Did Abu Bakr Donate His Camels For Hijrah (Migration)? - Our Prophet 5 - Road To Medina

Now, the Prophet stayed in the cave of Thawr three days. Three days and possibly four nights. Fourth night he set out to Madinah. Now, what happened during those three days? How did the Prophet and his companion, who was with him, Abu Bakr, survived?

In the Shi'a sources, we have reports that during those three days, every day, Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam, and Hind Ibn Abi Halah, they would bring food to the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, and they would tell him what is going on in Makkah. Sunni sources, they have another claim. They believe 'Abdullah Ibni Abu Bakr, 'Abdullah the son of Abu Bakr, and Amr Ibn Fuhayrah, who was the shepherd of Abu Bakr. They are the ones who came and gave him food and gave the Prophet news.

When we historically analysed these claims, we find them weak and problematic, that the son of Abu Bakr would actually go there and send him food. In fact, it was Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam, who knew about the whereabouts of the Prophet. Remember, when the Prophet left, it was a secret where he was going. Where did the son of, how did the son of Abu Bakr know that they are in the cave? No one knew this. This was a secret. It is not like Abu Bakr left the cave and he went and informed no, he was with the Prophet in the cave. Only Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam, knew where the Prophet was. So, it makes more sense that the Imam, 'alayhi as-salam, would deliver food to the Prophet.

The Prophet kept it a secret because the pagans would have easily come and killed the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi. You do not allow anyone else to know except the one whom you trust 100%, who is Imam 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, 'alayhi as-salam.

[Sayyid, who is Hind Abi Halah? Who is she and Hind, how did she fit in the picture?] No, no, Hind is not a woman. This is a man. Yes, Hind. In the Arabs, the name Hind was one of those names that they would give to men and women.

[So, what qualified him to be with Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam?] So, we find him, Hind is the nephew of Lady Khadijah, 'alayha as-salam. So, he was close to the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi. We talked about him before in the Shi'b of Abu Talib, how he also tried to bring food. So, he has a good relationship with the Prophet. He is trustworthy. He loved Lady Khadijah. So, he loved the Holy Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi. It would make sense for Imam 'Ali to choose someone like that to accompany him.

Yes. So, Hind, this, he is a man, it is not a woman. They actually have this name for men and women. Yes, I understand how that could have been confusing, because we normally know Hind to be the wife of Abu Sufyan and she was an enemy of the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi.

[So, Abu Bakr was with the Prophet in the cave?] Yes, for three days he was with the Prophet. Now, when you look at history of some Muslim books, there are many, many claims here as to who was with the Prophet and what happened. Now, it is not important to mention many of them because a lot of them are unfounded claims. But we see that a huge role is given to Abu Bakr.

For instance, Sunni historians have claimed that the Prophet, when he wanted to migrate to Madinah, now he wanted a mode of transportation, a camel. So, Abu Bakr is the one who actually gave the Prophet two camels. He donated, he gifted the Prophet two camels. And it is due to these camels that the Prophet was able to migrate. So this is a huge favor. In fact, in fact, they have quoted a Hadith from the Prophet, they have attributed a Hadith in which the Prophet says, no one has a favour on me except Abu Bakr. He is the one who has a favour on me, because on the night of the Hijrah [migration], he gave me those camels.

And interestingly, you know what they mentioned? They mentioned Abu Bakr bought these two camels for 300 Dirhams four to six months before the Hijrah. And he would have them pasture on farmland, you know, eating from the grass, preparing them for that Hijrah.

A few observations here. Number one, four to six months before the Hijrah, the Prophet had not informed anyone he is going to Madinah and migrating. So where did Abu Bakr get this unseen knowledge from? Does it match?

Two to three months before the Hijrah, is where you had the second allegiance of 'Aqabah which we examined last year when the Prophet made it known that he is considering Madinah as an option. But four to six months? Why is Abu Bakr doing that? Who told him the Prophet is migrating? Why is he preparing them? That in itself is a sign of fabrication.

