~c. 615 CE
The Quraysh were sitting together, cursing and mocking the Prophet ﷺ. Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, a wise elder of Quraysh, asked whether anyone had actually tried to negotiate with him. No one had, so Utbah offered to go as their representative. He found the Prophet ﷺ sitting in front of the Ka'bah. He began by asking whether the Prophet ﷺ thought he was better than his father Abdullah and his grandfather Abdul Muttalib. It was a trick question, and the Prophet ﷺ answered it with silence.
Utbah then described the harm that the new message had done to the people of Makkah. He made the Prophet ﷺ an offer if he would give up his call. He could have more wealth than anyone, or become their king, or marry any woman he chose. If he thought he was unwell, they would pay doctors to cure him.
When Utbah had finished, the Prophet ﷺ recited the opening of Surah Fussilat to him. The recitation reached the warning of a thunderbolt like the one that struck the peoples of Ad and Thamud (Qur'an 41:13). Utbah began to tremble. He put his hand over the Prophet ﷺ's mouth and begged him, by Allah and by their kinship, to stop.
Utbah went back to the Quraysh visibly shaken. He told them he had heard speech unlike anything he had heard before, and that this man's affair would become something great. He urged them to leave the Prophet ﷺ alone. If the other Arabs got rid of him, he said, the hands of Quraysh would be clean. If he won over the Arabs, his victory would be the victory of Quraysh. The Quraysh rejected this advice. They told Utbah that Muhammad ﷺ had bewitched him, just as he had bewitched everyone else.
One of the most detailed accounts of the Qur'an's effect even on a hardened negotiator sent expressly to buy the Prophet ﷺ off.
Other events recorded around the same time. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
Have any of you actually tried to negotiate with him? ... Send me as your representative, and allow me to speak on your behalf. We know him to be a good man. I'm sure we can work something out.
Said to the Quraysh as they sat cursing and mocking the Prophet ﷺ, after they admitted none of them had tried to negotiate with him directly.
O my nephew, you know your status and lineage. But now you have come forth with a matter that has caused havoc in our society. O Muhammad ﷺ, are you better than your father Abdullah? Are you better than your grandfather Abdul Muttalib?
Said to the Prophet ﷺ, who was sitting in front of the Ka'bah, as Utbah opened the negotiation the Quraysh had sent him to carry out. The Prophet ﷺ did not answer, recognizing it as a loaded question he could not answer without either lying or seeming to insult his own forefathers.
We have never seen any young man as promising as you flip around and become so unpromising. The Arabs are all making fun of us, the people are mocking your call, and you have split us up. You are an intelligent man, so listen to me: if you wish for money, we will give you more money than anybody amongst us, and you shall be the richest of the Arabs. If you want power, we will make you our king. If you want women, choose any woman you wish and we will make sure she is married to you. And if you think you are unwell, we will hire doctors to cure you.
Are you done, ya Aba al-Walid? Now listen to me.
Utbah confirmed he had said all he had ('No, that is all I have'). The Prophet ﷺ then recited the opening of Surah Fussilat to him.
I beg you, by Allah and by the rights that I have over you as your blood relative, to stop! And do not send this punishment!
Said when the recitation reached the warning of a thunderbolt like that which struck 'Ad and Thamud [Quran, 41:13]; Utbah, trembling, put his hand over the Prophet ﷺ's mouth.
Listen to me. Leave this man alone. Because I have heard a speech from him that I have never heard before. I could not comprehend all of it; however, he is going to have a great matter ahead of him. If the Arabs get rid of him for us, then our hands are clean; but if he wins over the Arabs, then by Allah, his victory is our victory, and his power is our power.
Said upon returning to the Quraysh who had sent him as their representative, visibly shaken.
“But if they turn away, then say, 'I have warned you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt [that struck] Ad and Thamud.'”
This is the exact ayah, per the well-documented narration (and this event's own title), that the Prophet ﷺ recited to Utbah ibn Rabi'ah -- who turned pale at the mention of a "thunderbolt like that of Ad and Thamud."