Home > Sira > The noble emigration of the Messenger of Allah himself, with Abu Bakr the Truthful
The Hijra of the Prophet Muhammad with Abu Bakr: the cave of Thawr, the spider’s web and the doves, Suraqa and his mare, Umm Ma’bad and the arrival at Quba.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
This is the chapter of the noble emigration of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) himself, from Mecca to Medina, with Abu Bakr the Truthful. It was the first date of the Islamic era, as the Companions agreed upon under the caliphate of Umar, as we have set out in the sira of Umar, and this, from all of them.
Al-Bukhari said: Matar ibn al-Fadl narrated to us: Rawh narrated to us: Hisham narrated to us: Ikrima narrated to us, from Ibn Abbas: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was sent at forty years, and remained in Mecca thirteen years while revelation came to him, then he was commanded to emigrate and emigrated for ten years, and died at sixty-three. His emigration, peace be upon him, took place in the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal, the thirteenth year of his mission, and that on a Monday, as the Imam Ahmad reported from Ibn Abbas: your Prophet was born on a Monday, went out of Mecca on a Monday, was made an announcer on a Monday, entered Medina on a Monday, and died on a Monday.
Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: Abu Bakr, when he asked the Messenger of Allah for permission to emigrate, the latter said to him: do not hasten, perhaps Allah will make you a companion. He hoped that the Messenger of Allah meant no one but himself, so he bought two mounts and kept them in his house, fattening them, in preparation for that. Al-Waqidi said: he bought them for eight hundred dirhams.
Ibn Ishaq said: one whom I do not suspect reported to me, from Urwa ibn az-Zubayr, from Aisha the Mother of the Believers, that she said: the Messenger of Allah did not fail to come to the house of Abu Bakr at one end of the day or the other, either morning or evening, until the day on which Allah permitted His Messenger the emigration and the departure from Mecca from between his people. The Messenger of Allah came to us at midday, at an hour when he did not come. She said: when Abu Bakr saw him he said: the Messenger of Allah does not come at this hour unless an event has occurred. She said: he entered, and Abu Bakr rose from his seat for him, and the Messenger of Allah sat down, and there was with Abu Bakr no one but myself and my sister Asma bint Abi Bakr. The Messenger of Allah said:
send out of your presence those who are with you. He said: O Messenger of Allah, they are my two daughters; may my father and mother be your ransom. He said: Allah has permitted me the departure and the emigration. She said: Abu Bakr said: the companionship, O Messenger of Allah? He said: the companionship. She said: by Allah, I had never before that day felt that anyone could weep for joy until I saw Abu Bakr weeping that day. Then he said: O Prophet of Allah, here are two mounts I had prepared for this. They then hired Abdallah ibn Arqat, and Ibn Hisham said: it is said Abdallah ibn Urayqit, a man of the Banu ad-Dil ibn Bakr whose mother was of the Banu Sahm ibn Amr, and he was an idolater, to guide them on the way, and they handed over their two mounts to him, and they stayed with him grazing for their appointed meeting.
Ibn Ishaq said: when the Messenger of Allah went out, as far as has reached me, no one knew of his going out except Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Abu Bakr the Truthful, and the family of Abu Bakr. As for Ali, the Messenger of Allah commanded him to stay behind until he returned the trusts the people had placed with the Messenger of Allah, for there was no one in Mecca who had anything he feared for but he deposited it with him, because of what was known of his truthfulness and trustworthiness. Ibn Ishaq said: when the Messenger of Allah resolved upon the departure, he came to Abu Bakr ibn Abi Quhafa, and the two went out through the back door of Abu Bakr at the rear of his house.
Abu Nu’aym reported through Ibrahim ibn Sa’d, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq: it has reached me that the Messenger of Allah, when he left Mecca emigrating to Allah, intending Medina, said: ’Praise be to Allah who created me when I was nothing. O Allah, help me against the terrors of the world and the sudden strikes of time and the afflictions of nights and days. O Allah, accompany me in my journey and take my place with my family, and bless for me what You have provided me, and to You belong humility, so humble me, and on my good character set me upright, and to You, my Lord, attach me, and to the people leave me not, Lord of the oppressed. You are my Lord: I seek refuge in Your noble Face, for which the heavens and the earth shone, by which the darknesses are dispelled and upon which the affair of the first and the last was set right, from Your anger falling upon me or Your displeasure descending upon me. I seek refuge in You from the cessation of Your favor, the suddenness of Your punishment, the change of Your protection, and all Your displeasure. To You alone I devote myself as best I can; there is no power and no strength except in You.’
Ibn Ishaq said: then the two made for a cave in Thawr, a mountain below Mecca, and entered it. Abu Bakr the Truthful ordered his son Abdallah to lend his ear for them to what the people said about the two of them during the day, then to come to them in the evening with the news of that day, and he ordered Amir ibn Fuhayra, his freedman, to graze his sheep by day and then bring them back to them in the evening in the cave. So Abdallah ibn Abi Bakr spent his day in Mecca among them, hearing what they plotted and what they said about the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr, then came to them in the evening and told them the news; and Amir ibn Fuhayra grazed amid the pastures of the people of Mecca, and in the evening brought them the sheep of Abu Bakr, and the two milked and slaughtered; and when Abdallah ibn Abi Bakr left them in the morning for Mecca, Amir ibn Fuhayra followed his tracks with the sheep, effacing them. What testifies to this will come in the text of al-Bukhari.
Ibn Jarir reported from some that the Messenger of Allah preceded the Truthful in going to the cave of Thawr, and ordered Ali to indicate to him his route so that he might join him, and he joined him along the way. This is very strange and contrary to the well-known account, which is that the two went out together.
Ibn Ishaq said: Asma bint Abi Bakr used to bring them food in the evening, with what could sustain them. Asma said: when the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr had gone out, a party of Quraysh came to us, among them Abu Jahl ibn Hisham, and they stood at the door of Abu Bakr. I went out to them and they said: where is your father, O daughter of Abu Bakr? I said: I know not, by Allah, where my father is. She said: Abu Jahl raised his hand, and he was lewd and wicked, and slapped my cheek with a blow that shook loose my earring, and they departed.
