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Abu Bakr’s resolve to emigrate to Abyssinia: the meeting with ibn ad-Daghina, the protection and its breaking, the prayer place of his house, the tears in recitation and the trial of dust, from al-Boukhari, Ibn Ishaq and al-Bayhaqi.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
Ibn Ishaq said: Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), as Muhammad ibn Moussa az-Zuhri related to me from Urwa, from Aisha, when Mecca became strait for him and he suffered harm there, and saw Quraysh’s coalition against the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his Companions, asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) permission to emigrate, and it was granted. Abu Bakr set out emigrating, and after a day or two of travel, ibn ad-Daghina, brother of the Banu al-Harith ibn Bakr ibn Abd Manat ibn Kinana : then chief of the ahabish : met him. al-Waqidi said: his name was al-Harith ibn Yazid, of the Banu Bakr of Abd Manat ibn Kinana; as-Souhayli said: his name was Malik. He said to him: “Where are you going, O Abu Bakr?” He answered: “My people expelled me, harmed me and straitened me.” Ibn ad-Daghina said: “Why? By Allah, you beautify kinship, you aid against calamities, you do good and relieve the destitute. Return: you are under my protection.”
He returned with him, and upon entering Mecca, ibn ad-Daghina rose and declared: “O assembly of Quraysh, I have taken under my protection the son of Abi Quhafa: let none address him but with good.” They left him. Abu Bakr had a prayer place at the door of his house, among the Banu Joumah, where he prayed; he was a tender man: when he recited the Quran he melted in tears. Children, servants and women stood around him, marveling at his state. Men of Quraysh went to ibn ad-Daghina: “O son of ad-Daghina, you protected this man only to harm us: he is a man who, when he prays and recites what Muhammad brings, weeps; he has a charisma; we fear for our children, our women and our weak ones that he may seduce them. Go to him: order him to enter his house and do therein what he wills.” Ibn ad-Daghina went to him and said: “O Abu Bakr, I protected you not that you harm your people; they dislike the place you occupy and complain of you for it. Enter your house and do there what you love.” Abu Bakr said: “Rather: I return your protection and content myself with the protection of Allah.” “Then return it to me.” “I have returned it to you.” Ibn ad-Daghina rose and declared: “O assembly of Quraysh, the son of Abi Quhafa has returned my protection: see to your protégé.”
Imam al-Boukhari related this hadith alone, with a fine addition, from Yahya ibn Boukayr, from al-Layth, from Uqayl: Ibn Shihab informed me that Urwa ibn az-Zoubayr informed him that Aisha, wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said: “I never knew my parents but upon the religion; not a day passed without the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) coming to us morning and evening. When the Muslims were tried, Abu Bakr set out to emigrate toward the land of Abyssinia; upon reaching Bark al-Ghimad, ibn ad-Daghina, chief of the canton, met him and said: Where are you going, O Abu Bakr? He said: My people expelled me: I wish to wander the earth and worship my Lord there. Ibn ad-Daghina said: Men like you, O Abu Bakr, do not leave and are not expelled: you relieve the destitute, you maintain kinship ties, you bear people’s burdens, you honor the guest and you aid against the calamities of truth.
I protect you: return and worship your Lord in your town.” He returned, ibn ad-Daghina traveled with him, then circled the nobles of Quraysh in the evening and said: “A man like Abu Bakr must not be expelled and does not leave: would you expel a man who relieves the destitute, maintains kinship ties, bears the burden, honors the guest and aids against the calamities of truth?” Quraysh did not deny ibn ad-Daghina’s protection and said to him: “Order Abu Bakr to worship his Lord in his house, to pray there and recite what he wills, without harming us thereby nor praying publicly, for we fear he may seduce our women and children.” Ibn ad-Daghina conveyed that to Abu Bakr, and Abu Bakr remained thus worshipping his Lord in his house, not praying publicly nor reciting elsewhere. Then it pleased him to build a prayer place in his house’s gallery: he prayed there and recited the Quran, and the polytheists’ women and their children gathered to him, marveling and gazing at him.
Abu Bakr was a man given to tears: he could not control his eyes when he recited the Quran. That alarmed the nobles of Quraysh among the polytheists, who sent to ibn ad-Daghina. He came to them and they said: “We had granted Abu Bakr protection through you, on condition that he worship his Lord in his house: he has exceeded that and built a prayer place in his house’s gallery, praying and reciting aloud therein. We fear he may seduce our children and women. Restrain him; if he accepts limiting his worship to his house, so be it; if he insists on doing so publicly, ask him to return your guarantee: we hate to shame you while not accepting Abu Bakr’s public prayer.” Aisha said: ibn ad-Daghina came to Abu Bakr and said: “You know the pledge I took for you: either you hold to it, or you return my guarantee, for I hate that the Arabs learn that my protection was violated for a man to whom I granted it.” Abu Bakr said: “Then I return your protection and content myself with the protection of Allah.” The hadith then continues with Abu Bakr’s (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) Hijra alongside the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), as it will come in its detail.
Ibn Ishaq said: Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Qasim related to me, from his father al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as-Siddiq: when Abu Bakr as-Siddiq left ibn ad-Daghina’s protection, a fool of Quraysh met him, heading toward the Kaaba, and threw dust on his head. al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, or al-As ibn Wa’il, passed by Abu Bakr, who said to him: “Do you see what this fool does?” He replied: “It is you who brought it upon yourself.” And the fool kept saying: “O my Lord, how forbearing You are! O my Lord, how forbearing You are! O my Lord, how forbearing You are!”
Ibn Kathir concludes: Ibn Ishaq related all these accounts, inserting them between Quraysh’s pact against the Banu Hashim and the Banu al-Muttalib, the writing against them of the unjust scroll and their confinement in the valley, and the breaking of the scroll and what followed it: matters fitting that moment. That is why ash-Shafi’i said: “Whoever wishes to know the campaigns depends on Ibn Ishaq.”