In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Treasures of the Prophetic Biography (Seerah).
The Migration of Abu Salamah,
May Allah be pleased with him.
The Muslims began to migrate,
While the polytheists attempted to bar them from migrating.
The very first of the emigrants was Abu Salamah,
Who had migrated a year before the major Pledge of al-'Aqabah.
He took his wife, Umm Salamah, and their son, Salamah, along with him.
Thereupon, his in-laws came to him and said:
"As for yourself, you have prevailed over us,
But as for this woman of ours,
Why should we let you travel through the land with her?"
"By Allah, we will never allow her to go with you!"
So they took his wife away from him.
Naturally, their young child, Salamah, stayed back with his mother.
The family of Abu Salamah became furious:
"How dare you take a man's wife from him?!"
They said: "If you do that,
We will take our son back!"
So they wrested Salamah away from his mother.
Thus, this small family was torn apart:
Abu Salamah migrated,
Umm Salamah was detained by her clan,
And Salamah was seized by his father's clan.
Abu Salamah migrated alone to Medina.
After her husband departed and her child was snatched away,
Umm Salamah would go out every morning to al-Abtah, weeping until evening came.
She continued doing so for a whole year,
Crying over the separation from her son and her husband.
Eventually, one of her kinsmen took pity on her and said:
"Will you not let this poor woman go?!
You have torn her apart from her husband and her child!"
So they said to her:
"Go and join your husband if you wish."
She went to her husband's family,
And they returned her son to her.
She then set out to migrate after her husband to Medina.
Yet when she departed,
She had no one accompanying her.
Along the way, 'Uthman Ibn Talhah encountered her.
Once he learned of her situation,
He escorted her, travelling alongside her
Until he brought her all the way to Medina,
Even though he was still an adherent of polytheism.
Yet that was the noble character of the Arabs.
When he reached Medina, he said:
"Your husband is in this village;
Enter it with the blessing of Allah."
Then he turned back toward Mecca.
This is just one depiction of the emigrants
And what they suffered when they set out
From Mecca to Medina.
Treasures of the Prophetic Biography (Seerah).
The Migration of Suhayb al-Rumi,
May Allah be pleased with him.
Suhayb accepted Islam
And remained in Mecca for a period of time.
Then he resolved to migrate to Medina.
When he prepared to migrate,
The disbelievers of Mecca came to him and said:
"You came to us as a destitute vagabond,
Then your wealth multiplied among us,
And you attained the standing you have reached;
Now you wish to depart with both your wealth and yourself?!
By Allah, that will never happen!"
Glory be to Allah!
He had not stolen their money,
Nor had he cheated them or engaged in usury;
Rather, he had earned it by the sweat of his brow.
Yet despite this, they said to him:
"You and your wealth will never leave together!"
Suhayb asked them:
"Tell me, if I surrender all my wealth to you,
Will you let me go on my way?"
They replied, "Yes."
He said, "Then I have given all my wealth to you."
When news of this reached the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
He said: "Suhayb has profited!
Suhayb has profited!"
Some scholars of knowledge have mentioned
That the statement of Allah, the Exalted and Glorious:
“And of mankind is he who would sell himself, seeking the pleasure of Allah; and Allah hath compassion on (His) bondmen.” (2:207)
"seeking the pleasure of Allah;
and Allah is Ever Gracious to His servants"—
was revealed concerning Suhayb al-Rumi, may Allah be pleased with him.
Treasures of the Prophetic Biography (Seerah).
The Emigrants to Medina.
On the authority of al-Bara', may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
Abu Bakr said:
"The Prophet (peace be upon him) set out, and I was with him,
Until we arrived in Medina by night.
The people then vied with one another
As to which of them he would stay with.
Thereupon, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
'Tonight I shall stay with Banu al-Najjar,
The maternal uncles of 'Abd al-Muttalib,
So as to honor them thereby.'
