Describe the events of the Prophet's visit to Ta'if.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2014). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [10] The Prophet had been preaching to the people of Makka for ten years and they had faced many hardships; the number of Muslims was relatively small; his greatest supporters Khadija and Abu Talib had passed away; he looked out of Makka to preach his message and went to Ta'if with Zaid bin Haritha; he thought people would be favourable to his message but they were hostile towards him; he stayed ten days there delivering the message to the people, but he was abused and jeered; they were chased out by being pelted with stones til blood flowed down the Prophet's legs; Zaid was injured too; they took refuge in an orchard a few miles away; seeing his condition, Rabi'a's two sons sent their servant with a tray of grapes; Jibril later appeared with another angel and asked the Prophet for permission to bury the city; the Prophet refused and instead prayed for believers to be born from their progeny. The best answers will be able to expand and give depth to these events, and whilst not all of the above needs to be mentioned, highest level answers will describe and elaborate on most of these details.
2. [4] Candidates can present any lesson that's relevant to the events of Ta'if, but thoughtful answers will present the lesson within the context of a situation. Examples could be, that the Prophet did not give up his faith in times of difficulty, despite few conversions and losing his wife and uncle, but rather he persevered. Muslims should learn to persevere in times of difficulty, when they have lost family members or they are living in difficult circumstances in their community; the Prophet did not curse or wish the worst for those people who had treated him so badly, but rather prayed for them. So Muslims now should not get angry and wish bad things towards those who insult Islam or the Prophet, but should try to do or say good things for them.