Conservative opposition arose to Muhammad's speeches. According to Ibn Sa'd, the opposition in Mecca began with Muhammad delivering verses that "spoke shamefully of the idols Meccans worshiped other than [Allah] and mentioned the perdition of their fathers who died in disbelief." According to Watt, as Muhammad's followers gained traction in Mecca, they posed a new, internal threat to the local tribes and the rulers of the city, whose wealth rested upon the annual pilgrimage to the Kaaba, the focal point of Meccan religious life, which Muhammad threatened to overthrow; his denunciation of the Meccan traditional religion was especially offensive to his own tribe, the Quraysh, as they were the guardians of the Ka'aba. Some of the ranking and influential leaders of the Quraysh tried and failed to come to arrangements with Muhammad in exchange for abandoning his preaching. They offered him admission into the inner circle of merchants and establishing his position in the circle by an advantageous marriage, but Muhammad refused. During this period, Muhammad urged his followers to be pacifist; according to Peterson, to "deal gently with the infidels".