"...I am bringing you ....!"

Misquoted narration 

عن عبد الله بن عمرو بن العاص قال : قلت له ما أكثر ما رأيت قريشا أصابت من رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فيما كانت تظهر من عداوته قال حضرتهم وقد اجتمع أشرافهم يوما في الحجر فذكروا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقالوا ما رأينا مثل ما صبرنا عليه من هذا الرجل قط سفه أحلامنا وشتم آباءنا وعاب ديننا وفرق جماعتنا وسب آلهتنا لقد صبرنا منه على أمر عظيم أو كما قالوا قال فبينما هم كذلك إذ طلع عليهم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فأقبل يمشي حتى استلم الركن ثم مر بهم طائفا بالبيت فلما أن مر بهم غمزوه ببعض ما يقول قال فعرفت ذلك في وجهه ثم مضى فلما مر بهم الثانية غمزوه بمثلها فعرفت ذلك في وجهه ثم مضى ثم مر بهم الثالثة فغمزوه بمثلها فقال تسمعون يا معشر قريش أما والذي نفس محمد بيده لقد جئتكم بالذبح فأخذت القوم كلمته حتى ما منهم رجل إلا كأنما على رأسه طائر واقع حتى أن أشدهم فيه وصاة قبل ذلك ليرفؤه بأحسن ما يجد من القول حتى إنه ليقول : انصرف يا أبا القاسم انصرف راشدا فوالله ما كنت جهولا قال : فانصرف رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم حتى إذا كان الغد اجتمعوا في الحجر وأنا معهم فقال بعضهم لبعض ذكرتم ما بلغ منكم وما بلغكم عنه حتى إذا بادأكم بما تكرهون تركتموه فبينما هم في ذلك إذ طلع عليهم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فوثبوا إليه وثبة رجل واحد فأحاطوا به يقولون له أنت الذي تقول كذا وكذا لما كان يبلغهم عنه من عيب آلهتهم ودينهم قال فيقول رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم نعم أنا الذي أقول ذلك قال فلقد رأيت رجلا منهم أخذ بمجمع ردائه قال وقام أبو بكر الصديق رضي الله تعالى عنه دونه يقول وهو يبكي { أتقتلون رجلا أن يقول ربي الله } ثم انصرفوا عنه فإن ذلك لأشد ما رأيت قريشا بلغت منه قط

The Prophet said "I swear by the One in Whose hand is my soul, O Quraysh, that I am bringing you slaughter!" (Musnad Ahmad # 7036, Ibn Hisham 1:289)

Although this narration does not appear in Sahih Muslim or Bukhari, it has been narrated in some other collections and accepted by scholars. 

Hajj Gibril  explained:

"The complete narration states that the Quraysh were reunited in the Chamber of Ismail, upon our Prophet and upon him blessings and peace, leveling these charges at the Prophet and getting more and more excited, at which time the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, came from outside, touched the Black Stone and began to circumambulate. Each time he passed them, they would taunt him. The third time he looked at them and said: I swear by the One in Whose hand is my soul, O Quraysh, that I am bringing you slaughter! Then they fell quiet as if birds nested on their heads.
The meaning of this good-chained hadith is clear in that the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, nipped in the bud the harm they were trying to whip up against him by threatening them unexpectedly just as they were trying to provoke him in the middle of his worship. This was very effective because they knew that the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, was not a person to speak idly, especially in front of the Kaba with such a solemn oath. Further, he spoke the literal truth because after the Hijra the Muslims became militarily strong enough to inflict harm  and did  upon the Quraysh who had persecuted and killed them for years and gotten away with it. Yet, lest anyone still not understand that all this was within the parameters of self-defense in the face of unjust aggression, the Prophet was mostly a mercy to the worlds, first and foremost to his own people the Quraysh, whom he praised and exalted in so many hadiths of merits, and whom he amnestied one and all at the time of the conquest of Mecca, when even they expected him to exact a just punishment." (Source)


To understand this narration, we must examine the historical context in which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made the statement. Shaykh Safiur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri mentions this narration in his biography of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the following context:

