Page:The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930).pdf/17

 children. It was then that the Hijrah, the Flight to Yathrib, was decided.

Soon the Muslims who were in a position to do so began to sell their property and to leave Mecca unobtrusively. Qureysh had wind of what was going on. They hated Muhammad in their midst, but dreaded what he might become if he escaped from them. It would be better, they considered, to destroy him now. The death of Abû Tâlib had removed his chief protector; but still they had to reckon with the vengeance of his clan upon the clan of the murderer. They cast lots and chose a slayer out of every clan. All these were to attack the Prophet simultaneously and strike together, as one man. Thus his blood would be on all Qureysh. It was at this time (Ibn Khaldûn asserts, and it is the only satisfactory explanation of what happened afterwards) that the Prophet received the first revelation ordering him to make war upon his persecutors "until persecution is no more and religion is for Allah only."

The last of the able Muslims to remain in Mecca were Abû Bakr, Ali and the Prophet himself. Abû Bakr, a man of wealth, had bought two riding-camels and retained a guide in readiness for the Flight. The Prophet only waited God's command. It came at length. It was the night appointed for his murder. The slayers were before his house. He gave his cloak to Ali, bidding him lie down on the bed so that anyone looking in might think Muhammad lay there. The slayers were to strike him as he came out of the house, whether in the night or early morning. He knew they would not injure Ali. Then he left the house and, it is said, a blindness fell upon the would-be murderers so that he put dust on their heads as he passed by&mdash;without their knowing it. He went to Abû Bakr's house and called to him, and they two went together to a cavern in the desert hills and hid there till the hue and cry was past, Abû Bakr's son and daughter and his herdsman bringing them food and tidings after nightfall. Once a search-party came quite near them in their hiding place, and Abû Bakr was afraid; but the Prophet said: "Fear not! Allah is with us." Then, when the coast was clear, Abû Bakr had the riding-camels and the guide brought to the cave one night, and they set out on the long ride to Yathrib.

After travelling for many days by unfrequented paths, the fugitives