Stories from Early Islam — Page 77
77 gathering round the house, the Holy Prophet saw went away unnoticed. Abu Bakr also joined him and the two made their way out of the city. They went up one of the surrounding hills and took shelter in a cave called ‘Thaur’. This cave had a very narrow entrance, so that a person would have to lie flat to crawl into it. It was not a safe place to hide as there was considerable danger from reptiles of all kinds. In the morning when the people of Makkah learned that the Prophet saw had left, they sent a party in search of him. They announced that anyone who would bring him back dead or alive would receive a reward of one hundred camels. Following the footprints, they arrived at the mouth of the cave in which the Holy Prophet saw and Abu Bakr had taken shelter. The tracker announced that the marks of the footsteps of the fugitives did not go any further. Therefore, they had either sunk into the earth or had risen to the sky. The whole party ridiculed him at his remarks. They did not bother to look inside the cave, as they knew that the cave was not a safe place of refuge. Who on earth