Page "Shekhinah" Paragraph 43

According to Sunni traditions, when Muhammad was persecuted in Mecca and the time came for him to emigrate to Madinah ( Medina ), he took temporary refuge with his companion Abu Bakr in the cave of Thawr.

Seeking to be hidden from the Makkans who were looking for him, it was at Thawr where God brought down His sakina over them, protecting them from their enemies.

According to Sufism, it was at Thawr that Abu Bakr was blessed with divine secrets whose transmission from him to the latter generations formed the Naqshbandi path of Sufism.

It was this experience that led the second Caliph Umar to say that all the good Umar did cannot stand as an equivalent to Abu Bakr's sole virtue of companionship with Muhammad at the Thawr cave.