[2095] The Deniers compelled the Messenger (ﷺ) to leave his hometown of Makkah (cf. Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, Abū Ḥayyān, Ibn Kathīr).
[2096] The Messenger (ﷺ) and Abū Bakr (رضي الله عنه) hid away from the Deniers in a small cave (ghār) in the Mount of Thawr near Makkah at the beginning of their migratory journey to Madinah (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Saʿdī, al-Shinqīṭī, al-ʿAdhb al-Namīr; for a detailed account of how this journey commenced, see: al-Bukhārī: 3905).
[2097] Anas Ibn Mālik (رضي الله عنه) narrated that Abū Bakr (رضي الله عنه) told him: “I looked at the feet of the Associators above our heads while we were in the small cave and said: “Messenger of Allah, if anyone of them looks down at his feet he would see us!” He said: “Abū Bakr, what do you think of two ˹people˺ whom Allah is their third!” (al-Bukhārī: 3653, Muslim: 2381).
[2098] These were angels who came to the Messenger’s aid in the small cave. How they did so is disputed (cf. al-Wāḥidī, al-Basīṭ, al-Rāzī, Ibn ʿĀshūr, al-Shinqīṭī, al-ʿAdhb al-Namīr).
[2099] That is as God Almighty made His religion, Islam, prevail (cf. al-Muyassar, al-Muḥarrar).