Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 170
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 170 leader. In order to keep their objective secret, lest knowledge of it should reach Quraish, he did not disclose it even to the leader of the party, who was given his directions in a sealed cover, which he was instructed to open and read after having travel led for two days in the direction of Mecca. When Abdullah opened the cover in accordance with his instructions, he found that the Holy Prophet had directed: ‘Proceed to Nakhlah, between Mecca and Taif, and there keep track of the movements of Quraish and i nform me of them. ’ He was also directed that if any of his companions, on discovering the objective of the party, should be reluctant to continue with it, he should be permitted to return. Abdullah announced these directions to his companions and they all expressed their willingness cheerfully to carry out the directions. The party then proceeded towards Nakhlah. In the course of the journey the camel that S’ad bin Abi Waqqas and Utba bin Ghazwan had been riding strayed away and they went in search of it an d were thus separated from their companions and were not able to rejoin them. The party arrived at Nakhlah and busied themselves as they had been directed. A few days later they encountered a small caravan of Quraish on its way from Taif to Mecca. The part y consulted among themselves what course of action they should follow. One element in the situation was that the time was the end of one of the sacred months and they were not sure whether the month had ended or whether it was the last day of the month. If they let the caravan escape, it would soon enter within the boundary of the sanctuary around Mecca, where no action could be taken against it. In this situation, they attacked the four persons who were in charge of the caravan, of whom one,