Ibn Ishaq said: Yahya ibn Abbad ibn Abdallah ibn az-Zubayr related to me that his father related to him from his grandmother Asma, that she said: when the Messenger of Allah went out and Abu Bakr went out with him, Abu Bakr carried all his wealth, five thousand dirhams or six thousand, and set off with it. She said: my grandfather Abu Quhafa, whose sight had gone, came to us and said: by Allah, I see he has grieved you with his wealth along with his own person. I said: no, O father, he has left us plenty. She said: I took stones and put them in the niche where my father used to keep his wealth, covered them with a cloth, then took his hand and said: O father, lay your hand on this wealth. She said: he laid his hand on it and said: it is no matter, since he has left you this he has done well, and in this there is an announcement for you. And by Allah he had left us nothing, but I wished to reassure the old man with that.
Ibn Hisham said: some people of knowledge related to me that al-Hasan ibn Abi l-Hasan al-Basri said: the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr reached the cave by night, and Abu Bakr entered before the Messenger of Allah and felt about the cave to see whether there was a beast of prey or a serpent, so as to shield the Messenger of Allah with his own person. In this report there is a break at both ends.
Abu l-Qasim al-Baghawi said: Dawud ibn Amr ad-Dabbi narrated to us: Nafi’ ibn Umar al-Jumahi narrated to us, from Ibn Abi Mulayka: that when the Prophet went out with Abu Bakr toward Thawr, Abu Bakr would sometimes walk before the Prophet and sometimes behind him, and the Prophet asked him about it, and he said: when I am behind you I fear you may be attacked from before you, and when I am before you I fear you may be attacked from behind you. When he reached the cave of Thawr, Abu Bakr said: remain where you are, O Messenger of Allah, until I put in my hand and feel about and clear it, and if there is a creature in it let it reach me before you. Nafi’ said: it reached me that there was a hole in the cave, and Abu Bakr thrust his leg into that hole for fear a creature or something that would harm the Messenger of Allah might come out of it. This is mursal, and we have mentioned other supporting reports for it in the sira of the Truthful.
Al-Bayhaqi said: Abu Abdallah the hafiz informed us: Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ishaq informed us: Musa ibn al-Hasan ibn Abbad narrated to us: Affan ibn Muslim narrated to us: as-Sari ibn Yahya narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Sirin narrated to us: men used to enumerate merits in the time of Umar as though they preferred Umar to Abu Bakr, and that reached Umar, who said: by Allah, one night of Abu Bakr is better than the family of Umar, and one day of Abu Bakr is better than the family of Umar. The Messenger of Allah went out the night he set out for the cave, and Abu Bakr with him, who would walk sometimes before him and sometimes behind him, until the Messenger of Allah noticed and said: O Abu Bakr, why do you walk sometimes before me and sometimes behind me? He said: O Messenger of Allah, when I remember the pursuit I walk behind you, and when I remember the watchers I walk before you. He said: O Abu Bakr, if something were to happen, would you love it to befall you rather than me? He said: yes, by Him who sent you with the truth. When we reached the cave, Abu Bakr said: stay in your place, O Messenger of Allah, until I examine the cave for you. He entered and examined it, and when he was at its upper part he remembered that he had not examined the small opening and said: stay in your place, O Messenger of Allah, until I examine it. He entered and examined it, then said: come down, O Messenger of Allah, and he came down. Umar then said: by Him in whose hand my soul is, that night is better than the family of Umar.
Al-Bayhaqi reported it from another chain, from Umar, in which Abu Bakr walked before the Messenger of Allah one time and behind him another, and at his right and at his left. It also says that when the two feet of the Messenger of Allah were injured, the Truthful carried him on his back, and that when he entered the cave he blocked the whole of that small opening and one hole remained, into which he thrust his heel, and the serpents bit him while his tears flowed, and the Messenger of Allah said to him: do not grieve; Allah is with us. In this account there is strangeness.
Al-Bayhaqi then said: Abu Abdallah the hafiz and Abu Sa’id ibn Abi Amr informed us: Abu l-Abbas al-Asamm narrated to us: Abbas ad-Duri narrated to us: Aswad ibn Amir Shadhan narrated to us: Isra’il narrated to us, from al-Aswad, from Jundub ibn Abdallah: Abu Bakr was with the Messenger of Allah in the cave and a stone struck his hand, and he said: ’You are only a finger that I have hurt, and in the path of Allah this is what you meet.’
The Imam Ahmad said: Abd ar-Razzaq narrated to us: Ma’mar informed us: Uthman al-Jazari informed me that Miqsam, freedman of Ibn Abbas, informed him from Ibn Abbas, concerning the word of the Most High ’and when those who disbelieved plotted against you, to restrain you, or kill you, or expel you’ [al-Anfal: 30]: Quraysh took counsel one night in Mecca, and one of them said: when he rises in the morning, bind him with fetters, meaning the Prophet; another said: rather kill him; and another said: rather expel him. So Allah showed His Prophet that, and Ali slept that night upon the bed of the Prophet, and the Prophet went out until he reached the cave, and the idolaters spent the night guarding Ali, thinking he was the Prophet. When morning came they rushed at him, and when they saw Ali, Allah had turned their plot back upon them, and they said: where is your companion? He said: I do not know. They traced their tracks, and when they reached the mountain the tracks became confused, and they climbed the mountain and passed by the cave, and saw upon its mouth a spider’s web, and said: had anyone entered here the spider’s web would not be upon its door. And he stayed in it three nights. This is a fair chain, and it is among the most generous of what is related concerning the spider’s web at the mouth of the cave, and that is part of Allah’s protection of His Messenger.
