In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you glimpses from the lives of the Companions,
by Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy upon him.
Suraqah Ibn Malik,
may Allah be pleased with him.
One morning, the Quraysh awoke in a state of alarm and panic,
for word had spread through their assemblies that Muhammad (peace be upon him) had departed Makkah, shrouded by the cover of darkness.
The leaders of Quraysh could not believe the news,
and they rushed to search for the Prophet (peace be upon him) in every house of the Banu Hashim,
and sought him in every home of his Companions.
Eventually, they arrived at the house of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him).
His daughter, Asma', came out to them.
Abu Jahl asked her,
"Where is your father, O girl?"
She replied, "I do not know where he is now."
He raised his hand and struck her cheek so hard that her earring fell to the ground.
The leaders of Quraysh went mad with rage when they became certain that Muhammad (peace be upon him) had left Makkah.
They recruited all the trackers they could find to determine the path he had taken,
and they set out with them to search for him.
When they reached the Cave of Thawr,
the trackers said to them,
"By Allah, your companion has not passed beyond this cave."
These trackers were not mistaken in what they told Quraysh,
for Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companion were indeed inside the cave.
Quraysh was standing right above their heads,
to the point that the Truthful One (Abu Bakr) saw the feet of the people moving above the cave,
and his eyes welled with tears.
The Messenger (peace be upon him) looked at him with a gaze of love, kindness, and gentle reproach.
The Truthful One whispered, saying,
"By Allah, I do not weep for my own sake,
but for fear that I might see you suffer harm, O Messenger of Allah."
The noble Messenger (peace be upon him) said to him, reassuringly,
"Do not grieve, O Abu Bakr,
for Allah is with us."
Then Allah sent down tranquility upon the heart of the Truthful One.
He began to look at the feet of the people,
then said, "O Messenger of Allah,
if one of them were to look down at his own feet, he would see us."
The Messenger (peace be upon him) replied,
"What is your opinion, O Abu Bakr, of two,
of whom Allah is the third?"
Just then, a tracker from Quraysh said to the people,
"Shall we look into the cave?"
But Umayyah Ibn Khalaf said to him mockingly,
"Do you not see this spider that has spun its web over the entrance?
By Allah, it is older than the birth of Muhammad."
However, Abu Jahl said,
"By al-Lat and al-'Uzza,
I truly think he is near us,
hearing what we say and seeing what we do,
but his magic has cast a veil over our eyes."
Nevertheless, Quraysh did not give up on the task of finding Muhammad (peace be upon him),
nor did their resolve to pursue him falter.
They announced among the tribes scattered along the route between Makkah and Madinah
that whoever brought them Muhammad (peace be upon him), alive or dead,
would receive one hundred of the finest camels.
Suraqah Ibn Malik al-Mudliji was
in one of the assemblies of his people in Qadid,
near Makkah,
when a messenger from Quraysh entered upon them
and announced the news of the grand prize
that Quraysh had offered to anyone who brought them Muhammad (peace be upon him), alive or dead.
No sooner had Suraqah heard of the one hundred camels
than his greed was stirred,
and his desire for them intensified.
Yet, he composed himself,
and did not utter a single word,
so that the greed of others would not be aroused.
Before Suraqah rose from his seat,
a man from his tribe entered the assembly and said,
"By Allah, three men just passed by me,
and I suspect they are Muhammad, Abu Bakr, and their guide."
Suraqah said,
"Rather, they are the people of so-and-so,
who went out searching for a camel they had lost."
The man said,
"Perhaps they are,"
and he fell silent.
Suraqah waited a little while,
so that his departure would not stir anyone in the assembly.
When the people became engaged in another conversation,
he slipped out from among them,
and went lightly and quickly to his house.
He whispered to his slave girl to bring out his horse, unobserved by the eyes of the people,
and to tether it for him in the depths of the valley.
He ordered his servant to prepare his weapons,
and to take them out from behind the houses
so that no one would see him,
and to place them in a spot near the horse.
Suraqah donned his armor,
buckled on his weapon,
mounted his horse, and set off.
He began to ride hard to catch up with Muhammad (peace be upon him)
before anyone else could reach him and win the prize of Quraysh.
Suraqah Ibn Malik was a knight among the renowned knights of his people,
tall of stature and imposing in presence,
skilled in tracking,
and patient with the hardships of the road.
In addition to all that,
he was clever, intelligent, and a poet.
His horse was of the finest breed.
Suraqah set off, covering the ground swiftly,
but it was not long before his horse stumbled,
and he fell from its back.
He took this as a bad omen and said,
"What is this?
Woe to you, O horse!"
He mounted again,
but he had not gone far before it stumbled once more.
His sense of foreboding increased,
and he contemplated turning back,
but nothing deterred him from his intent except his greed for the one hundred camels.
Suraqah had not moved far from the place where his horse stumbled
when he caught sight of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companion.
He reached for his bow,
but his hand froze in place.
This was because he saw the legs of his horse sinking into the earth,
and smoke rising from beneath them,
covering his eyes and the eyes of the horse.
He urged the horse on,
but it was firmly stuck in the ground,
as if it had been nailed there with iron spikes.
He turned to the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his companion,
and said in a pleading voice,
"O you two,
pray to your Lord for me to release the legs of my horse,
and you have my word that I will leave you alone."
The Messenger (peace be upon him) prayed for him,
and Allah released the legs of his horse.
But his greed was soon stirred again,
and he urged his horse toward them.
This time, its legs sank deeper than before.
He cried out to them for help and said,
"Here are my provisions, my gear, and my weapons;
take them,
and you have the covenant of Allah from me
that I will turn away from you those who are behind me."
