1277 — Abū Muhammad Yahyā ibn Muhammad ibn Sāid related to us: Abū Umayya al-Tarsūsī, Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm, related to us: Yaqub ibn Muhammad ibn Īsā al-Zuhrī related to us: Abd al-Rahmān ibn Uqba ibn Abd al-Rahmān ibn Jābir ibn ⦗1816⦘ Abdullāh related to me: My father related to me, on the authority of Jābir ibn Abdullāh:

When Abū Bakr the Truthful—may Allah be pleased with him—accompanied the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—to the cave and they were about to enter, Abū Bakr went in first and then said, “Stay where you are, O Messenger of Allah.” He stamped his foot, causing the doves—that is, the pigeons known as tawārī—to fly out. He went around the cave but saw nothing; then he went around it again but saw nothing. He said, “Enter, O Messenger of Allah.”

He entered and found a burrow in the cave. Fearing that something might emerge from it and harm the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—Abū Bakr plugged it with his heel. A spider spun its web over the cave. Those pursuing them searched everywhere and passed by the cave, and Abū Bakr became apprehensive because of them. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “Do not grieve; indeed, Allah is with us” [al-Tawba: 40]. He then related the remainder of the hadith.