Hakeem Abdul Ra’uf Danapuri, in his book Asah al-Siyar, page 106, writes regarding the migration to Madinah: When the disbelievers saw that the Companions of the Messenger of Allah had left, taking their wealth and goods, and their families and children with them, and that the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, who are powerful and influential tribes, were with them, then they became gravely fearful of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
All of them gathered in Dar al-Nadwa. This was such a massive assembly that there was no person of judgment who did not take part in this consultation. Their real leader, Iblis, was present in the form of an old man. Various plans to kill the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were put forward. The old Shaykh rejected all of them. Finally Abu Jahl put forward this plan: take one young man from every tribe and give each of them a sword, so that all of them together strike the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in a single blow and finish him. In this way his blood would be divided among many tribes, and Banu Abd Manaf could not fight all the tribes. Supposing they asked for blood money, we would all together pay the blood money. The old Shaykh approved this opinion, and this opinion was agreed upon.
Hadrat Jibril (peace be upon him) came into the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, informed him of the disbelievers’ consultation, and the command for migration was given. He was told that he should not sleep on his bed that night. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had, at high noon, gone to Hadrat Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and informed him of the migration. At night the disbelievers gathered at the door, and the house was surrounded. He made Hadrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) sleep on his bed, recited this verse: «وجعلنا من بين ايديهم سدا الآية.», and threw a handful of the dust of Batha, which fell on the heads of all the disbelievers, and he went out and left. None of the disbelievers saw him. He went through the door of Hadrat Siddiq’s house into his home, and taking Hadrat Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) with him, he departed through the window on the other side. The disbelievers were gathered at the door of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. A man came and said, “What are you doing now? He has gone after throwing dust on your heads.” The disbelievers looked, and everyone’s head had dust on it. They began to clean it off. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ departed and reached the cave of Thawr, and remained in it for three days. A spider spun its web, birds laid eggs on it, and the disbelievers reached the mouth of the cave in their search, but Allah protected him from their evil.
This is the initial part of the migration event, based on the events from Makkah to the cave of Thawr.
In this section, the following matters particularly come forward:
➊ Before the Messenger ﷺ, all the Companions had gone to Madinah, taking their wealth and goods with them.
➋ On the day of the migration, the Prophet ﷺ went again to the house of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). Once he went at midday and once at night; during the day he went only to give information.
➌ He carried out the migration from his house at night.
➍ He made Hadrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) sleep on his bed.
➎ The disbelievers planned to kill him, in which all the influential people of Quraysh other than Banu Abd Manaf took part.
➏ Everyone surrounded his house, but he went out by throwing dust on their heads.
➐ A spider spun a web at the mouth of the cave, and birds laid eggs.
➑ The Hakeem did not mention any of the events from the house of Abu Bakr to the cave of Thawr.
Takhrij al-Hadith:
These events are narrated in Tabari and Ibn Sa’d from Waqidi, and in Ibn Hisham from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, whose detailed status we have already described. However, there are also rational objections to be raised here.
➊ Who witnessed all these events? Ibn Ishaq and Waqidi do not mention anyone.
➋ Hakeem Sahib has ignored all the events from Abu Bakr’s house to the Cave of Thawr, which concern Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and his household. Did he do so in order to complete the Sabai plan to destroy the status of Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and his family?
➌ At that time, in the Prophet’s house, were Hazrat Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her), Hazrat Umm Kulthum (may Allah be pleased with her), his nurse Hazrat Umm Ayman (may Allah be pleased with her), his wife Hazrat Sawda (may Allah be pleased with her), and his adopted son Hazrat Usama ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him). Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was not alone in the house. The Arabs did not enter women’s quarters. Otherwise, there was no need to surround the house and remain standing outside all night. Then, what purpose could laying Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) on the bed serve other than fabrication? News of his departure could have reached people in some way in the morning.
