Muhammad told no one of his plan for fleeing Mecca. Muhammad's friend Abu Bakr was told to have two camels ready, but he did not know why or when they would be used. When Muhammad heard of the Qureysh plan to kill him and received a command from Allah to leave, he began his plan of escape.
Muhammad realized that the young Qureysh men were watching his house to make sure he did not try to escape. If he did, they would kill him. Muhammad had a friend named Ali Ibn Abu Talib dress in Muhammad's clothes and sleep in his bed. Just before dawn, Muhammad snuck out. He met with Abu Bakr, and they escaped from Mecca and headed south. They knew that know one would expect them to go south because all of Muhammad's followers had gone north to Yathrib. They hid in a cave outside Mecca for some time. Abu Bakr's son went to them daily to bring them food and tell them of the Qureysh plans to find him.
One day, some of the Qureysh assassins happened to be searching the countryside nearby the cave. They asked a local shepherd if he had seen any two men who were like them. The shepherd (unknowingly) suggested that they might be in one of the nearby caves. Abu Bakr overheard this and began freaking out, fearing that they would be discovered. Muhammad only prayed, and they both withdrew into the farthest corner of the cave and tried to stay still. Two Qureysh men presently looked into the cave, but when they did they noticed undisturbed cobwebs and a pigeon in the entrance. The men reasoned that one one could ever have entered the cave without disturbing these. But Muhammad and Abu Bakr both knew that a miracle had just occurred.
After three days, the search of the outskirts of Mecca had ended. Muhammad and Abu Bakr called a servant to bring their camels. All three of them began blazing a new trail north to Yathrib so they wouldn't be detected.
Note: The Muslim calendar begins with the Hijrah, Muhammad's flight from Mecca to Yathrib, which took place during the summer of AD 622.
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