The hafiz Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Sa’id, the judge, said in the Musnad of Abu Bakr: Bishr the scissors-seller narrated to us: Ja’far ibn Sulayman narrated to us: Abu Imran al-Jawni narrated to us: al-Mu’alla ibn Ziyad related to us, from al-Hasan al-Basri: the Prophet and Abu Bakr set out for the cave, and Quraysh came seeking the Prophet, and whenever they saw upon the mouth of the cave a spider’s web they said: no one has entered. And the Prophet was standing in prayer while Abu Bakr kept watch, and Abu Bakr said to the Prophet: these are your people seeking you; by Allah I do not weep for myself, but for fear of seeing upon you what I hate. The Prophet said to him: O Abu Bakr, do not fear; Allah is with us. This is mursal from al-Hasan, and it is fair in itself with its witness. It contains additional prayer of the Prophet in the cave, and the Prophet, when an affair troubled him, would pray. And this narrator, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ali the judge, reported from Amr the critic, from Khalaf ibn Tamim, from Musa ibn Muthir, from his father, from Abu Hurayra, that Abu Bakr said to his son: O my son, when an event occurs among the people, come to the cave in which I hid, I and the Messenger of Allah, and stay in it, for your provision will come to you in it morning and evening. And some one versified it: ’The web of David, which shielded the master of the cave, and the glory was the spider’s.’
It has also come that two doves nested upon his door, and as-Sarsari put that into verse: ’So the spider covered him with its web, and the white dove shaded the door.’ The hadith to that effect was reported by the hafiz Ibn Asakir through Yahya ibn Muhammad ibn Sa’id: Amr ibn Ali narrated to us: Awn ibn Amr Abu Amr al-Qaysi, nicknamed Uwayna, narrated to us: Abu Mus’ab al-Makki told me: I attended upon Zayd ibn Arqam, al-Mughira ibn Shu’ba and Anas ibn Malik, who related that on the night of the cave Allah commanded a tree to come out before the Prophet to cover him, and that Allah sent the spider which wove between the two and covered the face of the Messenger of Allah, and that Allah commanded two wild doves which came brooding until they settled between the spider and the tree, and the youths of Quraysh came, a man from every clan, with their staves, bows and clubs, until they were two hundred cubits from the Messenger of Allah, and the guide, who was Suraqa ibn Malik ibn Ju’shum al-Mudliji, said: this is the stone, then I know not where he set his foot. The youths said:
you have not erred since the night. When morning came he said: look into the cave. He brought the people forward until they were fifty cubits from the Prophet, and there were the two doves, and he turned back, and they said: what turned you back from looking into the cave? He said: I saw two wild doves at the mouth of the cave and knew no one was in it. The Prophet heard it and knew that Allah had turned them from them by means of them, and he invoked upon them, that is, blessed them, and Allah led them to the sanctuary, where they flew apart, as you see. This hadith is very strange in this chain. The hafiz Abu Nu’aym reported it, from Muslim ibn Ibrahim and others, from Awn ibn Amr, nicknamed Uwayna, by his chain, the like of it, and it says that all the pigeons of Mecca descend from those two doves. In this hadith the tracker of tracks for them was Suraqa ibn Malik al-Mudliji. Al-Waqidi reported, from Musa ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, from his father, that the one who traced the tracks for them was Kurz ibn Alqama. I say: it is possible that both of them traced the tracks, and Allah knows best.
Allah the Most High said: ’If you do not aid him, Allah has already aided him, when those who disbelieved drove him out, the second of two, when the two were in the cave, when he said to his companion: grieve not, surely Allah is with us. Then Allah sent down His tranquillity upon him and supported him with hosts you did not see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, and the word of Allah, that is the uppermost; and Allah is Mighty, Wise’ [at-Tawba: 40]. The Most High says, admonishing whoever held back from jihad with the Messenger: if you do not aid him, then Allah is his aider, supporter and victor, as He aided him when those who disbelieved, the people of Mecca, drove him out a fugitive with none but his companion, his truthful friend Abu Bakr, with him none but he; and therefore He said: the second of two, when the two were in the cave, that is, having taken refuge in the cave, where they stayed three days until the search for them abated; and that is because the idolaters, when they lost them, as preceded, went seeking them in every direction, and made for whoever returned one of them to them a hundred camels, and traced their tracks until they became confused.
The one who traced the tracks for Quraysh was Suraqa ibn Malik ibn Ju’shum, as preceded, and they climbed the mountain in which the two were, passing by the mouth of the cave, their feet facing the door of the cave, without seeing them, a preservation of Allah for the two. As the Imam Ahmad said: Affan narrated to us: Hammam narrated to us: Thabit informed me, from Anas ibn Malik, that Abu Bakr related to him and said: I said to the Prophet while we were in the cave: if one of them were to look at his feet he would see us beneath his feet. He said: O Abu Bakr, what do you think of two whose third is Allah? Al-Bukhari and Muslim reported it in their two Sahihs from Hammam. Some of the biographers mentioned that when Abu Bakr said that, the Prophet said: if they came upon us from here we would leave by there. And the Truthful looked and the cave had opened out on the other side, and behold the sea had joined it and a ship moored beside it. This is not far-fetched given the immense power, but it has not come by any chain, strong or weak, and we establish nothing of ourselves; rather what is authentic or has a fair chain, that we say, and Allah knows best.
The hafiz Abu Bakr al-Bazzar said: al-Fadl ibn Sahl narrated to us: Khalaf ibn Tamim narrated to us: Musa ibn Muthir al-Qurashi narrated to us, from his father, from Abu Hurayra, that Abu Bakr said to his son: O my son, if an event occurs among the people, come to the cave in which you saw me hiding, I and the Messenger of Allah, and stay in it, for your provision will come to you there morning and evening. Then al-Bazzar said: we know of no one who reports it but Khalaf ibn Tamim. I say: Musa ibn Muthir is weak, abandoned; Yahya ibn Ma’in declared him a liar, so his hadith is not accepted, and Allah knows best. Yunus ibn Bukayr mentioned, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, that the Truthful said, concerning their entering the cave, their march after that, and the affair of Suraqa, as will come, verses, among them: ’The Prophet said, and I had no dread: he honored me, while we were in the deep folds of the darkness of the cave. Fear nothing, for Allah is our third, and He has shown trust in me openly.’ Abu Nu’aym reported this qasida through Ziyad, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, at great length, and mentioned with it another qasida, and Allah knows best.
