Mount Thawr and Its Cave

It stands on the south side of the Masjid al-Haram, about 4 km away, on the road to Arafat. The distance from the foot of the mountain to its summit is 458 metres, a walk of about 1.5 hours. During the Hijrah, the Prophet (s.a.w.) entered this cave together with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (r.a.) and remained there for three nights. Abu Bakr entered the cave first to check that nothing harmful was inside, and only then did the Prophet (s.a.w.) enter. During their stay, Abu Bakr's son Abdullah moved among the idolaters by day and brought back information by night. His freed slave, Amir ibn Fuhayrah, grazed sheep in the area, which both erased Abdullah's tracks and provided them with milk. Three miracles occurred in this cave:

1. A snake bit Abu Bakr's foot; the Prophet (s.a.w.) applied his blessed saliva to it, and the pain immediately vanished and it healed.
2. After they had entered, by Allah's command spiders spun webs across the mouth of the cave and doves built their nests there.
3. The idolaters came right up to the mouth of the cave, and one of them wanted to look inside, but Umayyah ibn Khalaf said to him, "What business do you have there, have you lost your mind? Spiders had spun their webs and birds had built their nests there before Muhammad was even born" - whereupon they gave up entering the cave.

Abu Bakr related: When the idolaters drew near to the cave, their feet could be seen. I said, "O Messenger of Allah, if they were only to lower their heads, they would see us."

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: "Be silent, O Abu Bakr, the third of the two of us is Allah."

The Prophet (s.a.w.) spent the nights of Friday, Saturday and Sunday there. Hiding in the cave for three days and three nights was a precaution: the idolaters were meant to be convinced that they had already moved far from the vicinity of Mecca. Three days later, as had been arranged in advance, the guide engaged for the journey, Abdullah ibn Urayqit, arrived at the foot of Mount Thawr at dawn on Monday with the two camels entrusted to him as well as his own, and they set off towards Medina al-Munawwarah along the coastal route.