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Sawdah tried to contain herself in spite of
her utter astonishment and then replied in a
trembling voice, "I would like
that! Go to my father and tell him that."
Khawla went to Zam'a, a gruff old man, and greeted
him and then said, "Muhammad
son of Abdullah son of Abdul Muttalib, has sent me to
ask for Sawdah in marriage." The old man
shouted, "A noble match. What
does she say?" Khawla replied, "she would
like that." He told her to call her. When she
came, he said, "Sawdah, this
woman claims that Muhammad son of Abdullah son of
Abdul Muttalib has sent me to ask for you in
marriage. It is a noble match. Do you want me to
marry you to him?" She accepted, feeling it
was a great honor. Sawdah went to live in
Muhammad's house and immediately took over the
care of his daughters and household, while Aisha
bint Abu Bakr became betrothed to him and remained
in her father's house playing with her dolls.
There was great surprise in Mecca that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
would choose to marry a widow who was neither
young nor beautiful. The Prophet, however,
remembered the trials she had undergone when she
had immigrated to Abyssinia, leaving her house and
property, and crossed the desert and then the sea
for an unknown land out of the desire to preserve
her deen. During the next two years, the Quraish
increased their spiteful efforts to destroy the
Prophet and his followers, in spite of the clear
signs that confirmed beyond any doubt that
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) was indeed the Messenger of Allah. Perhaps
the greatest of these signs during this period was
the Prophet's Mi'raj, his journey by night on a
winged horse called the Buraq, through the skies
to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem where he led
all the earlier Prophets who had lived before him
in the prayer, followed by his ascent on the
Buraq, accompanied by Jibril, through the seven
heavens, and then beyond the world of forms, to
the Presence of Allah where he was given the five
prayers that all his true followers have done ever
since.
When he described this miraculous journey to
the people of Mecca, they just laughed at him,
even though he accurately described the Al-Aqsa
Mosque to them (and they knew that he had never
been there before), and even though he described
the place where he had stopped for a drink on the
way to Jerusalem, and even though he told them how
on the way he had told a man where his lost camel
was, and even though he told them that he was seen
a caravan, which no one knew about, approaching
Mecca and that it should arrive later on that day.
Even though the Quraish knew that the Prophet's
description of the Al-Aqsa Mosque was completely
accurate, and even when they eventually saw the
caravan arrive, and met the man whom he had
helped, and saw the place where he had stopped for
a drink, the still refused to believe him.
Only Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, his closest companion
and future father in law, accepted the Prophet's
account of his miraculous journey immediately:
"If he had said this," he
said, when some scornful Meccans first gave him
the news, "then it is
true!"
As the enmity of the Quraish increased, (and
while Aisha was still a small girl), Allah
prepared the way for the future growth of the
Muslim community in a place called Yathrib. During
the time of pilgrimage in Mecca one year, twelve
men from Yathrib, a small city of two hundred
miles to the north of Mecca, secretly pledged
allegiance to the Prophet, swearing to worship no
gods other than Allah, nor to steal, nor to tell
lies, nor to commit adultery, nor to kill their
children, nor to disobey the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him). They returned to
Yathrib, accompanied by a Muslim called Mus'ab ibn
Umayr, who taught them all that he had learned
from the Prophet.
As a result, the numbers of Muslims in Madina
began to increase, and when the time of the
pilgrimage came again, this time seventy five
people from Yathrib- three of whom were women: Umm
Sulaym, Nsayba bint Ka'b and Asma bint Amr -
pledged allegiance in Mecca to the Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) this time also swearing that the would defend
and protect him, even to the death if need be.
After this, the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) gave his followers permission
to emigrate to Yathrib, and slowly but surely, in
twos and threes, the Muslims began to leave Mecca.
The leaders of the Quraish realized what was
happening, and decided to kill the Prophet before
he had a chance to join them. However, Allah
protected the Prophet, and on the very night
before the morning on which they had planned to
kill him, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) and Abu Bakr (may
Allah be pleased with him) slipped out of Mecca
and hid in a cave called Thawr, which was to the
south of Mecca.
Everybody knows what happened when the people
who were hunting for them came to the cave: They
found a wild dove nesting in the tree that covered
the mouth of a cave, across which a spider had
spun its web. Anyone entering the cave would have
frightened away the dove and broken the spid's
web, they thought, so they did and not bother to
look inside it. Their pursuers were so close that
if one of them had glanced down at his feet, he
would have discovered them. By the decree of
Allah, the Prophet and Abu Bakr were safe!
Once the Quraish had given up the search, the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with
him) circled round the Mecca and rode northwards.
Only one man, a warrior called Suraqa ibn Jusham,
suspected their whereabouts and set off in hot
pursuit, thirsting of the reward that the Quraish
had offered to anyone who captured the two men for
them. As soon as he as within shouting distance of
the travelers, however, his horse suddenly began
to sink into the sand, and, realizing that if he
did not turn back, then the desert would simply
swallow up both him and his steed, he gave up his
pursuit, asked them to forgive him and returned
home.
After a long, hard journey Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Abu
Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) reached
Yathrib amidst scenes of great rejoicing. Their
time in Mecca had just come to an end, and their
time in Medina had just begun - for Madina is the
name that was now given to Yathrib, Madina al
Munawarra, which means 'the illuminated city', the
city that was illuminated by the light of the
Prophet Muhammad and his family and his
Companions, may the blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him and on all of them. The journey of the
Prophet Muhammad and Abu Bakr is usually called
the hijrah, and it is at this point that the
dating of the Muslims begins, for it was after the
hijrah that the first community of Muslims rapidly
grew and flowered and bore fruit. When she was
older, the prophet was worried that Sawdah might
be upset about having to compete with so many
younger wives, and offered to divorce her. She
said that she would give her night to Aisha,
of whom she was very fond, because she only wanted
to be his wife on the Day of Rising. She lived on
until the end of the time of Umar ibn al Khattab.
She and Aisha
always remained very close.
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