The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 57
II - Commencement of Jihād by the Sword & Fundamental Discussion on Jihād 57 was that they set out to pursue him. They scanned every inch of the Valley of Bakkah, in search of the Holy Prophet sa and even reached the mouth of the cave of Thaur. However, Allāh the Exalted aided the Holy Prophet sa and placed such a veil upon the eyes of the Quraish, that after having reached the very place of destination, they returned frustrated and unsuccessful. When they became disappointed in this search, they made a public announcement that any individual who brought Muḥammad sa back - dead or alive - would receive a bounty of a hundred camels, which is equivalent to approximately 20,000 Rupees in today’s currency. Many young men from the various tribes of the Quraish set out in all directions to search for the Holy Prophet sa , in greed of the bounty. As such, the pursuit of Surāqah bin Mālik, which has already been mentioned in Volume I of this book, was also a result of this announcement of reward. However, the Quraish were made to confront failure in this scheme as well. If one contemplates, for war to break out between two nations, even this sole reason is enough, in that a bounty of this nature is set for the Master and Leader of the other. In any case, when this scheme also proved unsuccessful and the Quraish found out that the Holy Prophet sa had reached Madīnah safe and sound, as it has been mentioned above, the chieftains of the Quraish sent a terribly threatening letter to the head chieftain of Madīnah, ‘Abdullāh bin Ubayy bin Sulūl, and his companions: اِنَّكُم ْ اَوَیْتُم ْ صَاحِبَنَا وَاِنَّا نُقْسِم ُ بِاللّٰه ِ لَتُقَاتِلُنَّه ٗ اَو ْْ لَتُخْرِجُنَّه ٗ اَو ْ لَنَسِیْرَن َّ اِلَیْكُم ْ بِاَجْمَعِنَا ْ حَتّٰی نَقْتُل َ مُقَاتِلَتَكُم ْ وَنَسْتَبِیْح َ نِسَاءَكُم “You have given protection to an individual of ours (i. e. , Muḥammad sa ), and we swear in the name of Allāh that you shall either leave him and declare war against him, or in the least, exile him from your city. If not, we shall most definitely gather our entire army and attack you; and we shall kill your men and take your women in to our own possession, making them lawful unto ourselves. ” 1 The anxiety which could have clung to the poor Muhājirīn due to this letter is evident, but a tremor of fear also surged through the Anṣār as well. When the Holy Prophet sa received news of this, he went to ‘Abdullāh bin Ubayy 1 Sunanu Abī Dāwūd, Kitābul-Kharāji Wal-Imārati, Bābu Fī Khabarin-Naḍīri, Ḥadīth No. 3004