Persecution in Mecca and the Hijra to Medina

As the number of Muhammad's followers grew, the leaders of the Quraysh intensified social, economic, and at times physical pressure against the early Muslims. Converts from weaker clans, or those who were enslaved, suffered direct torture at the hands of their pagan owners; the best-known case is Bilal ibn Rabah, an Abyssinian slave tortured by his owner Umayya ibn Khalaf and later freed by Abu Bakr, who would go on to become Islam's first muezzin. Muhammad himself, protected by his clan's social prestige, suffered mainly social and verbal hostility rather than direct physical violence. Around 616-619 Quraysh leaders imposed a social and economic boycott on the Banu Hashim clan, forbidding intermarriage and trade with them, forcing Muhammad's family to take refuge in a mountain pass for roughly three years before the boycott was lifted.