Saying · At Tan'im, en route to Madinah
Wallahi, this will not be. I will take you to your husband in Yathrib.
Said to Umm Salama on finding her travelling alone toward Madinah at Tan'im.
When Abu Salama emigrated to Madinah, his wife Umm Salama was forced to stay behind in Makkah, and their young son was taken from her by Abu Salama's tribe. For more than sixteen months she went every day to al-Bat'ha, a spot outside Makkah, to weep. At last some of her cousins took pity on her and begged the elders of Banu Makhzum to let her go. Abu Salama's tribe then gave her son back to her.
She set out alone into the desert for Madinah, trusting in Allah. At Tan'im she met Uthman ibn Talha, who was not yet a Muslim. He would not let her travel alone, and he led her camel on foot the whole way. He never spoke to her. At each stop he made the camel kneel and turned his back while she got down, to protect her modesty. She slept under a tree while he slept by the camel. The journey took about two weeks. When the houses of Madinah came into view, he told her that her husband was there, and he let her go on alone.
Umm Salama would later become a wife of the Prophet ﷺ; Uthman ibn Talha's conduct on this journey is remembered as an example of noble character even before his conversion to Islam.
Other events recorded in 1 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
Wallahi, this will not be. I will take you to your husband in Yathrib.
Said to Umm Salama on finding her travelling alone toward Madinah at Tan'im.
For more than sixteen months, I would go to al-Bat'ha every day, crying, not able to do anything, until finally some of my cousins had sympathy for me and begged the elders of Banu Makhzum to let me go. So I went to my husband's tribe, and by then their tempers had calmed, and they gave me back my son. I took him and set out into the desert alone, trusting in Allah to get me to Madinah somehow. By the time I reached Tan'im, I met Uthman ibn Talha, who was not yet a Muslim; he saw me alone in that dangerous place and asked what I was doing, and when I told him I had no one and was going to my husband in Yathrib, he insisted on taking me to him. I don't think there is any more noble gentleman amongst all of the Arabs than Uthman ibn Talha. He walked on foot the entire way from Makkah to Madinah and let me ride his camel. He never said a word to me; when it was time to stop, he would make the camel kneel and turn his back to protect my modesty. When I got down, he would put me under a tree to sleep, and he would sleep by the camel. In the morning I would get back on, and we went on this way until finally I could see the houses of Yathrib, and he pointed and said my husband was there, and let me go on to him.
Recounted by Umm Salama years later, to the sahaba.