2 things that happened now that is just astounding. 1. The bulk of the Muslims have fled to a foreign land. 2. Two of the most promising men of their town have converted. And so this caused them to really come together and think about what they would do. And it is said that in the seventh year of the Dawa, all of the Khorashi tribes came together and discussed what needed to be done until they agreed we need to kill Muhammad. So one of the only thing on the mind is to kill, kill, kill. So for the final time they went to Abu Talib and they say to him that you do not have any choice to the matter. Either you will hand over Muhammad to the Prophet and we will give you whatever blood money and none of us is going to do the job. It is not going to be a Khorashi or we will have to cut you off from the Khorashi. How are you going to cut us off for blood relatives? None of us will allow you to get any food and water. We will boycott you, no marriages and no money and no business transactions. Any of us who owns a business were going to tell him that he cannot buy and sell anything for you. Food, water, drink, nothing. And when the price came to Abu Talib like this, Abu Talib himself became furious. And he said, do as you please, I'm not going to hand my nephew over to you. Abu Talib therefore decided that if we're not going to be able to buy and sell in Makkah, we're going to not have any access to the shops of Makkah, then let us go and live elsewhere. And they moved to some of the valleys that the Binohashim owned and they were called the valleys of Abu Talib, Shiabi Abu Talib. And so Abu Talib then left to live in that valley and every single person from the Binohashim and the Binohan Abu Talib. They voluntarily went into what is called the famous boycott. And in order to solidify this, the Khorashi came together and wrote a pact amongst themselves. What is the treaty? Nobody will buy and sell to the Binohashim. Nobody will marry into or from the Binohashim. Nobody will basically socialize with the Binohashim. So it is a boycott of an economic, a political, a social level. And they wrote a treaty and they hung it inside the Kaaba. And of course nobody entered the Kaaba. So they locked the door and it was inside the Kaaba. He said that Boaid bin Aamir was the one who wrote this treaty and the process of making dua against him and his hand became paralyzed until he died. And so for two or three years, they lived in this abandoned valley, eking out an existence, sending rainwater, eating from the shrubbery and the leaves. Bilal says that we began defecating like goats defecate. Droppings, our droppings couldn't be told different from the goats. And one of their main sources of food was that every few weeks somebody felt sympathy for them and would send in some secret supplies into the valley. Otherwise they eaked out an existence. It is said that when they tried to go to the city, even when foreigners came. Because foreigners are not under the boycott. During a hedge season, they're coming with supplies. Sometimes they try to sneak in some food. Sometimes they were successful. Other times if they were caught or the people saw them, Abu Jahl, would come and say, do not sell to these people. I will pay you double whatever they're offering here. Even during these two or three years, the Prophet says that some continued to give dua during the hedge season. He would go out of the valley and meet with the tribes during the hedge season and continue to try to find converts to the faith. When did and how did the boycott stop? As we said, the boycott probably lasted two or three years and a number of incidents were happening that brought about its conclusion. The first of these is that the Prophet says some made a dua against them and said, oh Allah send upon them a famine like the famine of Yusuf. That bad. And so the famine became so bad for the people of Makkah that they were forced to eat carcasses and to chew on dead animals skin. They had nothing else left after that time. And they realized this was because of the dua of the Prophet ﷺ and they sent some messengers to try to bring about some reconciliation. The second incident is that some of the people of Poraysh whose hearts were softer. We already said this. They decided that they should do something to break the pact. And so the main one here was hisham ibn Amr. Hisham ibn Amr felt that he needed to do something. So he called his friend Zuhaid ibn Abi Umayma and they said, what can we do to bring about an end to this boycott? So they said first thing we need to do is to bring about all of the people who are sympathetic get them together. So they thought who can they invite and they invited a Mutameb Ibn Adi, number one under this Mutameb Ibn Adi, let's bring him in Abu al-Bukhtali ibn Hisham, other people, three or four or five people who they knew did not like the boycott. And then they said what can we do, what plan can we do? So Zuhaid said I have a plan. The next day they went to the Ka'aba and they all seated where they usually sit. Everyone goes to his place in this corner, that corner, that corner. So Zuhaid stood up and he said for how long are we going to starve our own kids and kids to death? Abu Jihad became furious. Who do you think you are? We all agreed to this treaty. So when he said this, hisham stood up. So I didn't agree. You agreed. This is your idea. What do you mean is my idea? We all, we had a meeting here. Mutameb stood up. No, we didn't. This was something you forced on it, right? I didn't force it on you. We all agreed. Then the fourth, Abu al-Bukhtali stood up, right? So one by one, every single person, plant is strategically around the Nadi is basically publicly challenging Abu Jihad. And so Abu Jihad realized something is wrong. People are just standing up when after the other and he said, well, this is a plan that all of you have hatched. And of course they didn't confess to this. And it seemed as if the public support had now shifted away. And then the final thing happened that of course completely turned the tide. One day the Prophet ﷺ went to Abu Jihad in the shop in the valley and he said that, oh my uncle, Allah has informed me that the treaty that they wrote has been eaten up by termites or ants. Except for the phrase Bismillahummajj. Just in the name of Allah. The whole treaty had, now the cabb is locked up. Nobody goes in. Of course it is in a sealed pouch. You know, they have a parchment. They seal it up. It's in a cloth and everything. Abu Tawdib said, your Lord has told you this. He said, yes, He has told me this. I will Tawdib said, I will stake my whole case on this. He said, yes, take it on this. So I will Tawdib then for the first time since the enactment of the treaty marched back with the group of basically non-Muslims of the Banu Hashem. And he said, oh my people, let's forget about everything. Let's just bring out this treaty and let's see if we can reach a negotiation in deal. So they became happy that maybe you're going to agree to hand over the process. So they took out the treaty from the, and still in the cabb's jeweler, still in the cloth, right? And they put it here. Now Abu Tawdib said, my nephew has informed me that his Lord has told him that the treaty is no longer in existence. Everything has been eaten except this make a long. So my challenge to you is, Abu Tawdib stakes it all on his Eman in the Prophet's s.m. telling the truth. My challenge to you is, if that is the case, then let us be and we'll return to Makkah. And we'll ignore the whole incident basically. And if it's not, then I'll hand over him to you instantaneously. Do with them as you please. So they said, well, of course, I mean, it seems obvious to them. Why would that possibly harm them? And so they opened up the bag, they opened up the cloth and lo and behold, there was no treaty except for the phrase Bismillah Allahumma. And they were furious. They said, this is of the Sahih or magic that he's done, but they couldn't do anything because the promise had been given. And therefore, this allowed them to return back to Makkah. And this was what caused the treaty to be annulled. We learned that the Prophet s.m. and the Sahaba, they returned back to Makkah probably around the 10th year of the Da'wa when the Prophet s.m. was around 49 years old. They finally returned to Makkah around two and a half to three years before the hijj of the Prophet s.m.