Hijra Journey to Cave Thaur of Sayyidina Muhammad (SWS) & Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA)
Hijra Journey to Cave Thaur of Sayyidina Muhammad (SWS) & Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA)
The Hijra (extract from The Last Prophet (SWS) by Haji Amina Adil (KS)
When the Holy Prophet (SWS) knew he had to leave the city of his birth, he called Ali (RA) to him and said to him “ I have a number of items in safe-keeping. As I am departing tonight, I leave these with you to return to their owners within three days. Tonight you sleep in my bed in my stead, and fear not, but cover yourself with my mantle. No harm will befall you. Afterwards come and follow me. ”
He then went to the house of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA), and it was already late at night. Abu Bakr had prepared two Hijin camels for the eventuality of their departure from Mecca. Now the Prophet 
came to give him the signal. The planned to meet after midnight at a cave some distance from Mecca. Abu Bakr then called his daughter Asma (RA) to him and said to her, “ Muhammad and I are headed for the cave on Jebel Thaur where we intend to be for three days. Come and bring us food every evening, and tell us the new of the movements of Quraysh. ” Then he called for his man who looked after the camels and told him to make them ready by the following Monday.
Abu Jahl and his men surrounded the house of Muhammad that night. As they sat waiting for him to emerge, they were overtaken by sleep, and the Holy Prophet passed them by without their noticing him. As he left the house, he recited the beginning of Sura Yasin, up to the verse:
And We have put before them a barrier
and behind them a barrier;
and We have covered them, so they do not see. (Yasin 7)
Reciting these verses, he strewed dust upon their heads. In this he way passed unnoticed from the house and came to the meeting place with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA). Together they proceeded towards the cave. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) wished to carry the Holy Prophet on his back, but the Prophet , would not accept this. So, in order to obscure their foot prints, Abu Bakras-Siddiq (RA) would step backwards and forwards and sideways to cover all traces of the Holy Prophet .
Back at the house, Iblis who was among those who lay in wait for Muhammad suddenly cried, “ Muhammad has escaped! ” They checked on him and fond his bed occupied and believed it to be Muhammad sleeping wrapped up in his mantle. In reality it was his cousin Ali (RA) sleeping in his cloak. When Ali (RA) lay down to sleep, the Lord of the Heavens had said to the angels Mikhail (AS) and Israfil (AS), “ If I made you to be as brothers in this world, would either of you agree to meet death in place of him whom his enemies meant to kill? Would either of you go lie in his bed? ” But neither of the angels wished for death, they would have chosen life. That being the case, the Lord said,“ I have therefore made Muhammad and Ali (RA) as brothers; Ali has taken Muhammad’s place in his bed in his stead, knowing of their intention to kill him. Go now and stand guard by his head and foot…” In the morning, when the idolaters saw Ali (RA) emerging from the Prophet Muhammad’s house, they were dumbstruck with amazement. Immediately they went to the house of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA), knocked on the door and demanded of his daughter Asma where her father father was. Asma (RA) replied, “ I don’t know, ” where upon Abu Jahl slapped her face so violently that her earring flew off. The Quraysh offered of two hundred curly-haired camels to the man who would find Muhammad and Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) and bring them back to Quraysh. Asma (RA) went to the cave for three days and brought the fugitives food and news from the city.
Once a search party of idolaters passed closed by the cave, so that their voices were heard in the cave. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) grew restive, but the Holy Prophet mentioned for him to be calm.“ Be at rest ” he said “ for Allah is with us. If people are together and Allah is the third, do you really think we will be captured? ”
Once Entrance to Cave Thaur – where Sayyidina Muhammad SWS), Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) took seclusion on their Hijra to Medina.
Inside Cave of Thaur
As it is written in the Holy Quran:
If you do not help him yet God has helped him already,
When the unbelievers drove him forth the second of two, when the
two were in the Cave, when he said to his companion,’ Sorrow not, Surely God is with us.’
Then God sent down to him His Shechina (inner peace) and confirmed him legions you did not see;
and He made the word of the unbelievers the lowest;
and God’s word is the uppermost;
God is All-Mighty, All-Wise… (At-Tawbah, Repentance, 40)
According to one narration, Shaitan had lead the search parties up to the cave, following their traces. Shaitan even peered inside the cave, but could see nothing, and said,“ There is nothing within.”
Meanwhile Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) was reciting and the Holy Prophet had laid his head upon his knee. At that moment a snake struck its head out of its hole up high in the wall, and Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) was frightened, so that the closed up the hole with a piece of his garment. Every time the snake showed itself in a different hole, he stuffed up the hole with a piece of cloth. At last, when the snake came out of a very close to him, he obstructed it with the heal of his foot. The snake bit him and from the pain, tears rolled down his cheeks, onto the face of the Prophet who was lying in his lap. The Holy Prophet awoke and asked him what had happened.
Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) told him about the snake had bitten his foot. The Prophet then spoke to the snake and said to him,“ Are you not ashamed of yourself for biting the foot of my beloved friend and causing him such pain?” The snake was given speech and it replied, “ Oh Prophet of Allah , one day long ago I heard a word of the Prophet Isa who said,’ After may time there will come a Prophet and his name will be Ahmad. This Prophet will endure great tribulations at the hands of his own people. He will flee from them and hide in a cave for three days. This is written in the Holy Book of the Injil.’ Since I first heard these words, 450 years have passed by, and for all that time I have been living in this cave and waiting. Since i first heard this Prophet’s name, I became enamoured with him. I have spent my time opening holes like windows in this rock so that I might catch a glimpse of this Prophet when his time has come. Now it has come, and this good friend of yours has nothing better to do than close all my carefully excavated windows. That is why I felt I had to bite him, oh Muhammad . ”
The snake had bitten a piece the size of a pigeons egg out of the foot of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA), but the Holy Prophet put his lips to it and sucked out the poison.He spit it out in front of the entrance of the cave and there grew a bush with green leaves and white flowers, with red fruits that grew from the blood of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) and furry seeds, which grew from the poison of the snake. A wild rose it was, with bright red hips, a plant of many beneficial properties. ‘
Then the Holy Prophet stroked the snake that had bitten Abu Bakr’s foot. The snake was the colour of saffron and gave off a beautiful scent. The Prophet said to it, “ Promise me that you will not bite anyone belonging to my nation from now on. ” The snake gave its word, and the Prophet prayed for its progeny to become numerous and for its scent to remain with it until Day of Judgement. To this very day this snake is found frequently in Mecca and its body gives off a lovely scent. No one hurts it, and it harms no one.
At the entrance to the cave a rock dove had made her nest, and a spider had woven its web across the entrance. A wind arose and spread dust over everything, giving it the appearance of having been undisturbed for a thousand years. The Lord Almighty ordered Jibra’il (AS) and Mikha’il (AS) to go look after His Prophet . When they got there they met the spider that was weaving its web. “ What are you doing?” they asked it. “ I am concealing the Holy Prophet ” answered the spider. “ How do you think you can hide him” the angels laughed, “ your web is not even able to keep out the wind, once gust and it is blown away..” The spider replied, “ Oh Jibra’il this web is not like any of my own webs, this web I am spinning upon the command of the Almighty; try it out if you like. ”
So the mighty angel Jibra’il (AS) whose single scream makes cities crumble tried with all his force to tear the web of the little spider but try as he might he could nap a single thread of its silk.
The pursing search parties following the footprints came very close to the cave but seeing the nesting dove and spider’s web, they said to the guide who had lead them there, “ We took you to be a clever person, but now you seem to be the most silly of us all. Had anybody entered this cave, do you really think this bush would be covering the entrance and the spiders web be unbroken? And what about the nesting dove sitting on its eggs? Would it not have flown away and abandoned its nest? ”
They were come so close to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) could see their feet. He began to weep. They have come for us he said. The Holy Prophet recited:
…when the unbelievers drove him forth
the second of two,
when the two were in the Cave,
when he said to his companion,
Sorrow not, surely God is with us. (Surah At-Tawbah – Repentance 40)
Abu Bakr continued to tremble and he said “ Oh Messenger of Allah (JJ) if I had one thousand souls at my disposal, they should be all your ransom. But what if they were to kill you? What should then be left in this world of any worth? The Muslims will be forsaken and destitute..” The Holy Prophet then answered him, point at the wall of the cave,“ Oh Abu Bakr, look there…” When he looked, he saw a door there, and it was open. Through the open door he could see an ocean so vast its farthest shore was not in sight. But on the shore near lay a boat. The Prophet then said “ If they come to get us, we will simply board that ship and sail away. Allah Almighty will shut the door and they will never reach us in all eternity. ” With these words, the Holy Prophet made Abu Bakras-Siddiq (RA) feel at ease.
The Holy Prophet and Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA) remained in this cave for three days and nights. On this morning of the fourth day which was Thursday, the first day of Rabi ul-Awwal, they mounted the camels that their servant Amir had brought, along with the Bedouin guide who was to lead them to Medina. They set out on the journey.
Thank you Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA). Bir hurmati Habib bir hurmati Anzalta Surat al-Fatiha.