He (the Prophet) said to him,
"We have no need of your provisions or your gear,
but turn the people away from us."
Then the Messenger (peace be upon him) prayed for him,
and his horse was freed.
When he was about to return,
he called out to them, saying,
"Wait, let me speak to you,
for by Allah, nothing you dislike will come to you from me."
He (the Prophet) said to him,
"What do you want from us?"
He replied,
"By Allah, O Muhammad,
I know that your religion will prevail and your affair will be exalted.
So promise me that when I come to you in your kingdom, you will honor me,
and write that down for me."
The Messenger (peace be upon him) commanded the Truthful One,
who wrote it for him on a piece of bone,
and handed it to him.
When he was about to depart,
the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to him,
"How will you be, O Suraqah,
when you wear the bracelets of Chosroes?"
Suraqah said in astonishment,
"Chosroes, son of Hormuz?"
He replied, "Yes,
Chosroes, son of Hormuz."
Suraqah returned the way he came,
and found the people approaching,
searching for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
He said to them,
"Go back,
for I have scoured the earth searching for him,
and you know well my expertise in tracking."
So they returned.
He then kept his encounter with Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companion a secret
until he was certain that they had reached Madinah
and were safe from the aggression of Quraysh.
Only then did he reveal it.
When Abu Jahl heard the news of Suraqah's encounter with the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his stance,
he blamed him for his cowardice, hesitation, and for missing the opportunity.
Suraqah replied to his blame, saying:
"O Abu al-Hakam, by Allah, had you been a witness
to my horse when its legs sank into the earth,
you would have known, without a doubt, that Muhammad
is a Messenger with clear proof; so who can oppose him?"
The days ran their course,
and Muhammad (peace be upon him), who had left Makkah as a fugitive,
shrouded by the cover of darkness,
returned to it as a triumphant master,
surrounded by thousands upon thousands, with flashing swords and brown spears.
And the leaders of Quraysh,
who had filled the earth with arrogance and pride, came to him, fearful and trembling,
asking him for mercy and saying,
"What will you do with us?"
He said to them, with the magnanimity of the Prophets,
"Go, for you are the freed ones."
At that moment,
Suraqah Ibn Malik prepared his mount,
He set off toward the Messenger of Allah to declare his Islam before him.
He carried with him the document that had been written for him ten years earlier.
Suraqah said:
"I came to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, at al-Ji'ranah.
I entered among his battalion of the Ansar.
They began to strike me with the butts of their spears, saying:
'Stay back, stay back! What do you want?'
I kept pushing through their ranks,
until I drew near to the Messenger of Allah while he was upon his camel.
I raised my hand with the document,
and said, 'O Messenger of Allah,
I am Suraqah Ibn Malik,
and this is your document for me.'"
The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"Draw near to me, O Suraqah, draw near.
This is a day of fulfillment and righteousness."
So I approached him,
and declared my Islam before him,
and I received his goodness and kindness.
Not more than a few months had passed since Suraqah Ibn Malik met the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
when Allah chose to take His Prophet to His side.
Suraqah grieved for him with the deepest grief,
and he began to envision that day,
when he had intended to kill him for the sake of a hundred camels.
He realized how all the camels of this world
were not worth a clipping of the Prophet’s fingernail to him now.
He kept repeating the words the Prophet had said to him:
"How will you be, O Suraqah, when you wear the bracelets of Chosroes?"
He never doubted that he would indeed wear them.
Then the days turned once more,
and the affairs of the Muslims fell to the Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him.
During his blessed reign, the armies of the Muslims swept over the Persian Empire,
just as a hurricane sweeps.
They began to demolish fortresses, defeat armies,
shake thrones, and seize spoils,
until Allah brought about the end of the Chosroes' empire at their hands.
One day, toward the end of the caliphate of Umar,
the messengers of Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas arrived in Medina,
bringing glad tidings of the victory to the Caliph of the Muslims,
and carrying to the public treasury of the Muslims the fifth of the spoils
that the warriors had gained in the path of Allah.
When the spoils were placed before Umar,
he looked at them in astonishment.
For among them was the crown of Chosroes, encrusted with pearls,
and his garments woven with threads of gold,
and his mantle embroidered with jewels,
and his two bracelets, the likes of which no eye had ever seen,
along with countless other treasures.
Umar began to turn over this precious treasure with a staff he held in his hand.
Then he turned to those around him and said,
"Indeed, a people who have surrendered this are surely honest."
Ali Ibn Abi Talib, who was present at the time, said to him,
"You have remained chaste,
so your subjects have remained chaste, O Commander of the Faithful.
Had you indulged, they would have indulged."
Then the Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him, called for Suraqah Ibn Malik.
He dressed him in the tunic, trousers, and cloak of Chosroes.
He girded him with his sword and belt,
placed his crown upon his head,
and put his bracelets on his arms.
Yes, his bracelets.
At that, the Muslims cried out:
"Allah is the Greatest! Allah is the Greatest!
Allah is the Greatest!"
Then Umar turned to Suraqah and said,
"Well done, well done!
A Bedouin from the tribe of Mudlij,
with the crown of Chosroes upon his head,
and his bracelets upon his arms."
Then he raised his head to the sky and said,
"O Allah, You withheld this wealth from Your Messenger,
who was more beloved to You than I, and more noble in Your sight.
And You withheld it from Abu Bakr,
who was more beloved to You than I, and more noble in Your sight.
Yet You have given it to me.
I seek refuge in You lest You have given it to me to lead me into temptation."
He did not rise from his seat until he had distributed it among the Muslims.
"How will you be, O Suraqah,
when you wear—"
"—the bracelets of Chosroes."
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.