The Quraysh and their
allies made the decision that Muhammad had to be physically eliminated in order
to finish with him and his religion once and for all. However, whoever did this
would have to deal with the consequences and face the wrath of the respectable
Bani-Hashim clan. In order to divide the guilt between as many clans and tribes
as possible, forty clans were involved in the task.
The best warrior from
each clan is chosen for the task. They were instructed to storm the house of
Muhammad and every single one of them was to ensure to strike Muhammad with his
sword at least once. This was so that if Bani-Hashim, Muhammad's clan, were to
seek revenge for his blood, they would be confronted with forty clans, and thus
making it impossible for them to seek any retribution.
The Almighty instructed
the Prophet Muhammad to leave for the city of Yathreb, which later became known
as Medinat al-Rasul or the City of the Messenger, or Medina for short. In 622
CE, after some thirteen years of calling the people to Islam, the Messenger of
Allah left Mecca for Medina.
The Prophet Muhammad
asked Ali son of Abu Talib to stay behind to deal with a number of issues, and
Ali volunteered to sleep in the Prophet's bed acting as a decoy. The Messenger
of Allah managed to slip through those who were surrounding his house just
before they stormed it. When they stormed the house to kill him they found Ali
instead in the Prophet's bed with no sign of their target.
On his way out of
Mecca, Abu Bakr came across the Prophet as he was leaving the city, and asked
the Prophet where he was going at that time. The Prophet Muhammad could not
tell him other than the truth, and thereafter the Messenger of Allah asked him
to join him on his migration to Medina, in order to keep the news of this
mission secret until he was out of danger.
With first daylight,
the forty brave warriors set off in pursuit of the Prophet by following his
track. They used an expert guide to help them track him, and the guide led the
warriors to the cave of Thawr, some five miles outside Mecca, where the Prophet
Muhammad and his companion were actually inside, but the pursuers did not enter
the cave.
It is reported that
the pursuers did not enter the cave since by the time they had arrived, through
divine intervention, a spider had spun its web across the opening of the cave,
and a pigeon had placed its nest near there, after the two had entered the
cave. The chasers did not attempt to enter the cave on the presumption that had
anyone entered the cave, the spider web and the pigeon nest would have been disturbed.
Having failed to
capture the Prophet, the Quraysh announced a reward of 100 camels for anyone
capturing him or giving information leading to his capture.
The Prophet Muhammad
left Mecca on the eve of the first day of the lunar month of Rabi-I, and arrived
on the outskirts of Medina, some 400 km north of the city of Mecca, on Monday,
the 12th day of the same month.
Another task that Aliibn Abu Talib had to do when the Prophet left Mecca was to return any goods and
valuables that people had given to the Prophet for safekeeping. Many of those
who were the Prophet opponents also used to give their valuables to the Prophet
for safekeeping every time they went on a long journey and such like. This was
because the Prophet was recognized for his trustworthiness even towards his
foes. They could not trust their best friends for safekeeping of their
valuables, but they trusted Muhammad al-Amin (the trustworthy one). Ali
returned all the goods and valuables that were given to the Prophet for
safekeeping, including those of the Prophet's foes.
After Ali had returned
all the goods the Prophet Muhammad had he given him, to their rightful owners,
he went to the roof of the Kabah and yelled at the top of his voice, “if anyone
has any claim against Muhammad, or had entrusted him with anything that he has
not got back yet, then they should come forward.” It has been reported that
nobody did.
Having discharged all
his tasks in Mecca, Ali set off for Yathreb together with his mother Fatimah
bint Assad, Fatimah the daughter of the Prophet, and Fatimah daughter of
Zubair.
Mashallah Bht Khob
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