted him to destroy the town, suggesting that he could crush the town by slamming it between two nearby mountains, but Muhammad declined Gabriel's offer by saying, "Maybe Allah will produce from their offspring ones who will worship Him alone." Though Muhammad visited Ta'if only that one day, the city later converted to Islam.