Musnad Ahmad

It is narrated from Hazrat Bara bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) that once Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) bought a saddle from my father, Hazrat Azib (may Allah be pleased with him), for thirteen dirhams and said to my father, "Tell your son Bara to carry it to my house." My father said, "First, tell us about the incident when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) migrated from Makkah and you were with him." Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "On the night of migration, we set out in the darkness of the night and traveled quickly all day and all night until it was time for Zuhr. I looked around to see if there was any shade. Suddenly, I saw a rock, so I rushed towards it and found some shade there. I leveled the place and spread my cloak for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to sit on, and then I said, 'O Messenger of Allah! Please rest for a while.' So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) lay down. Meanwhile, I went out to see if there was any spy around. Suddenly, I met a shepherd with some goats. I asked him, 'Son! Whose are you?' He mentioned the name of a man from the Quraysh whom I knew. I asked him, 'Do your goats have milk?' He replied in the affirmative. I asked him to milk one for me, and he agreed and caught hold of a goat at my request. Then I asked him to clean the dust off the goat's udder, which he did. Then I asked him to dust off his hands so that the dust would be removed, and he did so. At that time, I had a vessel with a small cloth tied over its mouth. He milked a little milk into it, and I sprinkled water on it so that the vessel would cool from below. After that, I went to the service of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). When I arrived, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had woken up. I requested the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to drink the milk, which he accepted and drank so much that I was satisfied and happy. After that, I asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), 'Is it time to depart now, and should we proceed?' At the indication of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), we set out from there. The whole tribe was searching for us, but no one could find us except Suraqah bin Malik bin Ju'sham, who was riding his horse. When I saw Suraqah, I said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), 'O Messenger of Allah! This spy has reached us, what will happen now?' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'Do not be sad or disheartened, Allah is with us.' Meanwhile, he came even closer, and there was only a distance of one or two or three spears between us and him. I again said, 'O Messenger of Allah! He has come very close to us,' and saying this, I began to weep. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked me the reason for my weeping. I replied, 'By Allah! I am not weeping for myself, I am weeping for you, for if you are captured, I do not know what they will do to you.' At this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed against Suraqah, 'O Allah! Protect us from him as You will.' At that moment, the legs of his horse sank into the ground up to its belly, even though the ground was extremely flat and hard, and Suraqah fell off. He said, 'O Muhammad! I know this is your doing. Pray to Allah to save me from this calamity. I swear by Allah that I will keep all those who are following me in search of you away from you and will not let anyone know about you. Also, here is my quiver; take an arrow from it as a sign. At such and such places, you will pass by my camels and goats; take from them whatever you need.' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'I have no need of this.' Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, and he was released. After that, he returned to his companions, and we both continued on our way until we reached Madinah Munawwarah. People came out of their houses to meet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), some stood on the roofs of their houses to catch a glimpse of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and on the way, children and slaves gathered, loudly proclaiming the takbir and saying, 'The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has arrived, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has arrived.' Upon the arrival of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), there was a dispute among the people as to which tribe the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would be a guest of. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) settled the dispute by saying, 'Tonight, I will be the guest of the maternal uncles of Abdul Muttalib, the Banu Najjar, so that it may be an honor for them.' And so it happened, and when morning came, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went to the place where he was commanded. Hazrat Bara bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that among the Muhajirin, the first to come to us was Hazrat Mus'ab bin Umair (may Allah be pleased with him), who belonged to Banu Abd al-Dar, then the blind companion Hazrat Ibn Umm Maktum (may Allah be pleased with him), who belonged to Banu Fihr, and after that, Hazrat Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived with twenty horsemen. When Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came, we asked him what the intention of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was. He told us that he was coming right behind me. Shortly after, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also arrived in Madinah Munawwarah, and Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was with him. Hazrat Bara (may Allah be pleased with him) also says that before the arrival of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I had already read and memorized many surahs from the Mufassalat. The narrator of the hadith, Isra'il, says that Hazrat Bara bin Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) belonged to the Ansar tribe of Banu Harithah.