➍ This story shows that the Hijrah took place at night. However, the people of Makkah always travelled and conducted their business at night, as is still seen today in Makkah Mukarramah, Madinah Munawwarah and Jeddah, where the Arabs mostly stay awake at night and sleep during the day. In this respect, night was the time of movement and very dangerous for trade. It would have been appropriate for the Hijrah to be made at midday, when people were confined to their homes because of the intensity of the heat. The event also happened in the way described in Sahih al-Bukhari, but if it had not been so, how would the Sabai tales have been fabricated?
➎ If the purpose of throwing dust was that they should be able to see, then dust should have been thrown into their eyes. What other benefit could there be in throwing dust on their heads except that the enemy would become alert and start staring about in all directions?
➏ Hakeem Dana Puri has also claimed that all the Companions had emigrated with their property before the Prophet. First, the answer is that not everyone had migrated, and many men and women were confined in the homes of the disbelievers. As for the claim that they had left with their property, I wish Hakeem Sahib had opened the Quran and looked. It describes the Muhajireen in these words:
«الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ»
“Those who were expelled from their homes and their wealth.”
And, as a matter of history, he should have considered why there was any need for brotherhood between them and the Ansar, and why the Ansar had to offer their date palms to them. Hakeem Sahib himself has described all these events. All these matters are sufficient to refute his claim. The purpose of history is never to close one’s eyes to what came before and after, and to set reason aside. Only a person with a particular hidden agenda could do such a thing.
Before we present the reality of this event, it seems better to also present the viewpoint of the late Allamah Shibli, the greatest historian of Pakistan and India.
Allamah Shibli writes:
The thirteenth year of prophethood began, and most of the Companions had reached Madinah. Then, in accordance with the revelation of Allah, the Prophet ﷺ also resolved to go to Madinah. This narrative is extremely moving, and for this reason Imam Bukhari, despite his preference for brevity, expanded it considerably and wrote it. He related it through Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). Although Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was eight years old at that time, her account is in reality the account of the Prophet ﷺ and Hazrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), which she must have heard from them. She herself was also present at the beginning of the event.
The Quraysh saw that the Muslims were gaining strength by going to Al-Madinah, and that Islam was spreading there. On this basis they convened a general assembly at Dar al-Nadwah, which was their council hall. The chiefs of every tribe attended: Utba, Abu Sufyan, Jubayr bin Mut’im, Nadr bin al-Harith bin Kaladah, Abu al-Bakhtari bin Hisham, Zam’ah bin al-Aswad bin al-Muttalib, Hakim bin Hizam, Abu Jahl, Nubayh, Munabbih, Umayyah bin Khalaf and others. People put forward various opinions. One said that Muhammad should be bound in chains with his feet shackled and confined to a house. Another said that exile would be sufficient. Abu Jahl said that one man should be chosen from each tribe, and that the whole gathering should together strike him down with swords. In that case his blood would be divided among all the tribes, and the Banu Hashim alone would not be able to fight all the tribes. This last opinion was agreed upon.
The Arabs considered it improper to enter a house where the women were, so they stayed outside, waiting so that when the Prophet ﷺ came out they could carry out this task.
Despite the Quraysh’s enmity towards the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to this degree, they had such trust in his honesty that whoever wanted to keep any wealth or goods in trust would bring them to him and deposit them. At that time too, many trusts were gathered with him. The Prophet ﷺ had already been informed of the Quraysh’s intention. On this basis he told Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that he had been commanded to migrate, and that he would set off for Madinah that day. “You sleep on my bed, wrapped in my cloak. In the morning, go and return everyone’s trusts to them.” This was a moment of extreme danger. Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) knew that the Quraysh had resolved to kill the Prophet ﷺ, and that on that day the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ sleeping place was the ground of a place of slaughter, but for the Conqueror of Khaybar the place of slaughter was a bed of flowers.
Allamah Shibli (may Allah have mercy on him) had claimed above that since the account of the Hijrah is present in Sahih al-Bukhari in detail, we quote this account from Bukhari. By taking Allah as witness and swearing by Him, we say that not a single word of what has been stated so far is present in Sahih al-Bukhari. Yes, from this storytelling, whose original founders are Ibn Ishaq and Waqidi, several questions definitely arise in the mind.
