The schemes of Quraysh did not remain hidden. Archangel Jibrīl came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with news of their conspiracy. “Do not sleep tonight where you usually rest,” he warned, then told him in detail of the plan to kill him. He brought also the command from Allah: the time of migration had come.

That afternoon, in the blazing heat when the streets of Makkah lay empty, the Prophet ﷺ left his home. His face veiled, he walked swiftly to the house of his beloved companion Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq. Seeing him arrive at such an unusual hour, Abū Bakr thought: Something weighty must have brought him here now. The Prophet ﷺ greeted him with salām, and Abū Bakr welcomed him inside.

“Send out the others,” the Prophet ﷺ said.

“There is no one here but my two daughters,” replied Abū Bakr. “What brings you at this hour, Messenger of Allah?”

The Prophet ﷺ said quietly, “Allah has given me permission to migrate.”

“Let me accompany you!” Abū Bakr asked at once. When the Prophet ﷺ consented, joy overwhelmed him, and he wept aloud. His daughter ʿĀ’ishah later said, “I never saw a man weep from joy as my father did that day.”

Abū Bakr offered two camels that he had been feeding and preparing for four months with the leaves of the samur tree, keeping them ready for just such a journey. “Choose one of these, O Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet ﷺ offered to purchase one, but Abū Bakr insisted that it was a gift.

A careful plan was drawn. The guide would be ʿAbdullāh ibn Urayqiṭ, a man trusted for his knowledge of the desert paths. Abū Bakr’s freedman, ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah, would herd flocks near Makkah to mask their tracks and bring news of Quraysh. Abū Bakr’s son, ʿAbdullāh, would linger in Makkah by day and at night come secretly to inform them of any movement. ʿĀ’ishah and her sister prepared provisions, packing food in a leather bag and tying it with a belt that Asmāʾ tore in two. Abū Bakr gathered the five thousand dirhams he had at hand and entrusted them to his son to carry.

That evening the Prophet ﷺ returned home. He knew the house would be surrounded, that assassins would burst in at dawn. He asked ʿAlī to lie in his bed, covered with his cloak, to give the appearance of his presence. He entrusted to him the goods left in his care by the people of Quraysh, that they might be returned to their owners. Thus, while the Prophet ﷺ departed, ʿAlī remained in Makkah to fulfill these trusts.

That night Quraysh’s chosen band—eleven young men from the leading clans—gathered around his house. Among them were Abū Jahl, al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and others of equal rank. They ringed the dwelling, swords ready, watching the door. Abū Jahl mocked and boasted, sneering at the Prophet’s promises of gardens after death and fire for his rejecters. The men laughed, but they kept their posts through the long night.

Yet Allah’s plan prevailed. From inside, the Prophet ﷺ emerged silently. Taking a handful of dust, he recited the opening verses of Sūrat Yāsīn (1–9), then cast the dust upon the heads of his would-be murderers. Their eyes were veiled; sleep fell over them. He passed through them unhindered and went straight to the house of Abū Bakr. Together they slipped out by the back door, provisions and mounts prepared.

Later, a passerby confronted the band of assassins. “Whom do you wait for?” he asked.

“For Muhammad,” they replied.

“He has already gone,” the man told them. “He scattered dust on your heads as he left.” They reached up instinctively, and each felt dust upon his hair. Alarmed, they rushed inside. But in the bed lay a figure beneath the Prophet’s cloak. They waited eagerly for dawn, certain that at any moment Muhammad would rise.

When the blanket was thrown aside, the one who stood was not the Prophet ﷺ but ʿAlī. He stepped out calmly, carrying water for ablution. The conspirators were struck dumb. Some muttered in anger, “Are you mocking us, pretending to lie in his place? Your leader would never stoop to deceit!”

But the truth was plain: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had gone. Quraysh’s plot had been overturned, as the Qurʾān declared:

“Remember when those who disbelieved plotted against you to imprison you, kill you, or expel you. They planned, and Allah planned. And Allah is the best of planners.” (Q 8:30)