Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
12. Emigration—From Makkah to Madinah
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unwilling to go through the lengthy stages it takes
to achieve it.
After finishing with Khaybar, the Prophet began to
make preparations for another campaign. The target
he kept secret, not even telling Abu Bakr where
they would be advancing. Only in Ramadan A.H. 8,
when the Muslim army was actually directed to set
out towards Makkah, did people realize where they
were heading. So stealthy and discreet was their
advance that they reached Marr’uz-Zahran without
the Quraysh knowing that the Muslims were upon
them. The Prophet had prayed before he set out that
“the spies and informers of the Quraysh” should be
restrained until the Muslims entered the city of
Makkah.
The Prophet went to amazing lengths to keep
preparations for the advance on Makkah secret. He
gave orders that Madinah should be cut off from
the rest of Arabia: no one was to be allowed to enter
or leave the city. A party under ‘Ali was sent to
guard the roads leading to Madinah. It was they
who arrested Hatib ibn Abi Balta’ah’ s messenger,
who was taking a letter to the people of Makkah
