secretly so that he alone should be the winner of the reward. He mounted a swift horse and went  in hot pursuit of them. On the way the horse stumbled and he fell on the ground. On drawing a  lot so as to divine whether he should continue the chase or not, as the Arabs used to do in such  circumstances, he found the omens unpropitious. But the lust for material wealth blinded him  altogether and he resumed the chase. Once more he met with the same fate but paid no heed to  it. Again he jumped onto the saddle and galloped at a break-neck speed till he came quite close  to the Prophet (Peace be upon him). Abu Bakr’s heart agitated and he kept looking back while  the Prophet (Peace be upon him) remained steadfast and continued reciting verses of the Qur’ân.
The repeated stumbling of Suraqah’s horse and his falling off awakened him to the situation, and  he realized that it was a constant warning of Allâh for his evil design which he contemplated  against the Prophet (Peace be upon him). He approached the travelling group with a penitent  heart and begged of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) forgiveness in all humility. He addressed  the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and his companion, saying: “Your people (the Quraishites)  have promised a generous reward to anyone who captures you.” He added that he offered them  provision but they declined his offer. They only asked him to screen off their departure and blind  the polytheists to their hiding place. Then the Prophet (Peace be upon him) forgave him and  confirmed it with a token written by ‘Amir bin Fuhairah on a piece of parchment. Suraqah hurried  back to Makkah and tried to foil the attempts of those who were in pursuit of Muhammad (Peace  be upon him) and his noble companions. The sworn enemy was converted into an honest  believer.
In a version by Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him), he said: “We emigrated while the
Makkans were in pursuit of us. None caught up with us except Suraqah bin Malik bin Ju‘sham on  a horse. I said: ‘O Messenger of Allâh, this one has caught up with us.’ The Prophet (Peace be  upon him) replied:
‘Don’t be cast down, verily, Allâh is with us.’”
4. The party continued its journey until it reached to solitary tents belonging to a woman called
Umm Ma‘bad Al-Khuza‘iyah. She was a gracious lady who sat at her tent-door with a mat spread  out for any chance traveller that might pass by the way. Fatigued and thirsty, the Prophet (Peace  be upon him) and his companions wanted to refresh themselves with food and some milk. The  lady told them that the flock was out in the pasture and the goat standing nearby was almost  dry. It was a rainless year. The Prophet (Peace be upon him), with her permission, touched its  udders, reciting over them the Name of Allâh, and to their great joy, there flowed plenty of milk  out of them. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) first offered that to the lady of the house, and he  shared what was left with the members of the party. Before he left, he milked the goat, filled the  container and gave it to Umm Ma‘bad. Later on, her husband arrived with slender goats hardly  having any milk in their udders. He was astonished to see milk in the house. His wife told him  that a blessed man passed by the way, and then she gavedetails about his physical appearance  and manner of talk. Here Abu Ma‘bad realized on the spot that the man was the one whom
Quraish were searching for and asked her to give full description of him. She gave a wonderful  account of his physique and manners, to which we will go in detail later in the process of talking  about his attributes and merits.
Abu Ma‘bad, after listening to his wife’s account, expressed a sincere wish to accompany the
Prophet (Peace be upon him) whenever that was possible, and reiterated his admiration in verses  of poetry that echoed all over Makkah to such an extent that the people therein thought it was a  jinn inculcating words in their ears. Asma’, daughter of Abu Bakr, on hearing those lines, got to  know that the two companions were heading for Madinah . The short poem opened with thanks  giving to Allâh having given them (the Ma‘bads) the chance to host the Prophet (Peace be upon  him) for a while. It then gave an account of the bliss that would settle in the heart of the
Prophet’s companion whosoever he was; it closed with an invitation to all mankind to come and  see by themselves Umm Ma‘bad, her goat and the container of milk that would all testify to the  truthfulness of the Prophet (Peace be upon him).
5. On his way to Madinah , the Prophet (Peace be upon him) met Abu Buraidah, one of those driven  by their lust for the reward of Quraish. No sooner did he face the Prophet (Peace be upon him)  and talk with him, than he embraced Islam along with seventy of his men. He took off his  turban, tied it round his lance and took it as a banner bearing witness that the angel of security  and peace had come to imbue the whole world with justice and fairness.
6. The two Emigrants resumed their journey. It was during this time that they met Az-Zubair at the  head of a caravan returning from Syria. There was warm greeting and Az-Zubair presented to  them two white garments which they thankfully accepted.