Al-Bukhari, on the authority of Ibn Mas‘ud, narrated that once when the Prophet [pbuh] was prostrating himself while praying in Al-Ka‘bah, Abu Jahl asked his companions to bring the dirty foetus of a she-camel and place it on his back. ‘Uqbah bin Abi Mu‘ait was the unfortunate man who hastened to do this ignoble act. A peal of laughter rose amongst the infidels. In the meanwhile, Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet [pbuh], happened to pass that way. She removed the filth from her father’s back. The Prophet [pbuh] invoked the wrath of Allâh upon them, especially upon Abu Jahl, ‘Utbah bin Rabi‘a, Shaibah bin Rabi‘a, Al-Waleed bin ‘Utbah, Omaiyah bin Khalaf and ‘Uqbah bin Mu‘ait. It is recorded that all of them were killed in the battle of Badr. [Bukhari 1/37] Scandal-mongering and backbiting were also amongst the means of oppression that the chiefs of Makkah, in general, and Omaiyah bin Khalaf, in particular, resorted to in their overall process of evil-doing. In this regard, Allâh says: "Woe to every slanderer and backbiter." [Al-Qur'an 104:1] ‘Uqbah bin Al-Mu‘ait once attended an audience of the Prophet [pbuh] and listened to him preaching Islam. A close friend of his, Ubai bin Khalaf, heard of this. He could not tolerate any act of this sort, so he reproached ‘Uqbah and ordered him to spit in the Prophet’s holy face, and he shamelessly did it. Ubai did not spare any thinkable way to malign the Prophet [pbuh] ; he even ground old decomposed bones and blew the powder on him... The Tyrants’ Decision to kill the Prophet [pbuh] Now that all the schemes and conspiracies of Quraysh had failed, they resorted to their old practices of persecution and inflicting tortures on the Muslims in a more serious and brutal manner than ever before. They also began to nurse the idea of killing the Prophet [pbuh]. In fact, contrary to their expectations, this new method and this very idea served indirectly to consolidate the Call to Islam and support it with the conversion of two staunch and mighty heroes of Makkah, i.e. Hamzah bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib and ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab[R]. ‘Utaibah bin Abi Lahab once approached the Prophet [pbuh] and most defiantly and brazenly shouted at him, "I disbelieve in: "By the star when it goes down." [53:1] and in "Then he (Gabriel) approached and came closer." [53:8] In other words: "I do not believe in any of the Qur’ân." He then started to deal highhandedly with Muhammad [pbuh] and laid violent hand on him, tore his shirt and spat into his face but his saliva missed the Holy face of the Prophet [pbuh]. Thereupon, the Prophet [pbuh] invoked Allâh’s wrath on ‘Utaibah and supplicated: "O Allâh! Set one of Your dogs on him." Allâh responded positively to Muhammad’s supplication, and it happened in the following manner: Once ‘Utaibah with some of his compatriots from Quraysh set out for Syria and took accommodation in Az-Zarqa’. There a lion approached the group to the great fear of ‘Utbah, who at once recalled Muhammad’s words in supplication, and said: "Woe to my brother! This lion will surely devour me just as Muhammad [pbuh] supplicated. He has really killed me in Syria while he is in Makkah." The lion did really rush like lightning, snatched ‘Utbah from amongst his people and crushed his head. [Tafheem-ul-Qur'an 6/522; Quoted from Al-Isti'ab, Al-Isaba, Dala'il An-Nubuwwah, etc] It is also reported that a wretched idolater from Quraysh, named ‘Uqbah bin ‘Abi Mu‘ait once trod on the Prophet’s neck while he was prostrating himself in prayer until his eyes protruded. [Mukhtasar Seerat Ar-Rasool p.113]... ...the tyrants of Quraysh would not be admonished, contrariwise, the idea of killing the Prophet [pbuh] was still being nourished in their iniquitous hearts. On the authority of ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘As, some people of Quraysh were in a place called Al-Hijr complaining that they had been too patient with the Prophet [pbuh] , who suddenly appeared and began his usual circumambulation. They started to wink at him and utter sarcastic remarks but he remained silent for two times, then on the third, he stopped and addressed the infidels saying: "O people of Quraysh! Hearken, I swear by Allâh in Whose Hand is my soul, that you will one day be slaughtered to pieces." As soon as the Prophet [pbuh] uttered his word of slaughter, they all stood aghast and switched off to a new style of language smacking of fear and even horror trying to soothe his anger and comfort him saying: "You can leave Abul Qasim, for you have never been foolish." [Ibn Hisham 1/289] ‘Urwa bin Az-Zubair narrated: I asked Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘As to tell me of the worst thing that the pagans did to the Prophet [pbuh] . He said: "While the Prophet [pbuh] was praying in Al-Hijr of Al-Ka‘bah, ‘Uqbah bin Al-Mu‘ait came and put his garment around the Prophet’s neck and throttled him violently. Abu Bakr came and caught him by his shoulder and pushed him away from the Prophet [pbuh] and said: "Do you want to kill a man just because he says, My Lord is Allâh?" [Bukhari 1/544] (Al-Mubarakpuri, Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum; Riyadh-Saudi Arabia, Dar-us-Salam Publications, 1996; pp. 94 & 105-108, emphasis added)