Ibn Lahi’a reported, from Abu l-Aswad, from Urwa ibn az-Zubayr: the Messenger of Allah stayed, after the pilgrimage, meaning the one in which the Ansar pledged, the remainder of Dhu l-Hijja, al-Muharram and Safar; then the idolaters of Quraysh, all of them, united their affair and their plot to kill the Messenger of Allah, or imprison him, or expel him, and Allah showed him that, and sent down upon him ’and when those who disbelieved plotted against you’, the verse. He ordered Ali, who slept on his bed, and he and Abu Bakr went, and in the morning they went seeking them in every direction. Thus Musa ibn Uqba mentioned it in his campaigns, and that his going out, he and Abu Bakr, to the cave was by night, and al-Hasan al-Basri, in what Ibn Hisham mentions, stated that as well.
Al-Bukhari said: Yahya ibn Bukayr narrated to us: al-Layth narrated to us, from Uqayl: Ibn Shihab said: Urwa ibn az-Zubayr informed me, from Aisha the wife of the Prophet: I never knew my two parents except upon the religion, and not a day passed over us but the Messenger of Allah came to us at both ends of it, morning and evening. When the Muslims were tried, Abu Bakr went out emigrating toward the land of Abyssinia, until he reached Bark al-Ghimad and met Ibn ad-Daghina, who was the chief of the caravan. She mentioned his turning Abu Bakr back to Mecca and his protection of him, as we set out at the Abyssinian emigration, up to his words: Abu Bakr said: I prefer the protection of Allah. And the Prophet was then in Mecca, and the Prophet said to the Muslims: ’I was shown the abode of your emigration, a land of date palms between two stony tracts,’ and they are the two Harras. So whoever emigrated emigrated toward Medina, and some of those who had emigrated to Abyssinia returned to Medina, and Abu Bakr prepared to emigrate toward Medina, and the Messenger of Allah said to him: ’Slow your pace, for I hope permission will be granted me.’ Abu Bakr said: and do you hope for that, may my father and mother be your ransom? He said: yes. So Abu Bakr kept himself back for the Messenger of Allah to accompany him, and fattened two mounts he had with samur meal, which is khabat, for four months, and some mentioned he fattened them six months.
Ibn Shihab said: Urwa said: Aisha said: one day we were sitting in the house of Abu Bakr in the heat of midday when someone said to Abu Bakr: this is the Messenger of Allah, veiled, at an hour when he never used to come to us. Abu Bakr said: may my father and mother be his ransom; by Allah, he brings nothing at this hour but an affair. She said: the Messenger of Allah came and asked leave and was given leave, and entered, and the Prophet said: send out those who are with you. Abu Bakr said: they are but my family; may my father be your ransom, O Messenger of Allah. He said: permission has been granted me for the departure. Abu Bakr said: companionship, may my father and mother be your ransom. The Prophet said: yes. Abu Bakr said: then take, may my father be your ransom, O Messenger of Allah, one of these two mounts of mine. The Messenger of Allah said: at a price. Aisha said: so we prepared them with utmost haste and made them provisions in a waterskin-bag, and Asma bint Abi Bakr cut a piece of her waistband and tied the mouth of the bag with it, and for that she was called Dhat an-Nitaqayn, she of the two waistbands. She said: then the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr reached a cave in the mountain of Thawr and stayed in it three nights.
Abdallah ibn Abi Bakr passed the night with them, a shrewd young man of keen intelligence, who slipped away from them at dawn and spent the morning in Mecca among Quraysh as a sleeper, hearing no affair they were kindled by but he memorized it, until he brought them news of it as the darknesses mingled, and Amir ibn Fuhayra, freedman of Abu Bakr, grazed over them a milch flock and brought it back to them when an hour of the evening had gone, so they passed the night on risl, the milk of their milch and follower sheep, until Amir ibn Fuhayra made them bleat at evening, doing so every one of those three nights. And the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr hired a man of the Banu ad-Dil, who are of the Banu Abd ibn Adi, a guide, a khirrit, and the khirrit is one masterful in guiding, who had sworn allegiance to the family of al-As ibn Wa’il as-Sahmi and was upon the religion of the disbelievers of Quraysh. They entrusted themselves to him and handed him their two mounts, and agreed with him upon the cave of Thawr after three nights, with their two mounts the morning after three nights, and Amir ibn Fuhayra and the guide set out with them, and he took them by the coastal route.
Ibn Shihab said: Abd ar-Rahman ibn Malik al-Mudliji informed me, and he is the nephew of Suraqa, that his father informed him that he heard Suraqa ibn Malik ibn Ju’shum say: the emissaries of the disbelieving Quraysh came to us, fixing upon the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr the blood-price of each of them for whoever killed or captured him. While I was sitting in one of the assemblies of my people, the Banu Mudlij, a man of them came and stood before us as we sat and said: O Suraqa, I have just seen dark shapes on the shore; I think it is Muhammad and his companions. Suraqa said: I knew it was them, and said to him: they are not them; you have seen so-and-so and so-and-so who left before our eyes. I stayed in the assembly an hour, then rose and entered, and ordered my maidservant to bring out my horse from behind a hillock and hold it for me, and I took my spear and went out from behind the house and scraped the ground with its point, lowering its top, until I came to my horse and mounted. It drew me near until I was close to them, and my horse stumbled and I fell from it. I stood and reached my hand to my quiver and drew out the divination arrows and cast lots with them:
shall I harm them or not, and there came out the lot I hated. I mounted my horse, disobeying the arrows, and it bore me on until I heard the recitation of the Messenger of Allah, he not turning back while Abu Bakr turned back much, and the two forelegs of the horse sank into the earth up to the knees, and I fell from it. Then I lashed it and it rose, scarcely getting its legs out, and when it stood upright there was, at the traces of its legs, a bright dust in the sky like smoke. I cast the arrows and out came what I hated, and I called to them with safety. They stood, and I mounted my horse until I came to them, and the thought occurred to me, from what I met of hindrance from them, that the affair of the Messenger of Allah would prevail. I said: your people have set your blood-price, and I told them the news of what the people intended for them, and offered them provisions and equipment, and they did not accept from me nor ask of me except that he said: keep away from us. I asked him to write me a deed of security, and he ordered Amir ibn Fuhayra, who wrote on a scrap of skin, and the Messenger of Allah went on.
