Tribal protection did not cover slaves or mawali (freed slaves who still owed loyalty to their former masters). So the Quraysh turned from social pressure to outright torture of these weak believers. The campaign was led by Abu Jahal, whom the Prophet ﷺ called the fir'awn (Pharaoh) of this ummah. He treated converts differently according to their standing. Converts from the Quraysh nobility were insulted and abused with words. Those who did business with the Quraysh were boycotted. Slaves and mawali, who had no tribe to protect them, were tortured.
Ibn Abbas later described this time to his student Sa'id ibn Jubayr. He said the believers were tortured, starved and deprived of water so badly that they could not even sit up from the pain. When their tormentors asked them, "Is al-Lat and al-Uzza your god?", some would answer "Yes" just to end the torture. If an insect passed by and they were told to call it their god, they would do so. Islam allows a person to say such things under torture, as long as the heart remains firm in faith.
Narration · recalled later, before his death in 32 AH
The first people to declare their Islam publicly were seven: the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr, Ammar ibn Yasir, Sumayyah, Suhayb al-Rumi, Bilal al-Habashi, and al-Miqdad. The Prophet ﷺ was protected by Allah through his uncle Abu Talib, and Abu Bakr was protected through his own people. As for the rest, the Quraysh rounded them up and tortured them in various ways, putting irons on their bodies and leaving them out in the sand.
Narration · a later recollection, decades after the events described
The believers were tortured, starved, and deprived of water so severely that they couldn't even sit up from the pain. It reached the point that when the pagans asked them, "Is al-Lat and al-Uzza your god?" they would say yes, just to be freed from the torment, even if an insect passed by and they were told to call it their god, they would do so.
Ibn Abbas's account of the persecution, recalled decades later.
“Do you think you will be admitted into Paradise without being tested like those before you? They were afflicted with suffering and adversity and were so [violently] shaken that [even] the Messenger and the believers with him cried out, "When will Allah's help come?" Indeed, Allah's help is [always] near.”
Cited in the lecture as an example of the trials believers before this ummah endured, paralleling the torture of the early Muslims.
“There are some who say, "We believe in Allah" — but when they suffer in the cause of Allah, they mistake this persecution at the hands of people for the punishment of Allah. But when victory comes from your Lord, they surely say, "We have always been with you." Does Allah not know best what is in the hearts of all beings?”
This ayah is part of Surah al-Ankabut's opening address on the trial of persecution -- exactly the ordeal of the early, weak believers described at this event.