The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 31
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 31 Prophet of the decision to leave Mecca, asked whether he would be permitted to come along, and the Prophet gave his assent. The following evening the Prophet left his house as soon as it was dark while those who had designs upon his life were collecting round the house in ones and twos, and proceeded to the rendezvous with Abu Bakr. The two then made their way out of Mecca and went up one of the surrounding hills, there to take shelter in a cave called “Thaur,” which had an entrance so narrow that a person had to lie flat and crawl into it. It was not a very safe place to spend much time in, as there was considerable danger from poisonous snakes and vipers. But perhaps for that very reason it afforded a chance of security against pursuit and discovery. During the course of the night the Prophet’s would - be assailants discovered that he was no longer in the house. At daybreak they took counsel together and decided to follow his tracks, which, they found, were soon joined by those of Abu Bakr. The tracker l ed them up the hill to the mouth of the cave, and there the tracks disappeared. “The fugitives have not gone any farther; they have either sunk into the earth or ascended into the sky!” exclaimed the tracker, puzzled. The others ridiculed him, as there was nowhere for anybody to go except inside the cave; and this possibility they rul ed out. Who would take the risk of serious bodily harm, and possibly death, from the vipers that abounded inside and around the cave? Inside, Abu Bakr heard the voices of the men, and through the narrow opening of the cave he could observe some of them