➊ When the Arabs considered entering the women’s quarters improper, what wisdom lay in making Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) lie on his bed and wrap him in a cloak? And what danger could there have been for him in the house, which is needlessly being made into a great menace? For the Sabaʼiyyah, the aim was to make him a problem-solver, but what is the purpose from the perspective of Ahl al-Sunnah that made it necessary to perform these somersaults?
➋ Hakim Abdul Ra’uf separated Banu Abd Manaf from the assembly of the Shura council, while he (Shibli) separated Banu Hashim. There is a very great difference between these two statements. According to Hakim Abdul Ra’uf, Utba, Abu Sufyan and Zam’ah bin al-Aswad bin al-Muttalib did not even attend this gathering, because all three belonged to Banu Abd Manaf. Allamah Shibli included the names of these three in the list, and by coincidence neither of these gentlemen provided any reference for this list. It seems this list is fabricated, with whatever names of people of that era came to mind being written down. The most important proof of this is that the name of Hakim bin Hizam is also present in this list. Yet Shibli himself wrote at various places that he was influenced by Zayd bin Amr bin Nufayl, which is why he hated idol worship. He was a childhood friend of the Prophet ﷺ, he had tried to have the Battle of Badr called off, and when the Prophet ﷺ was besieged in the valley of Banu Hashim, he used to secretly send grain. On one hand, his good qualities even in the state of disbelief are enumerated, and he is proven to be a friend of the Prophet ﷺ; on the other hand, his name is included in the plot to kill. Clearly, our historians included his name for a specific purpose.
Shibli (may Allah have mercy on him) further writes.
Two or three days before the Hijrah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went to the house of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) at midday. He knocked on the door as was the custom. After permission was given, he entered the house. He said to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), “I have something to consult you about; send everyone away.” Abu Bakr said, “There is no one here except your family.” At that time, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) had already been married. He said, “I have been given permission to migrate.” Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said with great eagerness, “May my father and mother be sacrificed for you. Will I too have the honour of accompanying you?” He replied, “Yes.” Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) had prepared two she-camels, which he had fed on the leaves of the acacia for four months, in readiness for the Hijrah. He said, “Please choose one of them.” The Benefactor of the world ﷺ could not bear to accept anyone’s favour. He said, “Good, but only at a price.” Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) reluctantly accepted. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was then young. Her elder sister Asma (may Allah be pleased with her), who was the mother of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him), prepared the travel provisions. She put two or three days’ food into a food bag. She tore her waist-wrap, which women wrap around their waists (nitaq), and used it to tie the mouth of the food bag. This was the honour for which she is remembered to this day by the title Dhat al-Nitaqayn.
Allamah Shibli has quoted this paragraph from Sahih al-Bukhari. However, he openly distorted the opening words of Sahih al-Bukhari, because Bukhari describes the event of that very day and shows that the Hijrah began from Abu Bakr’s house at that same time. Shibli has described Abu Bakr’s visit and all this conversation as having taken place two or three days earlier, so that the name of Sahih al-Bukhari remains and the story of Waqidi and Ibn Ishaq is not lost either. In reality, at this point Allamah Shibli has put his feet in two boats, namely hadith and history, and wants that neither boat should get out of control; but he is certainly not ready to give up the historical account for this purpose. Rather, for its preservation, he has indeed resorted to distortion of the hadith in many places.
On the one hand, it is an established fact that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was with the Prophet ﷺ at the time of the Hijrah, and Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated all the events of the journey from him. The question is: if the Prophet ﷺ migrated from his own house, then at what time and where did Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) come to him? Hakeem Abdur Rauf found a solution to this: that the Prophet ﷺ was sent twice at night to the house of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), so that he could take provisions from there and mount the riding animal. But Shibli had the provisions tied up three days in advance, whereas food is not tied up three days before. And those difficulties remained as they were. These difficulties could only have been removed if the narration of Sahih al-Bukhari had been accepted as it is. But then how would the bed of thorns for Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) have been prepared, and how would his virtue have been proven? Yet neither does every virtue belong to every companion, nor can every companion be forcibly dragged into every event. Shibli continues:
When the disbelievers surrounded the house of the Prophet ﷺ and the night had passed a great deal, God made them unaware, and the Prophet ﷺ came out leaving them asleep.