Number two, where did he get all that money from? You know, and it is interesting that in a lot of the books of Sunni history, Abu Bakr is presented and even in their Friday sermons, you hear this, he is presented as this very, very wealthy man who saved Islam with his wealth. In fact, in fact, they claim that when Abu Bakr left Makkah, he took with him 4000 Dirhams, 4000 silver coins. That is a lot of money. That is a lot of money. When you look, So, first of all, you know, exactly where was that all that money? I mean, you can not carry 4000 silver coins. That is very, very heavy. We are talking about an actual silver coin. So where was that?

And, you know, interestingly what they mentioned. They say that he took all the money he had in his house, he did not leave a single dime for his family. Now, by the way, they consider this a virtue that he took everything for Islam. Whereas in Islam, according to Islamic standards, that is not a virtue. You do not leave your father and sister and children without a single dime. You leave them some, if you really have that much money, keep 1000 with them, keep 500 with them. But they consider, no, no, this is a virtue, he took all the money.

And they claim, according to one Hadith, his father, Abu Quhafa, was blind, so, there was a box in the house of Abu Bakr where he would normally keep those coins. So, he took out all the coins, Abu Bakr before migrating, and he put rocks instead, rocks that look like coins, you know, he put them in that box, so his blind father would not figure it out. So, his father, he came and he put his hands like, okay, the money is safe there. You know, he tried to trick his father, fooled his father so he would not go after him.

First of all, that is not how you treat your father. You do not put stones in there and fool him like that. Number two, Abu Quhafa was not blind at this point. Later, we have reports of him having trouble seeing. But at this time, at the day of the Hijrah, his father was not blind, yet he could see well. Number three, where did Abu Bakr get all that money from? In fact, I do not want to go into much detail about this because it is sensitive for other schools of thought, it is very sensitive for them. But in fact, if you analyse the life of Abu Bakr in Makkah, he did not have that wealth. In fact, he had very low jobs. No need to mention them, just go and investigate in history.

You know how much 4000 Dirhams is? Not a single Muslim at that time had that money. In fact, in Madinah, when the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, passed away, the richest Muslim in Madinah did not have 4000 Dirhams. Where are you getting all these crazy figures from? Just to give him, you know that because we have Lady Khadijah, 'alayha as-salam, who gave so much wealth, so they kind of want to overshadow that with the wealth that supposedly Abu Bakr had.

So, Abu Bakr did not buy those two camels. Here is what happened. The Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, wanted two camels to go to the city of Madinah. Abu Bakr, according to some sources, offered, he said, I will go and prepare them and give them to you. The Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, who would accept gifts, he did not accept that from Abu Bakr. He told Imam 'Ali, when Imam 'Ali came to the cave, he told Imam 'Ali, O 'Ali, pay Abu Bakr and we will buy them from him. We will buy the two camels from him. So, the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, fact, did not want Abu Bakr to have a favour on him by giving him a camel as a gift. So, in reality, the Prophet is the one who bought those camels and Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam, paid for them from the Prophet's money. That is the correct historical analysis of what happened.

So, yes, Abu Bakr was involved in securing the camels, but the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, bought them from him, and he did not accept them as a gift from him. So, our argument is assuming it is true, that Abu Bakr had a role in this camel business, the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, bought them from him, and it was not, you know, donated on his behalf. In fact, in fact, the very camel that Abu Bakr himself rode on to go to Madinah, the Prophet gave it to him. So, he did not even spend on his own transportation. The Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, took care of that.

So, Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam, he goes and he buys three camels, one for the Prophet, one for Abu Bakr, who was with him, and the third one is for the guide. You know. back then, they had drivers like guides who knew the desert, and they could take you to Madinah. So, the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa 'alihi, goes with this guide, which Imam 'Ali, 'alayhi as-salam, had arranged. He was, you know, trustworthy, and he goes with them.

So, this is the issue of how the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, left the cave at night, and he on the fourth night, he set out north and he had to take a coastal route, because the cave of Thawr is to the south of Makkah. The Prophet has to go north. So, if he goes directly north, the Makkans would see him. Remember, during these three days, they had appointed spies and watchmen on all routes to make sure that they get the Prophets, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi. So, he had to discreetly, in the middle of the night, leave the cave. He took a westerly route towards the coast, and then he went north in order to avoid going through Makkah and Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, saved him.