The Second of Two

For months Abu Bakr had held back from emigrating, because the Prophet ﷺ told him he hoped to be given permission himself; so Abu Bakr fed two riding camels and kept them ready. Then one day, in the heat of noon, the Prophet ﷺ came to his house at an hour he never came, his head covered, and told him permission had been given. "Companionship, O Messenger of Allah?" Abu Bakr asked. "Yes" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3905). Ibn Ishaq reports 'A'ishah saying she had never known anyone could weep for joy until she saw her father weep that day.

His whole household served the journey. His daughter Asma' cut her waist-belt in two to tie up the provisions, and was called Dhat al-Nitaqayn, "she of the two belts". His son 'Abdullah spent the nights at the cave and slipped back into Makkah before dawn with the news, and his freedman 'Amir ibn Fuhayrah grazed sheep over their tracks and brought them milk (Sahih al-Bukhari 3905).

In the cave of Thawr the searchers came so close that Abu Bakr could see their feet. "If one of them looked down, he would see us," he whispered. The Prophet ﷺ answered: "What do you think, Abu Bakr, of two whose third is Allah?" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3653). The Qur'an preserved the moment, calling him ﴿ثَانِيَ اثْنَيْنِ إِذْ هُمَا فِي الْغَارِ﴾ (“the second of the two when they were in the cave”) and recording the Prophet's ﷺ words to his companion: ﴿لَا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا﴾ (“Do not grieve; Allah is with us”) (9:40).