It becomes clear that this statement was uttered by a man subjected to abuse and persecution. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said this after being repeatedly tormented while trying to worship his creator in peace. Not only was he tortured, but his followers also suffered immense torture. Professor K. S. Ramakrishna Rao summarizes some of the tortures the early Muslims faced:

Read the history of the early converts to Islam, and every heart would melt at the sight of the brutal treatment of innocent Muslim men and women. Sumayya, an innocent women, is cruelly torn into pieces with spears, An example is made of " Yassir whose legs are tied to two camels and the beast were are driven in opposite directions", Khabbab bin Arth is made lie down on the bed of burning coal with the brutal legs of their merciless tyrant on his breast so that he may not move and this makes even the fat beneath his skin melt." "Khabban bin Adi is put to death in a cruel manner by mutilation and cutting off his flesh piece-meal." In the midst of his tortures, being asked weather he did not wish Muhammad in his place while he was in his house with his family, the sufferer cried out that he was gladly prepared to sacrifice himself his family and children and why was it that these sons and daughters of Islam not only surrendered to their prophet their allegiance but also made a gift of their hearts and souls to their master ? Is not the intense faith and conviction on part of immediate followers of Muhammad, the noblest testimony to his sincerity and to his utter self-absorption in his appointed task ? (Ramakrishna Rao, Islam and Modern Age)

Therefore, Prophet Muhammad's comment (peace be upon) was a warning. It was a warning to the Quraysh to desist from their crimes or face the punishment of their Lord. It should be noted that this was always the function of God's Messengers and Prophets throughout the history of humanity on Earth. They were sent by God to guide people back to the worship of their Creator, towards good deeds and acts of compassion and away from evil deeds and sins. The Prophets warned their people to desist from their crimes before the punishment of God would come. An example would be the nation of Pharaoh who enslaved the Children of Israel and sought to kill Prophet Moses (peace be upon him). For their crimes, God caused them to drown in the sea. Dr. Ja'far Sheikh Idris comments on the destruction of nations by mentioning the following:

Decline or destruction is therefore the ultimate and inevitable destiny of any ungrateful nation, any nation which rebels against God and follows the path of immorality. But this ultimate destruction is brought about in accordance with principles. Here are some of them. a. Destruction or chastisement does not befall a nation until it is sufficiently warned. This warning can come to them through the medium of a Messenger from God: "And never did Thy Lord destroy the townships, till He had raised up in their mother-town a messenger reciting unto them our revelations. And never did we destroy the townships unless the folk thereof were evil doers." (Qu'ran:xxvii,59) "Never did We destroy a population, but had its warners------by way of reminder; and We never are unjust." (Qur'an xxvi,208-209)
Or they may be caused to know in some other way that they are guilty and should therefore expect to be punished. (The Process of Islamization, Part 4 © 1977 The Muslim Students' Association of the US and Canada Fourth Printing - January 1983)

So the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was performing his duty of warning the Quraysh of an impending punishment from God if they did not desist from their crimes and sins. In the end, most of the Quraysh did repent and embraced Islam, thus the punishment was averted from them.