Hadith 3906

The nephew of Suraqa bin Ju'shum said that his father informed him that he heard Suraqa bin Ju'shum saying, "The messengers of the heathens of Quraish came to us declaring that they had assigned for the persons who would kill or arrest Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and Abu Bakr, a reward equal to their bloodmoney. While I was sitting in one of the gatherings of my tribe, Bani Mudlij, a man from them came to us and stood up while we were sitting, and said, "O Suraqa! No doubt, I have just seen some people far away on the seashore, and I think they are Muhammad and his companions." Suraqa added, "I too realized that it must have been they. But I said 'No, it is not they, but you have seen so-and-so, and so-and-so whom we saw set out.' I stayed in the gathering for a while and then got up and left for my home and ordered my slave-girl to get my horse which was behind a hillock, and keep it ready for me. Then I took my spear and left by the back door of my house dragging the lower end of the spear on the ground and keeping it low. Then I reached my horse, mounted it and made it gallop. When I approached them (i.e. Muhammad and Abu Bakr), my horse stumbled and I fell down from it, Then I stood up, got hold of my quiver and took out the divining arrows and drew lots as to whether I should harm them (i.e. the Prophet (ﷺ) and Abu Bakr) or not, and the lot which I disliked came out. But I remounted my horse and let it gallop, giving no importance to the divining arrows. When I heard the recitation of the Quran by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) who did not look hither and thither while Abu Bakr was doing it often, suddenly the forelegs of my horse sank into the ground up to the knees, and I fell down from it. Then I rebuked it and it got up but could hardly take out its forelegs from the ground, and when it stood up straight again, its fore-legs caused dust to rise up in the sky like smoke. Then again I drew lots with the divining arrows, and the lot which I disliked, came out. So I called upon them to feel secure. They stopped, and I remounted my horse and went to them. When I saw how I had been hampered from harming them, it came to my mind that the cause of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) (i.e. Islam) will become victorious. So I said to him, "Your people have assigned a reward equal to the bloodmoney for your head." Then I told them all the plans the people of Mecca had made concerning them. Then I offered them some journey food and goods but they refused to take anything and did not ask for anything, but the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Do not tell others about us." Then I requested him to write for me a statement of security and peace. He ordered 'Amr bin Fuhaira who wrote it for me on a parchment, and then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) proceeded on his way. Narrated 'Urwa bin Az-Zubair:Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) met Az-Zubair in a caravan of Muslim merchants who were returning from Sham. Az-Zubair provided Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and Abu Bakr with white clothes to wear. When the Muslims of Medina heard the news of the departure of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) from Mecca (towards Medina), they started going to the Harra every morning . They would wait for him till the heat of the noon forced them to return. One day, after waiting for a long while, they returned home, and when they went into their houses, a Jew climbed up the roof of one of the forts of his people to look for something, and he saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and his companions dressed in white clothes, emerging out of the desert mirage. The Jew could not help shouting at the top of his voice, "O you 'Arabs! Here is your great man whom you have been waiting for!" So all the Muslims rushed to their arms and received Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) on the summit of Harra. The Prophet (ﷺ) turned with them to the right and alighted at the quarters of Bani 'Amr bin 'Auf, and this was on Monday in the month of Rabi-ul-Awal. Abu Bakr stood up, receiving the people while Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) sat down and kept silent. Some of the Ansar who came and had not seen Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) before, began greeting Abu Bakr, but when the sunshine fell on Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and Abu Bakr came forward and shaded him with his sheet only then the people came to know Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stayed with Bani 'Amr bin 'Auf for ten nights and established the mosque (mosque of Quba) which was founded on piety. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) prayed in it and then mounted his she-camel and proceeded on, accompanied by the people till his she-camel knelt down at (the place of) the Mosque of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) at Medina. Some Muslims used to pray there in those days, and that place was a yard for drying dates belonging to Suhail and Sahl, the orphan boys who were under the guardianship of 'Asad bin Zurara. When his she-camel knelt down, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "This place, Allah willing, will be our abiding place." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) then called the two boys and told them to suggest a price for that yard so that he might take it as a mosque. The two boys said, "No, but we will give it as a gift, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)!" Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) then built a mosque there. The Prophet (ﷺ) himself started carrying unburnt bricks for its building and while doing so, he was saying "This load is better than the load of Khaibar, for it is more pious in the Sight of Allah and purer and better rewardable." He was also saying, "O Allah! The actual reward is the reward in the Hereafter, so bestow Your Mercy on the Ansar and the Emigrants." Thus the Prophet (ﷺ) recited (by way of proverb) the poem of some Muslim poet whose name is unknown to me. (Ibn Shihab said, "In the Hadiths it does not occur that Allah's Apostle recited a complete poetic verse other than this one)