The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 318
Seal of the Prophets - Volume I 318 sought permission, entered the home, and said, “If there is a stranger here, please ask him to leave for a moment. ” Abū Bakr ra responded, “O Messenger of Allāh, these are your house-folk,” he said, “I have been granted permission to migrate. ” Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr ra , who was in anticipation of this day and night, immediately said, اَلصُّحْبَة ُ یَا رَسُوْل َ اللّٰه in other words, “O Messenger of Allāh will you take me along?” “Yes” he answered. 1 Ḥaḍrat ‘ Ā’ishah ra says, “Until that day I had never seen a man cry in joy. But now I saw that as soon as the Holy Prophet sa said ‘Yes’, Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr ra began to shed tears. ” 2 Then he said to the Holy Prophet sa , “O Messenger of Allāh! In preparation of migration I have nourished two camels by feeding them the leaves of an acacia tree. Please accept one of them. ” The Holy Prophet sa said, “Indeed I shall, but for a price. ” Abū Bakr ra accepted, but in reluctance, and preparations for the migration began. Ḥaḍrat ‘Ā’ishah ra states that: “We quickly prepared the necessities of travel, and packed some food in a vessel made of hide. Then my sister Asmā’ took her girdle, or the ribbons tied on her back, and cut them into two pieces. She tied one piece to the food vessel, and one to the water vessel. For this reason, she is referred to as Dhātun-Niṭāqain or ‘the possessor of two girdles’”. 3 Following thereafter, the Holy Prophet sa returned home, after his settlement with Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr ra to leave Makkah that very night and to take refuge in the Cave of Thaur. Commencement of the Journey of Migration and the Pursuit of the Quraish In the darkness of the night, the cruel Quraish from various tribes had besieged the home of the Holy Prophet sa with their bloodthirsty intentions. They were waiting for dawn, or for the Holy Prophet sa to come out of his 1 * Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābu Manāqibil-Anṣār, Bābu Hijratin-Nabī sa wa Aṣḥābihī ilal-Madīnah, Ḥadīth No. 3905 2 * Tārīkhuṭ-Ṭabarī, By Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad bin Al-Jarīr Ṭabarī, Volume 2, p. 257, Bābu Dhikril- Khabri ‘ammā kāna min Amri Nabiyyillāhi sa ‘inda Ibtidā’illāhi Ta‘ālā. . . . . . , Dārul-Fikr, Beirut, Lebanon, Second Edition (2002) * As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Malik bin Hishām, p. 343, Bābu Hijratir-Rasūl, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001) 3 * Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābu Manāqibil-Anṣār, Bābu Hijratin-Nabī sa wa Aṣḥābihī ilal-Madīnah, Ḥadīth No. 3905 * Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābul-Aṭ‘imah, Bābul-Muraqqiqi wal-Ukuli ‘alal-Khawāni was-Safarah, Ḥadīth No. 5388