Quote · On the road to Madinah
O Suraqa, how will you be the day that you put on the bracelets of Kisra?
Saying · On the road to Madinah
Kisra the son of Hormuz?!
~13th year of the dawah / 1st year of the Hijrah · 1 BH
Guided by Abdullah ibn Urayqit along a backroad unknown to the Quraysh (circling toward what is now Jeddah before turning to Madinah), the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr RA avoided the main highway where the Quraysh, who had placed a 100-camel bounty on the Prophet ﷺ dead or alive, were searching for them. Suraqa ibn Malik of the Banu Mudlij spotted and pursued them for the bounty, but his horse threw him three times, after which he gave up the chase and instead asked for, and received, written protection from the Prophet ﷺ, promising not to reveal their whereabouts.
Other events recorded in 1 BH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
O Suraqa, how will you be the day that you put on the bracelets of Kisra?
Kisra the son of Hormuz?!
You are foolish! You let them go?!
Written to Suraqa ibn Malik after news reached Makkah that he had let the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr RA go free.
Had you been there on that day and had seen what I had seen, you would not be saying what you are saying.
I am a safe person! I'm not going to harm you! Give me permission to come close!
Having given up his pursuit of the bounty after his horse stumbled three times, Suraqa called out to identify himself before approaching them.
Do one thing: do not tell anyone about us.
I set out after them on my war horse, hoping for the 100-camel bounty. But each time I drew near, my horse stumbled and sank into the ground, throwing me off: it had never done this before. I cast my divining arrows and they told me not to proceed, but greed made me press on; it happened three times, each more violent than the last. I knew then this was a force beyond my power, that I could not reach this man, and I knew that the affair of this man would spread. As I watched them, Abu Bakr rode in an agitated state, always looking right and left, while the Prophet ﷺ rode peacefully, never turning, reciting something.
Recounted by Suraqa ibn Malik himself after his own conversion to Islam.