go away to take rest under a tree. In the evening, he used to saddle the camel and load it,
and then withdrew asking me to ride; he came back after I had mounted and taking the
halter in his hand, he went ahead to the next destination...thus he escorted me until I
reached Madinah. When he saw Quba, the habitation of Bani ‘Amr Ibn ’Auf, he said, ‘Your
husband is in this village. Now go to him with the blessing of God.” Thus he bade me fare-
well and went off on his way back to Makkah.”
She also used to say that no family in Islam suffered the hardships the way that the family
of Abu Salama did. (Ibn Kathir, Vol.2, PP.215-17)
When Suhayb tried to leave for Madinah, the disbelieving Quraysh said to him, “You came
to us as a destitute beggar and have grown rich among us, and now you want to go away
safely with your life and wealth. By God, it shall never be so!” Suhayb asked, “Would you
allow me to go if I give my property to you?” When they replied in the affirmative, Suhayb
said, “I will give you the whole of it.”
When the Prophet (r) was told about the incident, he exclaimed, “Suhayb has made a
profit! Suhayb has made a profit!” (Ibn Kathir, Vol.2, P.233)
The emigrants to Medinah during this period were ‘Umar, Talha, Hamza, Zayd Ibn Haritha,’
Abdur Rahman Ibn Auf, Zubayr Ibn al-Awwam, Abu Hudhayafa, ‘Uthman Ibn’ Affan and
several other companions of the Prophet (may Allah be pleased with them all). Thereafter,
the emigrants trickled away one by one. The only ones left in Makkah, besides the Prophet
(r), Abu Bakr and ‘Ali (t) were either those who are detained because of some restraints or
those who had fallen victims of their own shortcomings. (Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, pp. 470-79)
AN UNSUCCESSFUL CONSPIRACY
The emigration of Muslims to Madinah frightened the Makkahns. For they fully unders-
tood that the Prophet (r) had already established a base with a large number of adherents
in a foreign territory beyond their reach, and if he were also to join them there, then they
would be rendered helpless, deprived of all authority over him. They held a council in Dar al-
Nadwa where all the chiefs of the Quraysh had assembled to deliberate on the possible
solutions to the problem.
They debated and scrutinized the various suggestions and finally decided unanimously
that each clan should provide a young, courageous and blue-blooded warrior so that all of
them would fall upon Muhammed to jointly kill him. Thus, the responsibility of shedding his
blood would lie equally on all the clans, and no single clan whatsoever would then be held
responsible for it and ‘Abdu Munaf for sure, would not dare take up a hatchet against all the
people. Determined to slay the Prophet (r), the pagans dispersed to execute their trea-
cherous scheme.