We are grateful to Allamah Shibli that he did not mention, at least, the act of throwing dust on their heads and then having the dust shaken off each one’s head, because he too had sensed that it was nonsensical. But we swear and also say that there is no mention in Bukhari of surrounding the house or of leaving by the road. Shibli continues:
He looked at the Ka’bah and said: “You are dearer to me than the whole world, but your sons do not let me stay.”
It is astonishing how the Ka’bah could be seen in the darkness of the night. Were electric lamps shining there? Shibli continues:
An arrangement had already been made beforehand with Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) (this is a product of Shibli’s own mind).
The two of them first went into the cave of Thawr and hid there. This cave still exists today and is a place of visitation for people. The son of Abu Bakr, Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him), who was a young man in the prime of youth, would spend the night in the cave. In the early morning, before dawn, he would go to the city and find out what the Quraysh were planning. Whatever news he got, he would come in the evening and report it to the Prophet ﷺ. The slave of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would bring goats late at night, and the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would drink their milk. For three days this was their only food. However, Ibn Hisham has written that every evening Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) would cook food at home and bring it to the cave. In this way they spent three nights in the cave.
In the morning, when the Quraysh opened their eyes, instead of the Prophet ﷺ on the bed there was Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). The wicked ones seized him, took him to the Haram and kept him there for a little while, and then let him go.
Shibli quoted this statement from Tabari, but if, as Shibli says, the Arabs did not enter the house, then how did Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) appear on the bed without anyone entering the house? If it were said that when Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) went out to relieve himself he was questioned, then sound reason would accept that. But then the act of having him sleep on the bed would become pointless. Yes, from Tabari’s account it is clearly proven that there was no danger to Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), and the bed was being made into a bed of thorns for no reason, because at the point where the statement being proven was supposed to be established, no such reaction appeared at all. And after keeping Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) in the Haram for a few minutes, he was let go. This proves that there was no kind of danger to Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). Shibli further writes:
Then the disbelievers went out in search of the Prophet ﷺ. Searching and searching, they came as far as the mouth of the cave. Hearing the sound, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) became grieved and said to the Prophet ﷺ that the enemies had come so close that if they looked at their feet they would see us. He said:
«لَا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا»
“Do not grieve, indeed Allah is with us.”
It is famous that when the disbelievers came near the cave, Allah commanded, and suddenly a thorn tree (babul) grew, and its branches spread and covered the Prophet ﷺ. At the same time two doves came, built a nest and laid eggs. The doves of the Haram are descended from these same doves. This narration has been reported in detail in Mawahib al-Ladunniyya, and al-Zurqani has mentioned its sources from al-Bazzar and others. However, all these narrations are false. The original narrator of this report is Awn ibn Amr. Regarding him, Yahya ibn Ma’in, the imam of the science of narrators, said: “La shay'” meaning he is worthless. Imam al-Bukhari said that he is munkar al-hadith and majhul (unknown). Another narrator of this report is Abu Mus’ab al-Makki, who is majhul al-hal (of unknown condition). Accordingly, Allama al-Dhahabi, in Mizan al-I’tidal under the entry for Awn ibn Amr, has quoted all these statements, and he himself also mentioned this narration.
We too agree with Shibli Nomani that this narration is fabricated (mawdu’). But how good it would have been if he had examined every narration in the same way. The greatest tragedy of our history is precisely this: that in matters of history everyone has turned a blind eye, and no one has looked at it with a critical eye. The Shia used it for their religious and political interests, and as a result we became so entangled in the snares of Sabaite tales that we sank into them up to our necks, and no one even realised what was happening. To the point that those very tales have now become our religion and faith.
