camels to whoever captured him, and one hundred camels to whoever captured Abū Bakr. People therefore began tracking the two men through the mountains, the valleys, the caves—everywhere—until they reached the very cave in which the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) and Abū Bakr were hiding. This was the Cave of Thawr, where they remained for three nights so that the search might cool down. Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Messenger of Allah, if one of them were only to look at his own feet he would spot us, for we are beneath them in the cave.” He replied, “Abū Bakr, what do you think of two men when Allah is the third of them?”

The Book of Allah also records that he said, “Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us” (al-Tawbah 9:40). Thus he could well have uttered both statements: “What do you think of two men when Allah is the third of them?” and “Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us.”

His words, “What do you think of two men when Allah is the third of them?” mean: can anyone harm them in any way? The answer is no, for none can withhold what Allah grants, nor grant what He withholds, nor abase those He honors, nor honor those He abases: “Say, ‘O Allah, Lord of sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You abase whom You will; in Your hand is all good. Truly, You have power over all things’” (Āl ʿImrān 3:26).

This incident is clear evidence of the Prophet’s (blessings and peace be upon him) perfect reliance upon his Lord: he depended wholly on Him and consigned his affair to Him. For this reason the compilers placed this ḥadīth in the chapter on certainty and trust in Allah. It likewise shows that the story of the spider’s web is unsound. Some historical accounts claim that a spider spun its web across the entrance of the cave, that a tree sprouted there, and that a dove perched on its branch, and that when the idolaters came to the cave