7- Hijra
The apostle of Allah remained in
Mecca
after his companions emigrated, awaiting divine permission to depart. None
of his followers remained ‑ except such as were forcibly prevented
by the Quraysh or who had apostasized ‑ but Ali, son of Abu Talib,
and Abu Bakr, may Allah reward them both. Abu Bakr often asked the apostle
for permission to emigrate, but he always received the answer, ‘Be not
in such haste; perchance Allah may give thee a companion’, and Abu Bakr
hoped that the companion might be Muhammad himself.
When the Quraysh saw that the apostle of Allah had
gathered a united group and had gained adherents in another country, and
when they saw his companions emigrating to that country, they realized
that he had found shelter and protection. Accordingly they began to fear
that the apostle of Allah might join his followers, and they knew that he
was now determined to fight if necessary. They therefore met to consult on
what they should do.
Satan himself greeted them at the door of their
meeting‑place in the guise of an aged sheikh, dressed in a cloak.
When they asked him who he was, he replied, ‘A sheikh who has heard of
your intended discussion and has come to listen to what you say;
and perhaps my opinion and advice will not be lost upon you.’ So he
entered with them.
When they all began to discuss the problem of
Muhammad, one of them said, ‘Put him in irons, imprison him, and wait
till he dies as has happened to other poets before him.’ Then the sheikh
exclaimed, ‘No, by Allah! If you incarcerate him as you propose, the
news will leak out to his companions and they will undoubtedly attack you
and liberate him. Then, through his agency they will so increase in number
as to conquer you. This is not the thing to do; you must devise another
plan !’ They consulted further, and another man said, ‘We shall expel
him from our midst, and exile him from our country. After he departs, we
care not where he goes nor what happens to him as long as we can arrange
our affairs and re‑establish peace amongst us.’ ikh said again,
‘No, by Allah! Do you not realize that by his fine conversation, his
sweetness of speech, and his power over the hearts of men, he could
conquer any Arab encampment in which he might settle; then the people
would follow him, march against you, and deprive you of your supremacy.
After that he could deal with you just as he liked. Therefore think of
another plan.’
Abu Jahl at last exclaimed, ‘By Allah I I have a
plan which none of you has yet thought of’, and they asked, ‘What is
it, o father of wisdom?’ He said, ‘I propose that from every tribe we
should take one young, powerful, well‑born man. To each of these, we
should give a good sword with which to strike Muhammad. So we shall be
delivered of him, his blood will be divided among all the tribes, and his
followers will not have the strength to make war on so many.’ The sheikh
said, ‘I see no other plan and the people adopted the proposal and then
dispersed.
But Gabriel came to the apostle of Allah and said to
him, ‘Do not spend this night in thy accustomed bed.’
When a part of the night had elapsed the conspirators
assembled at Muhammad’s door to watch him, intending to fall upon lie
he was asleep. When the apostle of Allah saw them he said to Ali, ‘Sleep
on my bed and cover thyself with my green cloak, and they will do thee no
harm.’ It was the custom of the apostle to sleep in that cloak.
Meanwhile Abu Jah1jeeringly told the waiting conspirators, ‘Muhammad
says that if you follow him you will become princes both of the Arabs and
the non-Arabs, that you will be resurrected after death, and given gardens
like the gardens of Jordan; but if you do not follow him, he will kill you
and after death you will be resurrected and burn in the fires of hell.’
The apostle went out to them and said, ‘Yes! That
is thc truth’, and Allah blinded them so that they could not see him.
Then Muhammad scattered dust on their heads, recited a verse from the
Koran, and went about his business.
After a while, a man came along and asked the still
waiting conspirators, ‘What are you waiting for?’ and they replied,
‘Muhammad.’ ‘May Allah confound you!’ the man exclaimed.
‘Muhammad came out to you, and scattered dust on the head of
every man among you, and then went his way. Can you not see what has
happened to you?’ Every man placed his hand on his head, and found that
dust was on it, and then they began to search around. Finding Ali on the
bed, wrapped in the cloak of the apostle, they said, ‘Here is Muhammad
still sleeping in his mantle!’ ‑ and so they did not move until
morning. But it was Ali who rose from the bed, and they realized that the
man who had spoken to them had told the truth.
Allah now permitted His prophet to emigrate. Abu Bakr,
who was a man of property, had in the hope of this eventuality purchased
two camels which he had kept stabled and fed in preparation for an
emergency. The apostle never failed to visit Abu Bakr either in the
morning or in the evening, but on the day when Allah gave him permission
to emigrate he arrived unexpectedly at noon. The apostle said to Abu Bakr,
‘Allah has given me permission to depart and to emigrate’, and Abu
Bakr asked,’In company, o apostle of Allah?’ He replied, ’In
company’. Then Abu Bakr wept for joy and said, ‘I have kept these two
camels in readiness for this!’ Then they hired an idolator as guide and
left the camels with him until they were ready to depart from the
district.
