The Holy Prophet ﷺwas completely aware of the fact that the people of Makkah were indulged in superstition, prejudice, worshipping man made idols and had their hearts filled with ignorance and hatred towards the Muslims. Migration of Madinah was a real struggle for the Prophet ﷺ and for the Muslims of Makkah as well. It was plain to see that eradicating all evils from the society and spreading Islam required extreme struggle, hardships and sincere sacrifices to save mankind and guide them to the right path. The people of Makkah were facing a lot of trouble from the non-Muslims and it became very hard for them to survive in such an environment.
Allah Almighty’s Permission for Migration
The Prophet ﷺcame to his companion Abu Bakar Siddiq (R.A) and told him about the permission God gave them to migrate from Makkah to Madinah. The people of Makkah had all propaganda prepared against the Muslims and the Holy Prophet ﷺ. On the other hand, these people were also familiar with the nobleness, truthfulness and the trustworthiness of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Yet they were convinced to plot against him ﷺ. Thus, it was decided that the Muslims of Makkah will all be migrating to Madinah.
Plot to Murder
All the people of Makkah had firmly decidedly to kill the Holy Prophetﷺ and surrounded his ﷺ house before dawn. Allah Almighty revealed on The Prophet ﷺthat he should leave Makkah by the night. On the basis of this revelation, he ﷺknew what was going to happen thus,he ﷺ decided to leave his ﷺ beloved homeland and migrate to Madinah.
Imam Ali (A.S) Self-Sacrifice
Prophet ﷺdisclosed the revelation to Imam Ali (A.S) and asked Imam Ali (A.S) to sleep on his bed while he ﷺ escaped. Although, Imam Ali (A.S)’s life was on stake but he did not hesitate to do this favor for his beloved Prophet ﷺ and he was very delighted to do this for him ﷺ. Imam Ali (A.S) said he had the best sleep on the night of Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺhijrat.
As Allah Almighty was the supporter of the Prophet ﷺ thus, escaping was not hard for him ﷺ. Coming out of his ﷺ house that night, he ﷺ threw some sand at the men waiting to kill him ﷺ. Meanwhile, Imam Ali (A.S) was lying on the bed and Prophet ﷺ made his journey out from Makkah.
When dawn began, the people who were ready to kill the Prophet ﷺfor waiting for him to come out of the house to pray but all in vain as they kept waiting and waiting but no one came out. Being tired of waiting they rushed inside the house and found Imam Ali (A.S) instead. Upset and outraged, they asked about the Prophet ﷺ on which they were told by Imam Ali (A.S) that he ﷺ has left the city while you intended to expel him ﷺ.
Ghar-e-Suhr
He ﷺ met Abu Bakar Siddiq (R.A) on the way and they both reached Ghar-e-Suhr and resided there. They remained in the cave for three days and night. Food was supplied by Abu Bakar Siddiq (R.A)’s son and Imam Ali (A.S) visited them on one of the nights. Imam Ali (A.S) was directed by Prophet ﷺ to payback all the loans and return all the belongings to the people of Makkah.
After dealing with this, they all set for the migration to Madinah. They only travelled on foot. People of Madinah were anxiously waiting for Prophet ﷺ to arrive and they welcomed the migrators whole heartedly.