Abu Nu'aym's Dala'il — Quraysh sends Utba ibn Rabi'a

دلائل النبوة لأبي نعيم — قريش کی طرف سے عتبہ بن ربيعة

In chapter fifteen Abu Nu'aym reports from Jabir ibn Abd Allah that the Quraysh agreed to send to the man who had split their community — their most learned in magic, soothsaying and poetry — and chose Utba ibn Rabi'a. Utba asked 'are you better than Abd Allah?', then Abd al-Muttalib, then Hashim, and the Prophet ﷺ remained silent each time; then Utba said: if you claim to be better than them, speak so we hear you — we have never seen a fool more ominous for his people, who scattered our community and disgraced us among the Arabs until word spread that Quraysh has a sorcerer and a soothsayer. The author presents it as the chief polemical pressure the Prophet faced, answered in the book by the signs that appeared.