Prior to the Prophet’s departure, the Quraysh group had been quiescent. The time was nearing and they sensed it. The first wave of the emergence began when the group distinguished itself from the population by refusing the Prophet’s orders to join the dispatch of Usama b. Zayd to combat the Romans, which was one of the last military maneuvers during the Prophet’s lifetime.
Although critically ill and approaching his final days, the Prophet repeatedly ordered them to join the dispatch of Usama, but they (the first three-caliphs and other companions who were present) declined to do so. Sensing that the Prophet would soon depart, the elite members of the group wanted to be in Madinah for the moment of the Prophet’s death in order to assume power, quite possibly, the precise reason why the Prophet wanted them to be away. The situation escalated to the point where the Prophet strongly warned them by saying, “May the curse of Allah be upon the one who stays behind and does not join the army of Usama.”[10] Aside from that, they still refused and the imminent time of the death of the Prophet was drawing near.
[10] Shahristani, Al-Milal wal-Nihal, 1:29