Suraqa ibn Malik

Suraqa ibn Malik ibn Juashum al-Mudlaji is known for the pursuit and the grant of safe conduct on the road of the Hijra. ¹.

A man from his own people told him that he had seen some dark shapes on the coast, which he thought were Muhammad and his companions. Suraqa put him off, then took his spear and set out to claim the prize of one hundred camels. He caught up with the two travellers, as the Zad al-Maad adds, on the third day after they had left, while they were climbing up from Qudayd. ^{1 2}.

His horse stumbled, and its forelegs sank into the ground up to the knees. He cast lots with the arrows and the result was the one he disliked. He then called out to them for safe conduct, and they stopped. ³. He told them that his people had set a blood-money on them. He offered them provisions and goods, but they did not take anything from him. They said, “Keep this from us.” He asked them for a letter of safe conduct, and the Prophet ﷺ ordered Amir ibn Fuhayra to write it for him on a piece of leather. ⁴.

Suraqa went back and found the people still searching. He told them, “I have settled the matter for you; I have taken care of what is here.” He had been working hard against the travellers at the beginning of the day, and at the end of it he was guarding them. ^{4 2}. The tradition holds that his appearance, in the form in which Quraysh saw him, gave them reassurance before Badr, as a narrated report. ¹.

He joined the Prophet and Abu Bakr, hoping for the reward. When he heard the Prophet recite, his horse's forelegs sank into the ground. He asked for safe conduct, and the Prophet wrote him a letter of safe conduct on a piece of leather. He then went back and told the people that he had taken care of what was there. (the Hijra journey) ^{3 4}.