Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (سيرة 1/278)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

so I have never witnessed a spectacle equal to it on that day. This report is authentic.

Al-Walīd ibn Muḥammad al-Mawqarī and others likewise narrated from al-Zuhrī, who said: ʿUrwah told me that al-Zubayr was with a caravan of merchants in greater Syria. When they were on their way back to Mecca they crossed paths with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Abū Bakr and presented them with white garments. The Muslims in Medina had already heard that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had left (Mecca), and every morning they would go out to the lava plain of al-Ḥarra to wait for him, remaining there until the fierce heat of midday forced them to return. One day, after they had waited longer than usual, they headed home. Just then a Jewish man climbed one of his people’s watch-towers on some errand and caught sight of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions, their white clothes shimmering through the mirage. Unable to contain himself, he cried at the top of his voice, “O company of Arabs, here is the man you have been waiting for!”

The Muslims seized their weapons and hurried out, meeting the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the far side of al-Ḥarra. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then turned with them to the right until he halted among the Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf of the Anṣār; that was on Monday in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal. Abū Bakr rose and addressed the people while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat in silence, so that those of the Anṣār who had never seen him before assumed that Abū Bakr was the Messenger of Allah. When the sun began to shine upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abū Bakr stepped forward and shaded him with his cloak, and only then did they recognise the Messenger of Allah. He remained with the Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf for a dozen-odd nights.

He laid the foundations of the mosque that was “founded on piety” and prayed there. Then he mounted his camel and set off, the people walking beside him, until it knelt in Medina at the spot of his mosque ﷺ. A group of Muslim men were already praying there that day. The site was a date-drying yard that belonged to Sahl and Suhayl, two orphan brothers in the care of Asʿad ibn Zurārah of the Banū al-Najjār. When his camel settled there he said, “If Allah wills, this is the place.” He then summoned the two boys and bargained with them for the yard so that he might build a mosque on it. They replied, “Rather, we give it to you as a gift.” He refused, however, until he had purchased it, and thereafter he built the mosque.

رأينا منظرا شبها به يومئذ. صحيح. وقال الوليد بن محمد الموقري وغيره، عن الزهري، قال: فأخبرني عروة أن الزبير كان في ركب تجار بالشام، فقفلوا إلى مكة، فعارضوا رسول الله ﷺ وأبا بكر بثياب بياض، وسمع المسلمون بمخرج رسول الله ﷺ، فكانوا يغدون كل غداة إلى الحرة فينتظرونه، حتى يردهم نحر الظهيرة، فانقلبوا يوما بعدما أطالوا انتظاره، فلما أووا إلى بيوتهم، أوفى رجل من يهود أطما من آطامهم لشأنه، فبصر برسول الله ﷺ وأصحابه مبيضين يزول بهم السراب فلم يملك اليهودي أن قال بأعلى صوته: يا معشر العريب هذا جدكم الذي تنتظرون، فثار المسلمون إلى السلاح، فلقوا رسول الله ﷺ بظهر الحرة، فعدل بهم رسول الله ﷺ ذات اليمين، حتى نزل في بني عمرو بن عوف من الأنصار، وذلك يوم الإثنين من شهر ربيع الأول، فقام أبو بكر يذكر الناس، وجلس رسول الله ﷺ صامتا، فطفق من جاء من الأنصار ممن لم ير رسول الله ﷺ يحسبه أبا بكر، حتى أصابت الشمس رسول الله ﷺ، فأقبل أبو بكر حتى ظلل عليه بردائه، فعرفوا رسول الله عند ذلك، فلبث في بني عمرو بن عوف بضع عشرة ليلة. وأسس المسجد الذي أسس على التقوى، فصلى فيه، ثم ركب راحلته فسار، فمشى معه الناس، حتى بركت بالمدينة عند مسجده ﷺ، وهو يصلي فيه يومئذ رجال من المسلمين، وكان مربدا للتمر لسهل وسهيل، غلامين يتيمين أخوين في حجر أسعد بن زرارة من بني النجار، فقال حين بركت به راحلته: "هذا إن شاء الله المنزل". ثم دعا الغلامين فساومهما المربد ليتخذه مسجدا، فقال: بل نهبه لك. فأبى حتى ابتاعه وبناه.