Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 39Prophet sa and the guide; the other for Abu Bakr ra andhis servant, ‘Amir bin Fuhaira ra .SURAQA ra PURSUES THE PROPHETBefore setting out, the Prophet sa looked back atMecca. Emotions welled up in his heart. Mecca was hisbirthplace. He had lived there as child and man and hadreceived there the Divine Call. It was the place where hisforefathers had lived and flourished since the time ofIshmael. With these thoughts, he had a last long look atit and then said, "Mecca, thou art dearer to me than anyother place in the world, but thy people would not let melive here." Upon this Abu Bakr ra said, "The place hathturned out its Prophet sa . It only awaiteth itsdestruction." The Meccans, after the failure of theirpursuit, put a prize on the heads of the two fugitives.Whoever captured and restored to the Meccans theProphet sa or Abu Bakr ra dead or alive was to have areward of a hundred camels. The announcement wasmade among the tribes around Mecca. Tempted by thereward, Suraqa bin Malik ra , a Bedouin chief, started inpursuit of the party and ultimately sighted them on theroad to Medina. He saw two mounted camels and,feeling sure they were bearing the Prophet sa and AbuBakr ra , spurred on his horse. The horse reared and fellbefore it had gone very far and Suraqa ra fell with it.Suraqa's ra own account of what happened is interesting.He says:After I fell from the horse, I consulted my luck in thesuperstitious fashion common with Arabs by a throw ofthe arrows. The arrows boded ill-luck. But the temptationof the reward was great. I mounted again and resumed mypursuit and nearly overtook the party. The Prophet sa rodewith dignity, and did not look back. Abu Bakr ra , however,looked back again and again (evidently, out of fear for thesafety of the Prophet sa ). As I neared them, my horse rearedagain, and I fell off. I consulted the arrows again; and