Amir ibn Fuhayra
عَامِر بْن فُهَيْرَةʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah
Biography
A freed slave (mawlā) of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq; Abū Bakr had purchased and manumitted him. His loyalty to Abū Bakr was absolute.
During the three-day stay in the Cave of Thawr, ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah's role was to tend the sheep flocks near the cave, a commonplace, unnoticed occupation. But his real function was to walk the flock back and forth over the footprints that ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Bakr left each time he came to the cave. By driving the sheep over those tracks, he erased all physical traces of human passage. No matter how skilled the Quraysh's trackers were, they would find only sheep prints in the sand, nothing leading to the cave.
He would also bring fresh milk from the flock each night as additional nourishment for the Prophet ﷺ and Abū Bakr.
He later joined the emigrants in Madinah and is numbered among the early Ṣaḥābah.
Significance
Erased footsteps leading to Ghar Thawr by driving sheep flocks over them; his seemingly menial role as a shepherd was essential to the Prophet's concealment