Suraqah ibn Malik

A tribal leader of the Banū Mudlij, a Bedouin tribe not from the Quraysh. His story is one of the most remarkable prophetic miracles of the Hijrah.

When the Quraysh placed a bounty of one hundred camels on the Prophet ﷺ and Abū Bakr, dead or alive, Surāqah was sitting with his tribesmen when a man returned from a hunting expedition saying he had spotted three riders in the distance. Surāqah recognized this could be the three being sought, and motivated by greed for the entire bounty, he lied to his companions ("That's someone else I know") and slipped away alone, armed and on horseback.

He gave his own first-person account after accepting Islam: He pursued them three times. On each approach, his horse inexplicably sank into the ground and threw him. He pulled out his azlām (divination arrows, a pagan fortune-telling device); each time they told him: "Do not proceed." He ignored the warnings twice. On the third attempt, his horse sank even more violently into the ground. He knew then that he was facing a force beyond him, and that the affair of this man would spread across the earth.

He called out and asked for safe passage to approach. He noted that one of the two riders, Abū Bakr, was riding in extreme agitation, constantly looking forward and back to guard the Prophet ﷺ. The other, the Prophet ﷺ himself, was riding calmly without turning once, reciting something, demonstrating complete tawakkul.

Surāqah asked for a written amān (guarantee of safety). The Prophet ﷺ had it written on a piece of leather by ʿAbdullāh ibn Urayqiṭ on the spot. Abū Bakr made one request: "Don't tell anyone about us." Surāqah agreed.

As Surāqah turned to leave, the Prophet ﷺ called after him: "Yā Surāqah, how will you be when you wear the bracelets of Kisrā?" Surāqah could barely speak: "Kisrā ibn Hurmuz? The Emperor of Persia?" The Prophet ﷺ did not respond further.

Surāqah held onto that piece of leather for years. When the Prophet ﷺ conquered the tribes near Makkah after the Battle of Ḥunayn, Surāqah produced the parchment. The Prophet ﷺ recognized him and honored the amān. Surāqah accepted Islam.

Years later, after Surāqah had moved to Madinah and the great Sassanid Empire had collapsed in the Battle of Qādisiyyah, the treasures of Persepolis, including the famous jeweled bracelets of the Persian Emperor, were sent to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. ʿUmar summoned Surāqah, seated him in his own chair, found the bracelets of Kisrā in the treasury, and personally placed them on Surāqah's wrists. The congregation in the Masjid cried "Allāhu Akbar!" ʿUmar declared: "Alḥamdulillāh who took these bracelets from Kisrā ibn Hurmuz, the mightiest man on earth, and placed them on Surāqah, a Bedouin from the Banū Mudlij." They paraded him through Madinah.