The Plot in Dar al-Nadwa

While one Muslim after another left Makkah heading for Madinah, panic grew among the leaders of the Quraysh. What had begun as a handful of departures quickly became a stream, an exodus that seemed unstoppable. The Quraysh increasingly realized that, despite their violence and intimidation, they were unable to prevent the Companions ﵃ of the Prophet ﷺ from emigrating to Madinah. That fear focused primarily on two points:

1. That the Muslims in Madinah would endanger the trade caravans of the Quraysh, which would pass near Madinah.
2. That they would lose the political power and prestige on the Arabian Peninsula that they had enjoyed for so many years.

For these reasons, the leaders of the Quraysh gathered in Dar Al-Nadwah to discuss what solution they needed for their problems. The following ayah pertains to this meeting:

What made this plot even more sinister was the fact that they chose to select a strong young man from every clan. If a single man were to kill the Prophet ﷺ, then the Prophet’s ﷺ clan, Banu Hashim, would retaliate against that man’s entire clan, and this would have consequences for the whole clan. A large-scale war would break out. With this plan, the blame would be distributed across the various clans of Quraysh, and Banu Hashim would not be able to fight them all. They would then have to settle for accepting blood money and let the matter rest.

Ali ﵁ in the Bed of the Prophet ﷺ

Night fell over Makkah and the assassins took their positions around the house of the Prophet ﷺ. From every clan, an armed man had been chosen, young and strong, ready to strike together as soon as the Prophet ﷺ would leave his house. They waited in the shadows, silent, their swords ready.

Inside the house, Allah ﷻ revealed to His Messenger ﷺ what the Quraysh were plotting. The Prophet ﷺ turned to Ali ibn Abi Talib ﵁ and instructed him to sleep in his bed that night, wrapped in his green cloak. Ali ﵁ understood what this meant. The assassins standing outside expected to find the Prophet ﷺ in that bed. Yet he did not hesitate for a moment. No question, no condition, no trace of doubt. He lay down and pulled the cloak over himself, knowing this could be his last night.

The Prophet ﷺ left the house while reciting the opening verses of Surah Ya-Sin. He walked among the assassins, but Allah ﷻ took away their sight so they could not see him. He passed them unhindered, took a handful of dust from the ground, and cast it in their direction. None of them noticed a thing.

When dawn broke, the men stormed into the house. They pulled away the cloak and found not the Prophet ﷺ, but Ali ﵁, who looked at them calmly. About this sacrifice of Ali ﵁, Allah ﷻ revealed:

In his explanation of the verse from Surah al-Anfal, Ibn Abbas ﵁ said:

At that, they began tracking his ﷺ footsteps.

The Prophet ﷺ Prepares for the Migration

In a narration, Aisha ﵂ said that the Prophet ﷺ used to come to the house of Abu Bakr ﵁ during one of the two ends of the day, either in the morning or in the evening, until the day that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ received permission to migrate and leave Makkah and its people. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to us at midday, during a time when he ﷺ was not accustomed to visiting us (people were taking their afternoon nap at that hour). When Abu Bakr ﵁ saw him, he said: “The Messenger of Allah does not come to us at this hour unless something important has happened.” When the Prophet ﷺ entered, Abu Bakr ﵁ stood up and gave him room and let him sit on his bed. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat down, and at that moment there was no one with Abu Bakr ﵁ except my sister Asma bint Abu Bakr and me. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Remove from my presence those who are with you.” Abu Bakr said: “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, they are none other than my daughters. What is the matter? May my father and mother be sacrificed for you!” (an expression of extreme respect toward someone). He ﷺ said: “Truly, permission has been given to me to depart and migrate.” Abu Bakr ﵁ said: “Companionship, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ” (meaning: shall I accompany you during the migration?). Then the Prophet ﷺ said: “Companionship” (meaning he confirmed what Abu Bakr ﵁ asked). Before I saw Abu Bakr ﵁ cry that day, I had never thought someone could weep from joy. Abu Bakr ﵁ then said: “O Prophet of Allah, here are two riding animals that I have prepared for this occasion.” They hired Abdullah ibn Uraiqit of the Banu Ad-Dail ibn Bakr clan (a polytheist) whose mother was from Banu Sahm ibn Amr as a guide for their journey. They gave him their riding animals to keep while they prepared for the appointed time (at which Abu Bakr ﵁ and the Prophet ﷺ would come to collect the riding animals). In another hadith from Aisha ﵂, further details of their preparation are narrated:

Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Abu Bakr ﵁ went to a cave in Mount Thawr where they stayed for three nights. Abdullah, the son of Abu Bakr, then still a young boy, gifted with intelligence and understanding, spent the night there. He departed at dawn so that the Quraysh would think he had been in Makkah all along. He heard of all their plots against them and brought this to them (the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr ﵁) at night. Aamir ibn Fuhaira, the servant of Abu Bakr ﵁, tended a flock of Minha (referring to animals that were loaned for their milk) and brought the flock to them at night. They could thereby enjoy the Risl (the milk of this flock) until Aamir ibn Fuhaira drove them away again at the end of the night. He did this every one of the three nights. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Abu Bakr ﵁ hired a man from Banu Ad-Dail as a guide. Although he was a polytheist, they trusted him and gave him their riding animals and made the arrangement to meet at At-Thawr after three nights.

The Cave of Thawr

When the Quraysh followed the trail of the Prophet ﷺ, they approached Mount Thawr. Inside the cave it was dark and still. It smelled of damp earth and the cool air penetrated through their clothing. Abu Bakr ﵁ heard the footsteps and voices of the search party drawing closer, louder and louder, until they stood right above them. His heart pounded. He whispered to the Prophet ﷺ: “If one of them looks down, he will see us.” The Prophet ﷺ answered with the words that the Quran preserved forever:

Allah ﷻ had sent a spider that spun its web over the opening of the cave, thread by thread, until a fine, unbroken web covered the entrance. A pigeon had built its nest at the edge of the opening and sat there quietly on its eggs. When the pursuers reached the cave, they looked at the entrance. The web was intact, the nest undisturbed. No human could have entered here without disturbing these signs. They turned around and continued their search elsewhere.

The Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr ﵁ stayed three days and three nights in the cave. No food supply, no weaponry, no army to protect them. Only trust in Allah ﷻ, a spider’s web, and a pigeon.

Suraqah ibn Malik

The Quraysh returned to Makkah empty-handed, but they were not willing to leave it at that. They announced a reward of one hundred camels for anyone who would bring the Prophet ﷺ back, dead or alive. One hundred camels. That was a fortune for which many a man would betray his own brother. The news spread like wildfire throughout the entire Hijaz.

Suraqah ibn Malik ﵁, a respected man of the Banu Mudlij tribe and an experienced tracker, was sitting in a gathering of his tribesmen when a man entered with the news that he had seen two travelers on the coastal route heading toward Madinah. Suraqah understood immediately that this must be the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr ﵁. But instead of sharing this information, he downplayed the report. “That is not them,” he told those present. “Those are so-and-so, whom I saw leaving earlier.” He wanted the reward for himself.

He waited until the gathering dispersed, went home, ordered his slave girl to prepare his horse in secret at the back of the house, and rode alone into the desert. He was a hunter who did not want to share his prey.

When he could make out the two travelers in the distance, he urged his horse on. But the horse stumbled and Suraqah fell to the ground. He drew arrows from his quiver and cast lots, a custom among the Arabs to seek an omen. The lot went against him. Yet he ignored it. The hundred camels pulled harder than superstition.

He mounted again and approached the Prophet ﷺ until he could hear his recitation of the Quran. The Prophet ﷺ did not look back. Abu Bakr ﵁ did, time and again, anxiously. When Suraqah was close enough to attack, the legs of his horse sank into the ground, up to the knees, as if the earth itself was holding the animal. A cloud of dust rose up like a pillar of smoke. Suraqah knew this was no coincidence.

He cried out: “O Muhammad! I ask you for safety!” The Prophet ﷺ stopped. Suraqah came closer, on foot now, and asked for a written guarantee of safety. The Prophet ﷺ ordered that one be written for him. When Suraqah was about to leave, the Prophet ﷺ made a statement that astonished Suraqah:

Suraqah stared at him. Here stood a man who was on the run, whose head carried a bounty of one hundred camels, who had no army, no city, no allies at this moment. And this man was promising him the bracelets of the mightiest emperor on earth. It was not the statement of a desperate man. It was the calm certainty of someone who knew what was to come.

Suraqah turned back. But he did more than simply leave. Every search party he encountered on the way back, he sent in the wrong direction. “I have already searched the entire area,” he said. “There is nothing here.” The hunter had become a guardian.

Years later, during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab ﵁, the Persian Empire fell. The treasures of Kisra were brought to Madinah, including the royal bracelets. Umar ﵁ summoned Suraqah ﵁ and placed the bracelets on him. A promise made in the desert, by a fugitive with no possessions, had been fulfilled. No coincidence, no luck, no human calculation. It was the confirmation of what the Prophet ﷺ had always known.