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. Meanwhile, back in Mecca, the polytheists forced their way into the house of the Prophet and as they were about to level the fatal blow of swords, discovered Ali sleeping in his bed - they had been tricked! They left the house in hot pursuit of the Prophet, but he was gone - God had once again come Later, as instructed, Ali returned the trusts back to the owners and led the caravan including his own mot