Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq — Page 40
40 HADRAT ABU BAKR 40 The usual route to Yathrib was not safe for the Holy Prophet sa and Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra as they were afraid that on this route, the Quraish would catch up with them on horseback and capture them. So the Holy Prophet sa used another route which was rarely used, and started towards the cave called Thaur. The cave of Thaur was to the south of Makkah, and Yathrib was to the north of Makkah. Therefore it would not have occurred to the disbelievers that the Holy Prophet sa would use this route. When they arrived at the cave of Thaur, Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra cleaned up the cave, and then the Holy Prophet sa went inside. After a while, the Holy Prophet sa laid his head in the lap of Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra in order to rest. The Holy Prophet sa was sleeping when a snake emerged from a hole. Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra tried to kill the snake by stepping on it with his foot, but the snake bit his foot. However, he did not want to disturb the Holy Prophet sa , so he sat still and did not move. The pain from the snakebite was so severe that his eyes filled with tears. One of these tears fell on the Holy Prophet’s sa face, and woke him up. He asked Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra , “What is wrong?” Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra replied, “A snake has bitten me. ” The Holy Prophet sa immediately rubbed some of his saliva on the snakebite, and the