Muhammad ibn Ishaq reported, from az-Zuhri, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Malik ibn Ju’shum, from his father, from his uncle Suraqa, this account, except that he mentioned he cast the divination arrows at his first going out from his house, and there came out the arrow he disliked: they will not harm me; and he mentioned that his horse stumbled with him four times, and each time he cast the arrows and out came what he disliked, until he called out to them with safety and asked that a document be written him to be a token between him and the Messenger of Allah, and he said: he wrote me a document on a bone, or a scrap, or a rag; and he mentioned he brought it to the Messenger of Allah when the latter was at al-Ji’rana returning from Ta’if, and he said to him: ’A day of filling and bounty: draw near.’ So I drew near to him and accepted Islam. Ibn Hisham said: he is Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Malik ibn Ju’shum, and what he said is good.
When Suraqa returned, he met no party of the pursuit but he turned them back and said: you are shielded from this direction. When it became known that the Messenger of Allah had reached Medina, Suraqa began telling the people what he had seen and witnessed of the affair of the Prophet and what had befallen his mare, and this became famous of him, and the chiefs of Quraysh feared his exposure and feared it would be a cause of Islam for many of them, and Suraqa was the prince of the Banu Mudlij and their chief. Abu Jahl, may Allah curse him, wrote to them: ’Banu Mudlij, I fear your scatterbrain Suraqa, seeking the aid of Muhammad. Guard yourselves with him lest he divide your host, and you wake scattered, after glory and might.’ Suraqa ibn Malik answered Abu Jahl in these words: ’Aba l-Hakam, by Allah, had you witnessed the affair of my mare when her legs were dissolving, you would have marveled and not doubted that Muhammad is a messenger with a proof; who then can withstand him? Guard yourself lest the people turn you from him, for I reckon there is a day in store for us when his landmarks will appear, by an affair in which you would wish for victory, for all the people, to a man, are reconciled to him.’ Al-Umawi mentioned this poetry in his campaigns by his chain from Ibn Ishaq, and Abu Nu’aym reported it by his chain through Ziyad, from Ibn Ishaq, and added to the poetry of Abu Jahl, may Allah curse him, verses containing flagrant unbelief.
Al-Bukhari said, by his chain to Ibn Shihab: Urwa ibn az-Zubayr informed me that the Messenger of Allah met az-Zubayr in a caravan of Muslims who were merchants returning from Syria, and az-Zubayr clothed the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr in white garments. The Muslims of Medina heard of the Messenger of Allah’s departure from Mecca and went out every morning to the Harra, waiting for him until the midday heat turned them back; and one day, after waiting long, they returned, and when they had gone into their houses a Jew went up upon one of their rooftops for some affair he was looking at, and descried the Messenger of Allah and his companions, white-robed, whom the mirage made to sway, and the Jew could not restrain himself from crying at the top of his voice: O assembly of the Arabs, here is your grandfather whom you await. The Muslims rushed to their arms and met the Messenger of Allah at the height of the Harra, and he turned with them to the right until he alighted among the Banu Amr ibn Awf, and that was on the Monday of Rabi’ al-Awwal. Abu Bakr stood up for the people while the Messenger of Allah sat silent, and those of the Ansar who came who had not seen the Messenger of Allah greeted Abu Bakr, until the sun fell upon the Messenger of Allah, and Abu Bakr advanced and shaded him with his cloak, and the people recognized the Messenger of Allah at that. The Messenger of Allah stayed with the Banu Amr ibn Awf some ten nights,
and founded the mosque founded upon piety, and the Messenger of Allah prayed in it; then he mounted his mount and the people walked with him until it knelt by the mosque of the Messenger of Allah in Medina, where some men of the Muslims were praying that day, and it was a date-drying floor for Suhayl and Sahl, two orphan boys under the guardianship of As’ad ibn Zurara. When his mount knelt there the Messenger of Allah said: ’This, if Allah wills, is the abode.’ Then the Messenger of Allah called the two boys and negotiated with them for the drying floor, that he might take it for a mosque, and they said: rather we gift it to you, O Messenger of Allah. He refused to accept it from them as a gift until he bought it from them, then built it as a mosque, and the Messenger of Allah began carrying the bricks with them in its building, saying as he carried: ’This burden is not the burden of Khaybar; this is more righteous, our Lord, and purer.’ And he said: ’O Allah, the true reward is the reward of the Hereafter, so have mercy on the Ansar and the Muhajirun.’ He was representing the verses of a man of the Muslims not named to me. Ibn Shihab said: it has not reached us in the hadiths that the Messenger of Allah represented any complete verse of poetry other than these verses. These are the words of al-Bukhari, who alone reports it, without Muslim, and it has supporting chains by other routes, and the story of Umm Ma’bad al-Khuza’iyya is not in it.
The Imam Ahmad said: Amr ibn Muhammad Abu Sa’id al-Anqazi narrated to us: Isra’il narrated to us, from Abu Ishaq, from al-Bara ibn Azib: Abu Bakr bought from Azib a saddle for thirteen dirhams, and Abu Bakr said to Azib: send al-Bara to carry it to my house. He said: no, until you tell us how you fared when the Messenger of Allah went out and you with him. Abu Bakr said: we went out and traveled by night and day until it was midday, and I cast my eye about to see if I could see a shade to shelter in, and there was a rock; I made for it and there remained of its shade some, and I smoothed it for the Messenger of Allah and spread out for him a fur and said: lie down, O Messenger of Allah, and he lay down. Then I went out to see whether I could see anyone of the pursuit, and there was a shepherd of sheep. I said: whose are you, O lad? He said: a man of Quraysh’s, and he named him, and I recognized him.
