The spider's web across the mouth of the cave of Thawr

Name: The spider's web across the mouth of the cave of Thawr
Location: Ghar Thawr (Cave of Thawr)

نسج العنكبوت على باب غار ثور

c. 13 September 622 CE · c. 1 Rabi' I 1 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

Ghar Thawr (Cave of Thawr)

Ibn Hajar, in the biography of Kurz ibn Alqama al-Khuza'i, transmits from Urwa ibn al-Zubayr that Kurz followed the tracks of the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr to the cave of Thawr, saw a spider's web across its door, and said: the trail ends here; I do not know whether they took the right hand, the left, or climbed the mountain ¹. This is a report transmitted through later narrators; the early account of the three nights in the cave is in event/ghar-thawr.

Depth

At a glance

In time

Pre-Islamic Arabia · The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate

In space

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Summary

Ibn Hajar, in the biography of Kurz ibn Alqama al-Khuza'i, transmits from Urwa ibn al-Zubayr that Kurz followed the tracks of the Prophet and Abu Bakr to the cave of Thawr, saw a spider's web across its door, and said: the trail ends here; I do not know whether they took the right hand, the left, or climbed the mountain ¹.

Context

This is a report transmitted through later narrators; the early account of the three nights in the cave is in event/ghar-thawr.

Connections

Explore the connections

Occurred at: Ghar Thawr (Cave of Thawr)
Part of: The three nights in the cave of Thawr
Had participant: Muhammad· Abu Bakr al-Siddiq

People and things also explored

The Hijra· The three nights in the cave of Thawr· The Prophet's escape from his house on the night of the Hijra and the hiding in the cave of Thawr· Mecca· Abu Bakr leads the prayers during the final illness· The conversion of Abu Quhafa· Abu Sufyan's mission to Medina· Aisha's dream: three moons fell into her chamber

Sources

al-Isaba fi tamyiz al-sahaba — Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani , p.304

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The spider's web across the mouth of the cave of Thawr”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/spider-web-at-ghar-thawr/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-31.

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The Hijra

The migration of the Prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, the event from which the Islamic calendar is counted. The Encyclopaedia of Islam links it to the loss of clan protection after the death of Abu Talib and to the agreement made at al-Aqaba during the pilgrimage of 622. Muhammad slipped out of Mecca with Abu Bakr, spent three days in a cave, and reached Quba near Medina, while his followers had already left in small parties.