English translation
3615. Narrated Al-Barā' bin 'Āzib: Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه came to my father who was at home and purchased a saddle from him. He said to 'Āzib, "Tell your son to carry it with me." So I carried it with him and my father followed us so as to take the price (of the saddle). My father said, "O Abū Bakr! Tell me what happened to you on your journey with Allāh's Messenger ﷺ (during emigration)." He said, "Yes, we travelled the whole night and also the next day till midday, when nobody could be seen on the way (because of the severe heat). Then there appeared a long rock having shade beneath it, and the sunshine had not come to it yet. So, we dismounted there and I levelled a place and covered it with an animal hide or dry grass for the Prophet ﷺ to sleep on (for a while). I then said, 'Sleep, O Allāh's Messenger, and I will guard you.' So, he slept and I went out to guard him. Suddenly, I saw a shepherd coming with his sheep to that rock with the same intention we had had. When he came to it, I asked (him), 'To whom do you belong, O boy?' He replied, 'I belong to a man from Al-Madina or Makkah.' I said, 'Do your sheep have milk?' He said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Will you milk them for us?' He said, 'Yes.' He caught hold of an ewe and I asked him to clean its teat from dust, hair and dirt. (The subnarrator said that he saw Al-Barā' striking one of his hands with the other, demonstrating how the shepherd removed the dust.) The shepherd milked a little milk in a wooden container and I had a leather container which I carried for the Prophet ﷺ to drink and perform the ablution from it. I went to the Prophet ﷺ hating to wake him up, but when I reached there, the Prophet ﷺ had already woken up, so I poured water over the middle part of the milk container, till the milk was cold. Then I
said, 'Drink, O Allāh's Messenger!' He drank till I was pleased. Then he asked, 'Has the time for our departure come?' I said, 'Yes.' So, we departed after midday. Surāqa bin Mālik followed us and I said, 'We have been discovered, O Allāh's Messenger!' He said, "Be not sad (or afraid). Surely! Allāh is with us.' The Prophet ﷺ invoked evil on him (i.e., Surāqa) and so the legs of his horse sank into the earth up to its belly. (The subnarrator, Zuhair is not sure whether Abū Bakr said, "(It sank into solid earth.)") Surāqa said, 'I see that you have invoked evil on me. Please invoke good on me, and by Allāh, I will cause those who are seeking after you to return.' The Prophet ﷺ invoked good on him and he was saved. Then, whenever he met somebody on the way, he would say, 'I have looked for him here in vain.' So, he caused whomever he met to return. Thus Surāqa fulfilled his promise."