to make the necessary preparations for the implementation of their devilish plan, the chiefs of makkah had chosen eleven men: abu jahl, hakam bin abil al-‘as, ‘uqbah bin abi mu‘ait, an-nadr bin harith, omaiyah bin khalaf, zama‘a bin al-aswad, tu‘aima bin ‘adi, abu lahab, ubai bin khalaf, nabih bin al-hajjaj and his brother munbih bin al-hajjaj. all were on the alert. as night advanced, they posted assassins around the prophet’s house. thus they kept vigil all night long, waiting to kill him the moment he left his house early in the morning, peeping now and then through a hole in the door to make sure that he was still lying in his bed. abu jahl, the great enemy of islam, used to walk about haughtily and arrogantly jeering at muhammad’s words, saying to the people around him: "muhammad claims that if you follow him, he will appoint you rulers over the arabs and non-arabs and in the hereafter your reward will be gardens similar to those in jordan, otherwise, he will slaughter you and after death you will be burnt in fire."[ibn hisham 1/483] he was too confident of the success of his devilish plan. allâh, the all-mighty, however, in whose hands lie the sovereignty of the heavens and earth, does what he desires; he renders succour and can never be overpowered. he did exactly what he later said to his prophet:

"and (remember) when the disbelievers plotted against you (o muhammad [pbuh]) to imprison you, or to kill you, or to get you out (from your home, i.e. makkah); they were plotting and allâh too was planning, and allâh is the best of the planners." [al-qur'an 8:30]