I said: is there milk in your sheep? He said: yes. I said: will you milk for me? He said: yes. I ordered him to catch a ewe, then ordered him to dust its udder of the dust, then ordered him to dust his two palms, and with me was a vessel with its mouth closed by a cloth, and he milked me a full draught of milk, and I poured water upon the cup until its bottom cooled, then came to the Messenger of Allah, who had woken, and said: drink, O Messenger of Allah, and he drank until I was satisfied. Then I said: is it time to depart? We departed, the people seeking us, and none of them overtook us but Suraqa ibn Malik ibn Ju’shum upon his horse. I said: O Messenger of Allah, this pursuit has caught us. He said: grieve not; Allah is with us. When he drew near, so that between us and him was the distance of a spear or two, or he said two or three, I said: O Messenger of Allah, the pursuit has caught us, and I wept,
and he said: why do you weep? I said: by Allah I do not weep for myself, but I weep over you. The Messenger of Allah prayed against him and said: O Allah, deter him as You will, and the legs of his horse sank to its belly into solid ground, and he leapt from it and said: O Muhammad, I know this is your work; pray to Allah to deliver me from what I am in, and by Allah I shall turn back the pursuit behind me, and here is my quiver: take an arrow from it, for you will pass by my camels and sheep at such and such a place; take your need. The Messenger of Allah said: I have no need of it, and the Messenger of Allah prayed for him and he was released and returned to his companions. The Messenger of Allah went on, I with him, until we reached Medina and the people met him, going out into the streets and upon the rooftops, and the servants and children thronged the road crying: Allah is greatest,
the Messenger of Allah has come, Muhammad has come. The people disputed which of them he would lodge with, and the Messenger of Allah said: ’Let him lodge this night with the Banu an-Najjar, the maternal uncles of Abd al-Muttalib, that I may honor them with it.’ In the morning he went where he was ordered. Al-Bara said: the first of the Muhajirun to reach us was Mus’ab ibn Umayr, brother of the Banu Abd ad-Dar, then Ibn Umm Maktum the blind man, of the Banu Fihr, came to us, then Umar ibn al-Khattab came to us with twenty riders, and we said: what has the Messenger of Allah done? He said: he is behind me. Then the Messenger of Allah came and Abu Bakr with him. Al-Bara said: the Messenger of Allah did not arrive until he had recited suras of the mufassal, which the two Sahihs reported through Isra’il, without the words of al-Bara ’the first to reach us’ and so on, and Muslim alone reported it through Isra’il.
Ibn Ishaq said: the Messenger of Allah stayed in the cave three days with Abu Bakr, and Quraysh set upon him, when they missed him, a hundred she-camels for whoever brought him back to them. When the three had passed and the people quieted down, their guide whom they had hired came to them with their two camels and a camel of his own, and Asma bint Abi Bakr brought them their provisions and forgot to put a cord for it, and when they set out she went to hang the provisions and found no cord, so she undid her waistband and made it a cord and tied it with that, and she was called Dhat an-Nitaqayn, she of the two waistbands, for that.
Ibn Ishaq said: when Abu Bakr brought the two mounts near the Messenger of Allah he offered him the better of the two and said: mount, may my father and mother be your ransom. The Messenger of Allah said: I do not ride a camel that is not mine. He said: it is yours, O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be your ransom. He said: no; but what price did you buy it for? He said: such and such. He said: then I take it at that. He said: it is yours, O Messenger of Allah. Al-Waqidi reported by his chains that he took al-Qaswa’, and that Abu Bakr had bought them for eight hundred dirhams. Ibn Asakir reported, through Abu Usama, from Hisham, from his father, from Aisha, that it was al-Jad’a, and as-Suhayli likewise reported from Ibn Ishaq that it was al-Jad’a, and Allah knows best.
Ibn Ishaq said: the two mounted and set out, and Amir ibn Fuhayra, freedman of Abu Bakr, rode behind them to serve the two on the way. I was told from Asma that she said: when the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr went out we stayed three nights not knowing whither the Messenger of Allah was headed, until a man of the jinn came from the lower quarter of Mecca singing verses with the singing of the Arabs, and the people followed him, hearing his voice without seeing him, until he came out from the upper quarter of Mecca saying: ’May Allah, the Lord of men, grant His best reward to two companions who lodged in the tents of Umm Ma’bad. They alighted in bounty then took their rest, and blessed is he who passes the night a companion of Muhammad. Prosperity, Banu Ka’b, to the station of your youths; her abode shall be for the believers, on the watch.’ Asma said: when we heard his words we knew where the Messenger of Allah was headed, and that his direction was Medina.
Ibn Ishaq said: they were four: the Messenger of Allah, Abu Bakr, Amir ibn Fuhayra freedman of Abu Bakr, and Abdallah ibn Arqat, so says Ibn Ishaq, while the well-known name is Abdallah ibn Urayqit ad-Duali, and he was at that time an idolater. When their guide went out with the two of them, he took them by the lower quarter of Mecca, then bore them along the shore until the road was paralleled below Usfan, then took them below Amaj, then made them cross until the road was paralleled after crossing Qudayd, then brought them from there to al-Kharrar, then crossed with them the pass of al-Murra, then took them to Laqf, then crossed Mudlijat Laqf, then descended with them to Mudlijat Mijaj, then entered Marjih Mijaj, then descended Marjih of Dhu l-Ghadawayn, then the belly of Dhi Kashr, then took them upon al-Judajid, then upon al-Ajrad,
then took them to Dhu Salam of the belly of Adba’, Mudlijat Tihna, then upon al-Ababid, then crossed with them al-Qahira, then descended with them at al-Arj, part of whose ridge slowed them, and a man of Aslam carried the Messenger of Allah, called Aws ibn Hujr, upon a camel called Ibn ar-Rida’, to Medina, and sent with him a servant of his called Mas’ud ibn Hunayda. Then their guide went out from al-Arj and took them by the pass of al-A’ir, to the right of Rukuba, until he brought them down into the belly of Rim, then brought them to Quba, among the Banu Amr ibn Awf, twelve nights having passed of Rabi’ al-Awwal, on a Monday, when the forenoon heat had strengthened and the sun was near its zenith. Abu Nu’aym reported, through al-Waqidi, something like the mention of these stations, differing from him in some of them, and Allah knows best.