When we entered Medina, people came out
Into the streets and onto the rooftops, along with youths and servants,
Proclaiming:
'Allahu Akbar!
Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, has arrived!
Allahu Akbar!
Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, has arrived!'
He spent the night with Banu al-Najjar,
And when morning came,
He proceeded until he settled where he had been commanded."
Al-Bara' said:
"The very first of the emigrants to arrive among us was
Mus'ab Ibn 'Umayr.
I said to him,
'What has the Messenger of Allah done?'
He replied,
'He is still where he was,
And his Companions are following right behind me.'
Then, after him, 'Amr Ibn Umm Maktum came to us;
Then, after him, 'Ammar Ibn Yasir,
Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas,
'Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, and Bilal arrived.
Then, after them, 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab came to us
Accompanied by twenty riders.
Then, after them, the Messenger of Allah arrived,
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
With Abu Bakr alongside him."
Treasures of the Prophetic Biography (Seerah).
The Migration of Zaynab, the Daughter of the Prophet,
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said
To Zayd Ibn Harithah:
"Will you not bring Zaynab to me?"
He said, "Yes, indeed."
He said:
"Take this ring of mine and deliver it to her."
Zayd continued to employ tact and discretion
Until he met a shepherd,
And asked:
"Whose flock do you tend?"
He replied, "Abu al-'As's."
He asked, "And to whom do these sheep belong?"
He said:
"To Zaynab, the daughter of Muhammad."
So he gave him the ring.
When night fell,
She came out to him,
Mounted behind him, and rode until
She reached Medina.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
Would later say of her:
"She was the finest of my daughters;
She suffered injury for my sake."
Treasures of the Prophetic Biography (Seerah).
The Migration of the Prophet,
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
In the month of
Safar in the
Fourteenth year following the mission of
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
The people of
Mecca assembled for a momentous plot,
The likes of which they had never gathered for
Ever before. That was because
They convened in Dar al-Nadwah
And conspired
To assassinate the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
This
Proposal was the idea of
Abu Jahl, the chieftain of Quraysh
At that time.
Abu Jahl said:
"By Allah, I have conceived an idea regarding him
Which I see none of you have yet hit upon."
They said:
"And what is it, O Abu al-Hakam?"
He said:
"I propose that we select from every clan
A robust, stalwart youth
Of noble descent and central standing among us;
We then hand every young man
Among them a razor-sharp sword,
Whereupon they will advance upon him together
And strike him with them
As the blow of a single man.
Thus they will slay him, and we shall be rid of him!
For if they
Do that,
The responsibility for his blood will be dispersed among all the clans,
And Banu 'Abd Manaf will not be capable
Of waging war against their entire people
All together;
They will then accept the blood money from us,
Meaning the financial indemnity,
And we shall pay it to them."
Following this perilous assembly,
Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, sent
Gabriel, peace be upon him,
Who informed the Prophet,
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
That Allah commanded him to migrate.
So the Prophet went
in the midday heat, just before noon,
to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq,
may Allah be pleased with him,
to finalize with him the stages of the Hijrah.
'A'ishah said,
"While we were sitting
in the house of Abu Bakr
at the peak of midday heat,
someone said to Abu Bakr,
'Here is the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, veiled with a head-covering,'
and that was
at an hour in which he had never
used to visit us.
Thereupon Abu Bakr said,
'May my father and mother be ransomed for him!
By Allah, nothing has brought him
at this hour except [an urgent matter].'
Then the Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) came,
asked permission to enter, and permission was granted to him,
so he entered.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said
to Abu Bakr,
'Dismiss whoever is with you.'
Abu Bakr replied,
'They are none but your family, may my father
be ransomed for you, O Messenger of Allah!'
The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said,
'Indeed, I have
been granted permission to depart.'
Abu Bakr said,
'[May I have your] companionship, may my father
be ransomed for you, O Messenger of Allah?'
The Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) said to him,
'Yes.'
So the Prophet (peace be upon him) remained
until the darkness of night,
when suddenly the disbelievers of Makkah gathered
at the door of the Prophet (peace be upon him),
intending to kill him
when he stepped out.
And concerning this, Allah revealed,
the Blessed and Exalted:
'And [remember] when those who
disbelieved plotted against you to restrain you,
or kill you,
or expel you;
they plot,
and Allah plots,
and Allah is the best of plotters.'
This was their plot:
they agreed upon murdering
the Prophet (peace be upon him),
and that he be struck down
by strong young men,
so that the blood of the Prophet (peace be upon him) would be dispersed
among all the tribes,
and the clan of Banu 'Abd
Manaf would be forced to accept blood money.
Now behold the plan of Allah,
the Blessed and Exalted,
and what Allah did to them,
just as the Exalted and Majestic said:
'Indeed, they are devising
a plot,
but I am devising a plot.
So give respite to the disbelievers;
deal gently with them for a while.'
The Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) said
to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib:
'Sleep on my bed
and cover yourself with my cloak,
for nothing that you dislike
shall reach you from them.'
This was a reassurance
from the Prophet (peace be upon him)
to 'Ali, may Allah be pleased with him.
The Prophet
(peace be upon him) had kept
'Ali in Makkah
in order to return the entrusted deposits
in his possession to the people of Makkah.
Here we wish to point out
two vital matters:
the first of them
is that the disbelievers of Makkah
used to say
about the Prophet (peace be upon him)
that he was a liar,
a sorcerer,
a poet,
and a madman,
along with other accusations with which they charged him;
yet in doing so they were lying,
for they did not truly believe
what they were saying,
since they used to place their valuables
in the trust of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Could it ever be conceivable
for a rational person
to entrust his valuables to a man
whom he genuinely considers a liar, a madman,
or a sorcerer?
This is utterly impossible.
This proves
that they did not truly deem him a liar,
just as Allah, the Blessed
and Exalted, said: 'For indeed,
they do not deny you,
but it is the verses of Allah that the wrongdoers
repudiate.'
The second matter
is the trustworthiness of the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
For when they sought to kill him,
he did not say,
'I shall take their wealth because they
want to murder me,
so I am entitled to it.'
Rather, he (peace be upon him) said:
'Render back the trust
to the one who entrusted you,
and do not betray the one who betrays you.'
That is: even if another betrays you,
you must never betray,
for a believer never acts treacherously.
Thus the moral conduct of the believer remains
sublime, lofty, and manifest,
even if treachery is committed
by whichever disbelievers choose to betray.
So when the Prophet
(peace be upon him) resolved
to leave his house,
and those strong,
armed youths were waiting for him
at the door to assassinate him,
Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, cast
deep slumber over all of them.
The Prophet (peace be upon him)
stepped out toward them,
took a handful of earth,
and began scattering it
over their heads.
Allah had completely veiled
their sight so they could not see him,
while the Prophet (peace be upon him)
was reciting:
'And We have put before
them a barrier
and behind them a barrier
and covered them, so they
do not see.'
Not a single man among them remained
except that the Prophet (peace be upon him) placed
upon his head
some dirt.
He then proceeded to the house of Abu Bakr,
and they exited through a small back door
in Abu Bakr's house
by night until he reached
the Cave of Thawr in the direction of Yemen.
Meanwhile, those who intended
to assassinate the Prophet (peace be upon him) remained
standing outside
until a man came upon them
who was not among their group;
he saw them at the door
and asked them, 'What
are you waiting for?'
They replied, 'Muhammad.'
He said, 'You have failed and lost!
By Allah, he has already passed by you,
scattered dust upon your heads,
and departed
to attend to his business.'
They placed their hands on their heads
and found the dirt,
so they began shaking it off,
saying, 'By Allah,
we did not see him!'
