The Prophet went to Ta'if to teach the people there about one God. Write about his experience of this event.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2017). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. The Prophet (pbuh) had been preaching to the people of Makka for ten years and they had faced many hardships;
2. the number of Muslims was relatively small; his greatest supporters Khadija and Abu Talib had passed away;
3. he looked towards Makka to preach his message and went to Ta'if with Zayd bin Haritha;
4. he thought people would be favourable to his message but they were hostile towards him;
5. he stayed several days there delivering the message to the people, but he was abused and jeered;
6. they were chased out by being pelted with stones till blood flowed down the Prophet's legs; Zayd was injured too;
7. they took refuge in an orchard a few miles away; seeing his condition, ‘Utbah and Shaybah sent their servant with a tray of grapes;
8. their servant saw true prophethood in him;
9. Jibril later appeared with another angel and asked the Prophet (pbuh) for permission to bury the city;
10. the Prophet (pbuh) refused and instead prayed for believers to be born from their progeny.
11. Candidates could say e.g. yes, people can follow his example because they may face rejection for many reasons, whether they are preaching about Islam to others who mock and ridicule them, or it may be that someone is being bullied at school, or people are being tormented by those occupying their lands;
12. by remembering the Prophet's forgiveness and being steadfast in faith, would help forgive those who are hurting/rejecting you.
13. Or they could say no, it is not possible, e.g. because this kind of mercy is only for those of a high status or closeness to God, and for most people they are not able to control their anger or they want to seek revenge if someone has done something small to them, and so they would not be able to forgive anything as big as this.