After 13 years of struggle to deliver his message in Makkah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) had only around 300 followers, most of whom were persecuted for having followed him. Some were imprisoned, others were tortured, and many endured social and economic boycott. However, the truth is bound to appeal to people. When pilgrims from Madinah listened to the Prophet as he explained his message, it did not take them long to declare their acceptance of what he advocated. Within a couple of years, Islam had spread in Madinah and there were sufficient numbers of Muslims there to allow the immigration of the Muslims of Makkah to establish a new community united by its faith and transcending the old loyalties of clan and tribe. The Prophet told his companions in Makkah to immigrate, and they lost no time in carrying out his orders.
The Prophet stayed behind until most of his companions left. God then told him to leave and the story of his departure is well known. The Quraysh had plotted to assassinate him, with a number of strong and armed people from all clans surrounding his home. However, God enabled him to leave safely. He told his cousin Ali to sleep in his bed that night, to give the would-be assassin the impression that he was asleep. Ali, however, had further instructions which he carried out before he left to join the Prophet. He reports on his own immigration:
“When the Prophet left for Madinah, immigrating for God’s sake, he commanded me to stay behind so that I would return articles people had deposited with him for safe keeping. This is why he was nicknamed Al-Ameen, which means the trustworthy. I stayed for three days, walking about every day. Then I left, and followed the Prophet’s path, until I arrived at the quarters of Amr ibn Awf in Quba, when the Prophet was staying with them. I was the guest of Kulthoom ibn Al-Hidm.”
This little story tells us something remarkable, unheard of in the history of any people. The Prophet who was vilified, abused and accused of fabricating lies against God, is entrusted with the valuables of his community which made all these allegations against him. How could they believe themselves when they made those allegations while entrusting him with their own valuables? They could find no better place for safe keeping other than to hand them over to him. They nicknamed him the trustworthy and yet accused him of lying! How could they trust a liar? In fact their action was the best refutation of their own lies, showing what they realized of their own falsehood.
Ali’s way to Madinah was safe. He belonged to a noble family and no one could stand to his courage. The Quraysh were still busy chasing the Prophet and offering a large prize for anyone who could detain and return him. This facilitated Ali’s own immigration. The situation was not so for many Muslims. Abu Salamah Abdullah ibn Abd Al-Asad was one of the first to immigrate to Madinah, but his way was far from safe, as his wife tells their story:
“When Abu Salamah decided on immigrating to Madinah, he prepared a camel for me and helped me to mount, placing my son, Salamah with me on the camel back. Men from my own clan, the Al-Mugheerah, went up to him and said: ‘If you are intent on leaving, why should we allow you to take this woman of ours traveling across the land?’ They pulled the camel reign out of his hand and took me away from him. This enraged the Abd Al-Asad clan, to whom Abu Salamah belonged. They told my people ‘We will not leave our son with her now that you took her away from our man.’ The two groups fought over my son, each pulling him to their side, until they dislocated his shoulder. The Abd Al-Asad people took him away. Thus I was left with my clan, while my husband left on his own to Madinah and my son was left alone with his father’s clan.
“I was in absolute grief. I went out every day to Al-Abtah where I sat on the sand crying until the evening. I continued to do this for nearly a year. Then one of my cousins passed by and he felt sorry for me. He told the men of my clan: ‘Why do you detain this poor woman? You have separated her from her husband and her son. Let her go.’ They told me that I could join my husband if I wished. Then the Abd Al-Asad clan gave me my son back. I prepared a camel and mounted it, with my son in my lap. I moved on towards Madinah. When I reached Al-Taneem (a few kilometers outside Makkah at the time, but within its boundaries nowadays), I met Uthman ibn Talhah of the Abd Al-Dar clan who asked me where I was going. When I told him, he asked: ‘Are you traveling alone?’ I said: ‘I have none with me other than God and this son of mine.’ He said: ‘By God! You cannot be left to travel alone. I will take you.’ He held the reign of my camel and walked on. I have never accompanied an Arab who is more honorable than him. When he reached a place for rest, he would sit my camel and step behind to allow me to dismount. He would then take off the camel’s things to let him rest, after tying him to a tree. He would then lie down under another tree. When it was time to move on, he would put the things on the camel back and step behind telling me to mount. When I had settled with my son on the camel, he would hold the reign and move on. He continued to do so until we reached Madinah. As we arrived at the quarters of the clan of Amr ibn Awf, he said to me that my husband was there. He left me and went back to Makkah.”
Umm Salamah used to say later: “I do not know any family which suffered as much as we suffered, and I have never seen a more honorable companion than Uthman ibn Talhah.”
This story shows that among the unbelievers were some who maintained good moral values. Uthman ibn Talhah was such a man. He would not leave a woman to travel all this distance alone across the desert. So he would take her, demonstrating how an honorable man should behave in such a situation. Uthman was later to join the Muslim ranks. He went to Madinah with Khalid ibn Al-Waleed and Amr ibn Al-Aas in the seventh year after the Prophet’s immigration, i.e. one year before Makkah fell to Islam. Thus, he ranked among the Muhajireen.
Umm Salamah was later to be married to the Prophet after the death of her husband. It was her son who acted for her in making the marriage contract.