Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 9905

Sayyidah Asma bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to come to our house in Makkah twice every day. When that day came (on which he was to set out for the emigration), he came to our house at midday. Sayyidah Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "The Messenger of Allah has come." Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "May my father and mother be sacrificed for him! He must have come at this time only because of some important matter." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do you know that Allah Almighty has given me permission to leave?" Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! Shall I come along too?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You will come along too." Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! I have two she-camels which I have been feeding for such-and-such a period in anticipation of this day; take one of them." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It will be in exchange for its price." He said: "May my father and mother be sacrificed for you! Take it for its price, if you wish." Sayyidah Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) says: I prepared the travel provisions for them, and I cut my waistband and tied (the provisions) with part of it. Then these two set out and stayed in the cave on Mount Thawr. When they reached that cave, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) entered the cave before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he put his finger into every hole in the cave to check it, fearing that some harmful creature might come out of it. When Quraysh found the two of them missing, they went out in search of them and fixed a reward of one hundred she-camels for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). They went out and kept circling the various mountains of Makkah until they reached the mountain in which these two were present. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) saw a man coming towards the cave and said: "O Messenger of Allah! He will see us." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Certainly not! The angels have concealed us with their wings." Then that man sat down and began urinating facing the cave. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If he could see us, he would not do this." They stayed there for three days. Amir bin Fuhayrah, the slave of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), would take the goats of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) to them in the evening and stay the night with them; then the next morning he would come to the pasture with the other shepherds. He would walk with them but walk slowly, until when the night became very dark, he would bring his goats to the two of them. The shepherds thought that he was with them. Likewise, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would stay in Makkah and keep gathering news; then when the night became dark, he would come to them and inform them about it. Then he would stay the night with them, and the next day in the morning he would be present in Makkah, as though he had spent the night there. Then these two gentlemen came out of the cave and set off on the coastal route. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would sometimes walk in front of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and when he feared that someone might come from behind, he would start walking behind him. They continued travelling in this way. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was a person well known among the people (that is, people recognized him). When someone met Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), he would say to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him): "Who is this with you?" He would reply: "This is a guide who guides me" (that is, one who shows the way, who shows me the way). Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) meant guidance in religion, while the other person thought that perhaps a guide who shows the route was meant. When they were near the settlement of Qudayd and were on the coastal route, a man came to the gathering of Banu Mudlij and said: "I have seen two riders going towards the coast, and I think that this is the very person you are searching for." Suraqah bin Malik said: "Those are two riders whom we have sent in search of those people." Then he called his slave-girl and instructed her in a low voice to take his horse and his spear out and reach such-and-such a place. Then he came to that slave-girl, mounted the horse and set out in search of the two of them. Suraqah says: I reached the two of them, until I heard the voice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reciting; then my horse stumbled and fell on its nostrils. I took an arrow out of my quiver and cast lots with it to see whether I would be able to harm them or not. The result came out: "You will not be able to harm them." But I did not accept this, until when I again came that close to them and feared that the same situation as before would befall me again, I called out to them and said: "I think that your glory will soon become manifest. Stop, so that I may talk with you." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stopped. Suraqah requested the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to have a document of safe conduct written for him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered it to be written, and it was written for him. Sayyiduna Suraqah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: When the occasion of the Battle of Hunayn came, I took out that document and said in a loud voice: "I am Suraqah." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Today is a day of fulfilling the pledge." Sayyiduna Suraqah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: His shin in the stirrup looked like the jummar (the white pith of a date palm). Then I remembered something I wanted to ask him about. I said: "O Messenger of Allah! I am a man who owns livestock. The troughs are filled with water; we take water, yet water still remains in the troughs. Then some stray (animal or bird) comes; will I receive a reward for that?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Yes! There is a reward for benefiting every living creature." (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Abu Dawud recorded the last part of this narration from Sayyiduna Suraqah (may Allah be pleased with him).
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Ya'qub bin Humayd bin Kasib, whom Ibn Hibban and others declared thiqah (trustworthy), while Abu Hatim and others declared him da'if (weak); the rest of its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.