Before that day, the biographers report, people entered Islam in groups, until Makkah was talking about it.
How long had the call stayed hidden? Some three years, by their account. Then a verse came down.
Then declare what you are commanded and turn away from the polytheists.
Isda': to split, to separate truth from falsehood. The call was now to be made openly.
And warn your closest kindred.
The nearest first. This warning does not cancel the one meant for everyone: it is part of it.
When this verse came down, the Prophet ﷺ climbed as-Safâ, Ibn 'Abbâs (may Allah be pleased with him) reports.
There he cried out: “Yâ sabâhâh!” They asked who was calling. They were told: Muhammad ﷺ.
In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ says: “My example and yours is that of a man who saw the enemy.”
“He went to stand guard for his people, feared the enemy would get there first, and began to shout: Yâ sabâhâh!”
He called the clans by name: “O Banî Fihr! O Banî 'Adî!” Whoever could not come sent a messenger.
He asked them: “If I told you that horsemen in the valley were about to raid you, would you believe me?”
They said: “Yes. We have never experienced anything from you but truth.”
Then he said: “I am a warner to you, ahead of a severe punishment.”
Abû Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) reports his words for this verse: he spoke to all, then to some by name.
“O people of Quraysh, ransom yourselves! I cannot avail you at all against Allah.”
Then closer: Banî 'Abd Manâf, his uncle al-'Abbâs, his aunt Safiyya (may Allah be pleased with them). The same sentence.
To his daughter Fâtima (may Allah be pleased with her): “Ask me for whatever you want of my wealth.”
“I cannot avail you at all against Allah.” The same sentence, word for word, to his own child.
'Â'isha (may Allah be pleased with her) tells it too: he stood on as-Safâ as he said these words to them.
His last words to them: “Except that you have ties of kinship, and I will maintain them.”
He named the nearest ones so that all the others would hear. A warner, only: it is Allah who guides whom He wills.
The clans of Quraysh had just heard the warning. One answer has reached us: his own uncle's.
One day, a cry of alarm went up from as-Safâ, in Makkah.
The man calling was the one they had never caught in a lie.
What had he come to warn them about?
The Prophet ﷺ promised his own family nothing against Allah. He warned them, and kept the ties.
Loving someone does not let you answer to Allah in their place.
Tonight, name in your du'â' one relative you have never spoken to about Allah.