Volume 4, Book 56, Number 812:
Narrated Al-Bara’ bin ‘Azib:
Abu Bakr came to my father who was at home and purchased a saddle from him. He said to ‘Azib.
“Tell your son to carry it with me.” So I carried it with him and my father followed us so as to take the
price (of the saddle). My father said, “O Abu Bakr! Tell me what happened to you on your night jour –
ney with Allah’s Apostle (during Migration).” He said, “Yes, we travelled the whole night and also the
next day till midday. when nobody could be seen on the way ( because of the severe heat) . Then
there appeared a long rock having shade beneath it, and the sunshine had not come to it yet. So we
dismounted there and I levelled a place and covered it with an animal hide or dry grass for the
Prophet to sleep on (for a while). I then said, ‘Sleep, O Allah’s Apostle, and I will guard you.’ So he
slept and I went out to guard him. Suddenly I saw a shepherd coming with his sheep to that rock
with the same intention we had when we came to it. I asked (him). ‘To whom do you belong, O boy?’
He replied, ‘I belong to a man from Medina or Mecca.’ I said, ‘Do your sheep have milk?’ He said,
‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Will you milk for us?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ He caught hold of a sheep and I asked him to clean
its teat from dust, hairs and dirt. (The sub-narrator said that he saw Al-Bara’ striking one of his
hands with the other, demonstrating how the shepherd removed the dust.) The shepherd milked a
little milk in a wooden container and I had a leather container which I carried for the Prophet to
drink and perform the ablution from. I went to the Prophet, hating to wake him up, but when I
reached there, the Prophet had already awakened; so I poured water over the middle part of the milk
container, till the milk was cold. Then I said, ‘Drink, O Allah’s Apostle!’ He drank till I was pleased.
Then he asked, ‘Has the time for our departure come?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ So we departed after midday. Sur –
aqa bin Malik followed us and I said, ‘We have been discovered, O Allah’s Apostle!’ He said, Don’t
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SAHIH BUKHARI VOLUME 4 > BOOK 56: VIRTUES AND MERITS OF THE PROPHET (PBUH) AND HIS COMPANIONS
grieve for Allah is with us.’ The Prophet invoked evil on him (i.e. Suraqa) and so the legs of his horse
sank into the earth up to its belly. (The subnarrator, Zuhair is not sure whether Abu Bakr said, “(It
sank) into solid earth.”) Suraqa said, ‘I see that you have invoked evil on me. Please invoke good on
me, and by Allah, I will cause those who are seeking after you to return.’ The Prophet invoked good
on him and he was saved. Then, whenever he met somebody on the way, he would say, ‘I have looked
for him here in vain.’ So he caused whomever he met to return. Thus Suraqa fulfilled his promise.”