Abu Nu’aym said: Abu Hamid ibn Jabala narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Ishaq, the one called as-Sirraj, narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Abbad ibn Musa al-Ijli narrated to us: my brother Musa ibn Abbad related to me: Abdallah ibn Sayyar related to me: Iyas ibn Malik ibn Aws al-Aslami related to me, from his father: when the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr emigrated they passed by camels of ours at al-Juhfa, and the Messenger of Allah said: whose are these camels? They said: a man of Aslam’s. He turned to Abu Bakr and said: ’You are safe, if Allah wills.’ He said: what is your name? He said: Mas’ud. He turned to Abu Bakr and said: ’You are happy, if Allah wills.’ He said: my father came to him and loaded him upon a camel called Ibn ar-Rida’.
I say: Ibn Abbas already said that the Messenger of Allah left Mecca on a Monday and entered Medina on a Monday, and the apparent is that between his leaving Mecca and his entering Medina were fifteen days, for he stayed in the cave of Thawr three days, then took the coastal route, which is longer than the main road, and passed on his way by Umm Ma’bad bint Ka’b of the Banu Ka’b ibn Khuza’a, as Ibn Hisham said. Yunus said, from Ibn Ishaq: her name is A’tika bint Khalid ibn Mughid ibn Rabi’a ibn Asram. Al-Umawi said: she is A’tika bint Tabi’, ally of the Banu Mughid, and this woman had children: Ma’bad, Nadra and Hunayda, sons of Abu Ma’bad, whose name is Aktham ibn Abd al-Uzza ibn Mughid, and her story is famous, related by chains that support one another.
This is the story of Umm Ma’bad al-Khuza’iyya: Yunus said, from Ibn Ishaq: the Messenger of Allah alighted at the tent of Umm Ma’bad, whose name is A’tika bint Khalid ibn Mughid ibn Rabi’a ibn Asram, and they wished to drink, and she said: by Allah, we have no food, and we have no milking sheep, and we have no sheep but one left behind. The Messenger of Allah called for one of her sheep and passed his hand over its udder and prayed to Allah and milked into a large vessel until it yielded, and foam rose upon it, and he gave her drink and gave his companions drink, and they drank at leisure after thirst until the last of them drank, and he said: ’The people’s cup-bearer is the last of them.’ Then he milked a second time, returning upon the first, and left it with her, and they departed. He said: scarcely had a little time passed when her husband Abu Ma’bad came driving gaunt she-goats that rubbed themselves, lean, with no fat in their milk and little brains. Seeing the milk he marveled and said: whence this milk, O Umm Ma’bad, when there is no milker in the house and the ewe is dry? She said: by Allah, a blessed man passed by us, and of his speech was this and this. He said: describe him to me,
for by Allah I see he is the man of Quraysh whom you seek. She said: I saw a man of evident radiance, fine character, a handsome face that toil had not wearied nor lassitude dimmed, giving and genial, with a tint in his eyes and softness in his lashes, resonance in his voice, deep-eyed, dark-lashed, strong-voiced, grave, in his neck a length and in his beard a thickness; when silent, dignity sat upon him, and when he spoke he towered, and radiance crowned him; sweet of speech, well divided, neither slight nor rambling, as if his speech were strung pearls descending; the most radiant of men and the most beautiful from afar, the sweetest and finest of them from near; of middling stature, which no eye despises for length nor assails for shortness; a branch between two branches, the most lustrous of the three in view and the best of them in measure; he has companions who surround him: if he speaks they listen to his word, and if he commands they hasten to his command, well served and well attended, neither sullen nor slighting. He, meaning her husband, said: this, by Allah, is the man of Quraysh whom you seek, and were I to meet him I would seek to accompany him and would strain every nerve if I found a way to it.
He said: and a cry rose in Mecca high between heaven and earth which they heard without seeing the speaker, saying: ’May Allah, the Lord of men, grant His best reward to two companions who lodged in the tents of Umm Ma’bad. They alighted in bounty and departed with it, and blessed is he who passes the night a companion of Muhammad. Well may Qusayy: what Allah has turned from you by him of deeds without peer, and of might. Ask your sister about her ewe and her bowl, for you, if you ask the ewe, she will bear witness. He called her by a solitary ewe and she yielded to his milking in a clear vessel, the lip of the ewe foaming, and he left a pledge with her for the milker, which will flow for her at source and at watering.’ He said: the people, meaning in Mecca, rose having missed their prophet, and they halted at the tents of Umm Ma’bad until they caught up with the Messenger of Allah. He said: Hassan ibn Thabit answered him: ’Lost is a people whose prophet has departed from them,
and blessed is he who journeys toward them and rides at morn. He has left a people whose wits have fled, and settled upon a people with light renewed. And are the erring of a people who played the fool equal, blind, to guides who are guided by the Guided? A prophet who sees what the people see not around him, and recites the Book of Allah in every assembly; and if he says one day a word of the absent, its confirmation comes that day or in the forenoon of the morrow. Prosper, Abu Bakr, the happiness of your grandfather, by whose company whoever Allah prospers prospers; and prosper, Banu Ka’b, to the station of your youths: her abode shall be for the Muslims, on the watch.’ Abd al-Malik ibn Wahb said: it has reached me that Abu Ma’bad accepted Islam and emigrated to the Prophet, and Abu Nu’aym reported it thus through Abd al-Malik ibn Wahb al-Madhaji, likewise, adding at its end: Abd al-Malik said: it has reached me that Umm Ma’bad emigrated and accepted Islam and joined the Messenger of Allah.
