Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 6571 — Messengers of the disbelievers of Quraysh

Sayyiduna Suraqah bin Malik al-Mudliji (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Messengers of the disbelievers of Quraysh came to us, fixing for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), each of them, (a reward equal to) a blood-money for whoever would kill them or capture them. He said: While I was sitting in one of the gatherings of my people, Banu Mudlij, a man from among them approached until he stood over us and said: "O Suraqah! I have just seen some figures on the coast, and I think they are Muhammad ((peace and blessings be upon him)) and his companions." Suraqah said: I recognised that it was them, but I said: "It is not them; rather, you saw so-and-so and so-and-so, who set out searching (for something)." Then I stayed in the gathering only a short while, then I got up, went into my house and ordered my slave-girl to bring out my horse, which was behind a hillock where she kept it ready for me. I took my spear and went out with it from the back of the house, trailing a line on the ground with my spear and keeping the upper end of the spear lowered, until I reached my horse. I mounted it and urged it on, and it carried me swiftly until I saw their figures. When I came close enough to them that they could hear a voice, my horse stumbled with me and I fell off it. I got up, reached with my hand for my quiver, took out the divining arrows and cast lots with them: should I harm them or not? What I disliked came out: that I should not harm them. I mounted my horse again, disobeyed the divining arrows and urged it on, and it carried me close to them again, until, when I drew near, I heard the recitation of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He (peace and blessings be upon him) did not look around, while Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) kept looking back frequently. (Then) the two forelegs of my horse sank into the ground up to the knees, and I fell off it. Then I scolded it and it got up, but its legs could hardly come out. When it stood upright, suddenly from the marks of its legs a smoke-like dust ('uthan) was rising up towards the sky. (Ma'mar said: I asked Abu Amr bin al-Ala': "What is 'uthan?" He remained silent for a while, then said: "It is smoke without fire." Ma'mar said: Al-Zuhri said in his narration:) Then I cast lots with the divining arrows, and the same thing I disliked came out: that I should not harm the two of them. So I called out to them offering safety; they stopped, and I rode my horse until I reached them. When I was held back from them in this way, it settled in my heart that the cause of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would prevail. I said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): "Your people have fixed (a reward equal to) a blood-money for you." I told them news about their journey and what the people intended to do with them, and I offered them provisions and goods, but they took nothing from me, and they asked nothing of me except: "Keep our matter hidden." Then I requested him (peace and blessings be upon him) to write for me a document of safety by which I would be secure. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded Amir bin Fuhayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), and he wrote it for me on a piece of leather. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) went on his way.