Then they peered inside the house
and saw 'Ali,
saying, 'By Allah, here is Muhammad;
he is asleep!'
So they did not stir from their positions
until morning came and 'Ali arose
from the bed,
at which point they were utterly confounded.
They said to him, 'Where is Muhammad?'
He replied, 'I have no knowledge.'
And since
the Prophet (peace be upon him)
knew that Quraysh
would pursue him relentlessly,
Knowing that all eyes would be directed
toward the road to Medina,
it was out of his keen strategic wisdom,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
that he took an entirely different route,
completely in the opposite direction:
the road leading south toward Yemen.
He walked about five miles
in the direction of Yemen,
while all eyes and minds
expected that the Prophet,
peace be upon him, would migrate directly
toward Medina.
That was indeed his ultimate destination,
but he wanted to obscure
his trail from them.
He stayed at a place
called Mount Thawr
for three days.
As he walked toward
the Cave of Thawr,
he was walking on his tiptoes
because the terrain was rugged and rocky,
which severely chafed his feet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
The journey grew increasingly arduous for him
until they finally reached the cave
at the mountain's summit.
When the two of them arrived at the cave,
Abu Bakr said:
"By Allah, you shall not enter it,
O Messenger of Allah, until
I enter before you;
if there is any harmful creature inside,
it will strike me instead of you."
Abu Bakr went in and swept it clean,
and finding several holes
along its sides, he tore
his lower garment and plugged them with it.
Two remaining holes were left,
so he blocked them with his own feet.
He then said to the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:
"Please enter."
The Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, entered,
laid his head down in
Abu Bakr's lap, and fell asleep.
Abu Bakr was then stung
in his foot from the hole,
but he did not move
for fear of awakening
the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
His tears began to fall
from the intense pain onto the face of
the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, asked what was wrong,
and he replied, "I was stung, may my father and mother be ransomed for you!"
So the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, applied his saliva to the sting,
and the pain he felt instantly vanished.
This event highlights two profound lessons for us:
First,
the immense love the Companions had for the Prophet, peace be upon him,
such that Abu Bakr was stung yet refused to flinch
so as not to disturb the Prophet while he slept.
Second,
the blessing of the Prophet's touch and supplication,
and how, merely by applying his saliva to the wound,
Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, completely relieved his pain.
The two of them remained in the cave for three nights:
Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night.
'Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr used to spend the night with them.
'A'ishah said of him:
"He was a shrewd, sharp-witted young man."
He would depart from them before dawn
and be among Quraysh in Mecca by morning as if he had spent the night there.
He would not hear of any plot against them without memorizing it,
bringing them the news as soon as night fell.
Meanwhile, 'Amir ibn Fuhayrah used to graze his sheep near them;
he was the freed slave of Abu Bakr.
He would bring the flock to rest by them after an hour of nightfall,
so they could drink fresh milk,
and he did this every single one of those nights.
He would also follow the footprints of 'Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr
on his way to and from the cave,
driving the sheep over his tracks to completely erase them.
As for Quraysh,
they were utterly infuriated once they confirmed
that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had escaped
on the very morning of the night they had resolved to assassinate him.
They interrogated 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, and assaulted him
to force him to reveal the Prophet's whereabouts,
but he told them nothing.
When they finally despaired of getting anything from him,
Abu Jahl went to the house of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.
Asma' bint Abi Bakr came out to meet him,
and he demanded, "Where is your father?"
She replied, "I do not know."
Abu Jahl then raised his hand
and slapped her across the face with such force
that her earring went flying off.
Quraysh then set a bounty
of one hundred camels
for anyone who could guide them to the Prophet, peace be upon him,
dead or alive.
Horsemen, footmen,
and skilled trackers set out in vigorous pursuit,
for a hundred camels was an enormous prize.
They dispersed across the mountains and valleys
searching relentlessly for the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
but all in vain.
Treasures of the Prophetic biography (Seerah).