No one knew of the departure of the apostle except
Ali, and Abu Bakr and his family. Ali was ordered to remain in Mecca until
he had returned all the goods which people had entrusted to the keeping of
the apostle; there was not a man in Mecca who had property about which he
was anxious who did not deposit it with Muhammad because of his renowned
truthfulness and honesty.
When the time for departure came the apostle and Abu
Bakr by way of a gap at the rear of Abu Bakr’s house and went to a cave
on
Mount
Thaur
, beneath
Mecca
. Abu Bakr instructed his son Abdullah to listen during the day to what
people in
Mecca
were saying about them, and to bring them the news in the evening. He also
ordered Amir, his freedman to pasture the sheep during the day, and bring
them to the cave in the ; and he told his daughter, Asma, to bring food at
nightfall.
The apostle of Allah remained in the cave with Abu
Bakr for three days . When the Quraysh missed him they offered a reward of
one hundred camels to anyone who would bring him back; Abdullah, the son
of Abu Bakr, brought this news. Amir, the freedman, pastured his sheep
among the other shepherds of
Mecca
, but brought the flock to the cave at nightfall and they milked the flock
and slaughtered some. When Abdullah went in the morning to
Mecca
, Amir followed him with the flock so as to conceal his tracks.
When the three days had elapsed and the people ceased
to inquire about them, the hired guide arrived with their two camels, and
a third belonging to himself, and Asma, the daughter of Abu Bakr came with
provisions. But she had forgotten to bring a cord, and they could not tie
the provisions to the camels until she removed her girdle and used it for
a rope; therefore Asma became known as ‘She of the Girdle’.
Abu Bakr offered the better of the two camels to
Muhammad, but the apostle replied, ‘I shall not mount a camel which is
not my own’. Abu Bakr said, ‘Then she is thine, for thou art as my
father and mother to me.’ The apostle refused the gift and asked what
Abu Bakr had paid for the camel, saying, ‘I shall accept her for
that.’ So they agreed, and then they mounted and set off, with the
freedman Amir sharing Abu Bakr’s camel.
Meanwhile, in
Mecca
, several Quraysh men paid a visit to the house of Abu Bakr. Asma, ‘She
of the Girdle’, went out to them and they asked ‘ “Where is thy
father, o daughter of Abu Bakr?” I replied, “I do not know where my
father is.” Then Abu Jahl, who was a brutal, wicked fellow, lifted up
his hand and struck my cheek so violently that my ear‑ring fell out.
‘We remained three nights without knowing in what
direction the apostle of Allah had gone, until a djinn arrived from the
lower part of Mecca, reciting verses in the Arab manner. From him we
learned where the apostle of Allah had gone, and that his destination was
Medina
.
‘Abu Bakr took away with him all his property,
amounting to five or six thousand dirhams. My grandfather, who was
blind came to us and said, “I think Abu Bakr has deprived you of his
property as well as his person”, but I replied, “By no means,
grandfather. He left us a great deal.” Then I took some stones and
placed them in a hole where my father used to keep his valuables, and
covered the hole with a cloth; and I took hold of my grandfather’s hand,
saying “Lay your hand upon this, father.” When he had done so, he
said, “There is nought ill; if he has left you this, he has acted well;
it will suffice you.” But in truth, he had left us nothing, and I
dissimulated to ease the old man’s mind.’
One man at least, Suraqa by name, determined to earn
the promised hundred camels for capturing Muhammad. Having heard a rumour
of the apostle’s route, he ordered his horse, then “put on my armour
and consulted the arrows which foretell the future. But the one I did not
wish to see, that which said “ He will escape”, came out. When I
mounted my horse to pursue him it stumbled and I fell to the ground. I
said to myself, “What is this? “ and again took out my arrows. They
gave me the same reply as before. Nevertheless, I continued to ride in
pursuit of him; again my horse stumbled and fell. Once more I consulted my
arrows, and once more they gave me the same reply. Nevertheless, I mounted
again to pursue him. When the little group of fugitives at last came in
sight, my horse stumbled and its sank in the ground so that I fell; and
when the horse its forefeet out of the ground they were followed by of
dust as if there were a sandstorm. Then I knew that Muhammad was protected
from me and that he would conquer.’ The apostle reached
Medina
eight days after leaving the cave, on a Monday when the sun was near the
meridian.
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