Then Abu Nu’aym reported it by other chains, from Mukarram ibn Muhriz al-Ka’bi al-Khuza’i, from his father Muhriz ibn Mahdi, from Hizam ibn Hisham ibn Hubaysh ibn Khalid, from his father, from his grandfather Hubaysh ibn Khalid, companion of the Messenger of Allah: that when the Messenger of Allah was driven out of Mecca he left it an emigrant, he and Abu Bakr, and Amir ibn Fuhayra, and their guide Abdallah ibn Urayqit al-Laythi, and they passed by the tent of Umm Ma’bad, who was a woman of stature and strength sitting before the tent, and he mentioned the like of what preceded, likewise. He said: and Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Makhlad, I think, related it to us: Muhammad ibn Yunus ibn Musa, the Kudaymi, narrated to us: Abd al-Aziz ibn Yahya ibn Abd al-Aziz, freedman of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn Salit al-Ansari narrated to us: my father related to me, from his father Salit of Badr: when the Messenger of Allah went out on the emigration with Abu Bakr, Amir ibn Fuhayra and Ibn Urayqit, who guided them on the road, he passed by Umm Ma’bad al-Khuza’iyya, who did not know him, and he said to her: O Umm Ma’bad, have you any milk? She said: no, by Allah, the sheep are dry. He said: then what is this ewe? She said: weakness has left her behind the flock. Then he mentioned the rest of the hadith as what preceded. Then al-Bayhaqi said: it is possible all these stories are one.
Then he mentioned a story resembling the story of the ewe of Umm Ma’bad al-Khuza’iyya and said: Abu Abdallah the hafiz dictated to us: Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ishaq ibn Ayyub narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Ghalib informed us: Abu l-Walid narrated to us: Ubaydallah ibn Iyad ibn Laqit narrated to us: Iyad ibn Laqit narrated to us, from Qays ibn Nu’man: when the Prophet and Abu Bakr set out in concealment they passed by a slave grazing sheep and asked him for milk, and he said: I have no ewe that can be milked, except that here is a she-goat that conceived at the start of winter and has dropped her young, and no milk remains to her. He said: bring her. She was brought, and the Prophet caught her and passed his hand over her udder and prayed until she let down, and Abu Bakr came with a bowl, and he milked and gave Abu Bakr drink, then milked and gave the shepherd drink, then milked and drank, and the shepherd said: by Allah, who are you? By Allah I have never seen the like of you. He said: shall I hide it from you until I tell you? He said: yes. He said: I am Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah. He said: are you he whom Quraysh claims is a Sabian? He said: they do say that. He said: I bear witness that you are a prophet, and I bear witness that what you have brought is true, and that none does what you have done but a prophet, and I follow you. He said: you cannot do so today; when it reaches you that I have prevailed, come to us. Abu Ya’la al-Mawsili reported it, from Ja’far ibn Humayd al-Kufi, from Ubaydallah ibn Iyad ibn Laqit, likewise.
Abu Nu’aym mentioned here the story of Abdallah ibn Mas’ud and said: Abdallah ibn Ja’far narrated to us: Yunus ibn Habib narrated to us: Abu Dawud narrated to us: Hammad ibn Salama narrated to us, from Asim, from Zirr, from Abdallah ibn Mas’ud: I was a young lad herding sheep for Uqba ibn Abi Mu’ayt in Mecca, and the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr came, having fled the idolaters, and he said: O lad, have you milk to give us drink? I said: I am a trust and I am not your cup-bearer. They said: is there with you a ewe never yet mounted by a ram? I said: yes. I brought it, and Abu Bakr caught it, and the Messenger of Allah took the udder, and he prayed and the udder swelled, and Abu Bakr came with a hollowed stone and he milked into it, then he and Abu Bakr drank and gave me drink, then he said to the udder: subside. And it subsided. Later I came to the Messenger of Allah and said: teach me of this good speech, meaning the Quran, and the Messenger of Allah said: you are a taught lad, and I took from his mouth seventy suras which none can dispute with me. His words in this text, ’having fled the idolaters,’ do not mean the time of the emigration; that occurred on some occasions before the emigration, for Ibn Mas’ud is among those who accepted Islam early, and emigrated to Abyssinia and returned to Mecca as has preceded, and this story of his is authentic and established in the Sahihs and elsewhere, and Allah knows best.
The Imam Ahmad said: Abdallah ibn Mus’ab ibn Abdallah, the Zabayri, narrated to us: my father related to me, from Fa’id, freedman of the Abadila: I went out with Ibrahim ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sa’d, and when we were at al-Arj Ibn Sa’d came, and Sa’d is the one who guided the Messenger of Allah to the route of Rukuba. Ibrahim said: tell me what your father related to you. Ibn Sa’d said: my father related to me that the Messenger of Allah came to them with Abu Bakr, and that Abu Bakr had with us with him a daughter in nursing, and that the Messenger of Allah wished to shorten the road to Medina, and Sa’d said to him: this is the Ghayr of Rukuba, and it has two guides of Aslam called al-Muhanani; if you wish we shall pass by them. The Prophet said: take us by them. Sa’d said: we went out, and when we looked down,
one of them was saying to his companion: this is the Yemeni. The Messenger of Allah called them and offered them Islam, and the two accepted Islam. Then he asked them their names and they said: we are the two abased. He said: rather you are the two honored. And he ordered them to go ahead to Medina. We went out until we came to the outskirts of Quba, and the Banu Amr ibn Awf met him, and the Messenger of Allah said: ’Where is Abu Umama As’ad ibn Zurara?’ Sa’d ibn Khaythama said: he has met his Lord, O Messenger of Allah; shall I not bear him that news? Then the Messenger of Allah went on until he looked out over the palms, and behold, the watering-trough was full, and the Messenger of Allah turned to Abu Bakr and said: O Abu Bakr, this is the abode: I saw myself alighting at watering-troughs like those of the Banu Mudlij. Ahmad alone reported it.