ভূমিকা
him to announce that year as “The Year of Grief”. Indeed,
with the loss of these two staunch supporters and foundations
of the early Muslim community, things were going to get
much more difficult for the Muslims. The physical and psychological pressures continued to
mount on the fledgling community and so three years later,
God ordered the Prophet and the Muslims to leave Mecca and
journey north to the city of Yathrib. Through employing careful planning, deep foresight,
precautionary measures and of course above all, his complete
trust (tawakkul) in God, the Prophet made plans to leave
Mecca and journey to his new home of Yathrib, the city which
would later be renamed in his honour, Madina al-Nabi –
literally, The City of the Prophet. However, the Prophet needed to retain someone
trustworthy in Mecca – not only to return the trusts the
people had given him – after all he was The Trustworthy (al-
amin), but to also guide the remaining Muslims to Medina. There was only one person who had the necessary
credentials to carry out such an important task - his cousin,
future son-in-law and his future successor, Ali ibn Abi Talib. Unbeknown to others, the disbelievers had planned to
attack the Prophet that same night. The plan was simple – a
member from each of the main tribes would surround his
Fatima al-Zahra: The Spring of Inspiration
house and in a group, simultaneously, would strike a blow to
the Prophet - killing him. Working in tandem with one
another meant that the death could not be pinned on one
particular clan - and as the Muslims could not enact revenge
on all of the pagan tribes, all of them would be absolved of the
Knowing this plan was in place and that the enemies were
waiting for the opportune moment to strike, the Prophet
finalized the plans to leave Mecca and requested the young Ali
to sleep in his bed. If he were to live through the attack, not
only would he deliver the trusts back to their owners, but he
would also lead the Muslims from Mecca to their new home. This ground-breaking act of self-sacrifice of Ali ibn Abi
Talib resulted in God revealing a verse of the Quran about his
dedication by saying, “And among men is he who sells himself to
seek the pleasure of God; and God is affectionate to the servants. That night, the Prophet began the journey, albeit by
taking many precautions to trick those who were in search of
him, safely making it to the Cave of Thawr where he waited
until the right time to begin his journey to Yathrib.