…with the Prophet’s own cloak. The idolaters therefore kept vigil, expecting “the Prophet” to emerge, while in reality the Prophet ﷺ slipped out unnoticed. Allah veiled their sight: he scooped up dust, scattered it over their heads, walked straight through them, then went to Abu Bakr ﵁. The two set off for the Cave of Thawr, where they hid for three days. Quraysh mobilised the people to track him down by any means, dead or alive. When their searches proved fruitless, they offered rich rewards for whoever would bring him ﷺ back, dead or alive. At last, when Quraysh had abandoned hope, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companion left the cave, mounted their riding camels, and made for Madinah. (63) In ordinary language, hijrah means “to leave something.” In the legal sense—­as the shaykh explains—­it is the transfer from a land of disbelief to a land of Islam; this is the prescribed hijrah. It is a great act that Allah repeatedly links with jihad in the Quran. When the Prophet ﷺ reached Madinah, the emigrants who had been in Abyssinia also came to the city. The Muslims were thus united in Madinah, praise be to Allah, and an Islamic state was established there from…