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  3. In the Cave of Thawr

In the Cave of Thawr

Under category : The Migration of the Prophet
6460 2007/11/20 2024/11/15
Article translated to : العربية
abu bakr first entered to explore the cave and be sure that it was safe, closed all holes with pieces torn off from his clothes, cleaned it and then asked the prophet [pbuh] to step in. the prophet [pbuh] went in and immediately laid his head in abu bakr’s lap and fell asleep. suddenly abu bakr’s foot was stung by a poisonous insect. it hurt so much that his tears fell on the prophet’s face. the prophet [pbuh] immediately applied his saliva on abu bakr’s foot and the pain went off on the spot. they confined themselves to this cave for three nights, friday, saturday and sunday. ‘abdullah, the son of abu bakr would go to see them after dusk, stay the night there, apprise them of the latest situation in makkah, and then leave in the early morning to mix with the makkans as usual and not to draw the least attention to his clandestine activities. ‘amir bin fuhairah, while in the company of other shepherds of makkah tending his master abu bakr’s flock, used to stole away unobserved every evening with a few goats to the cave and furnished its inmates with a plentiful supply of milk.[bukhari 1/553; ibn hisham 1/486]

quraish, on the other hand, were quite baffled and exasperated when the news of the escape of the two companions was confirmed. they brought ‘ali to al-ka‘bah, beat him brutally and confined him there for an hour attempting desperately to make him divulge the secret of the disappearance of the two ‘fugitives’, but to no avail. they then went to see asma’, abu bakr’s daughter, but here also their attempts went in vain. while at her door abu jahl slapped the girl so severely that her earring broke up.[rahmat-al-lil'alameen 1/96; ibn hisham 1/487]

the notables of makkah convened an emergency session to determine the future course of action and explore all areas that could help arrest the two men. they decided to block all avenues leading out of makkah and imposed heavy armed surveillance over all potential exits. a price of 100 camels was set upon the head of each one.[bukhari 1/554] horsemen, infantry and tracers of tracks scoured the country. once they even reached the mouth of the cave where the prophet [pbuh] and abu bakr were hiding. when he saw the enemy at a very close distance, abu bakr whispered to the prophet [pbuh]: "what, if they were to look through the crevice and detect us?" the prophet [pbuh] in his god-inspired calm replied:

"silence abu bakr! what do you think of those two with whom the third is allâh."[bukhari 1/516; mukhtasar seerat ar-rasool p.168]

it was really a divine miracle, the chasers were only a few steps from the cave.

for three days muhammad [pbuh] and abu bakr lived in the cave and quraish continued their frantic efforts to get hold of them

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