Return from Abyssinia

There is mention of their return from Abyssinia as well. Ibn Ishaq states that word reached the Companions (ra) of the Holy Prophet (sa) who migrated to Abyssinia that the people of Mecca had accepted Islam. Thereupon, these migrants made their way back from Abyssinia to Mecca. As they were approaching Mecca, they realised that this news was false and so they entered Mecca covertly or by coming under the protection of another.

Some among them also migrated to Medina and participated in the battles of Badr and Uhud alongside the Holy Prophet (sa), whilst others among them are those who were detained in Mecca by the idolaters and were therefore unable to participate in the Battle of Badr and other battles. Among those who migrated to Medina having returned from Abyssinia were Hazrat Uthman (ra) and his wife Hazrat Ruqayyah (ra), daughter of the Holy Prophet (sa).

(Ibn Hisham, Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2001], pp. 265-266)

In one book, it is mentioned that Hazrat Uthman (ra) remained in Abyssinia for a few years. Thereafter, he was among those Companions (ra) who returned to their homeland having received the false news of the Quraish accepting Islam.

Once they reached there, they realised that this was nothing but a rumour and upon this, some of them returned to Abyssinia, yet Hazrat Uthman (ra) remained in Mecca until he had the means to migrate to Medina. When the Holy Prophet (sa) instructed all of his Companions (ra) to migrate to Medina, Hazrat Uthman (ra) also undertook the migration along with his family.

(Sheikh Shah Moinuddin Ahmad Nadvi, Siyar al-Sahabah, Vol. 1 [Lahore, Pakistan: Idarah Islamiyyat Anar Kali, 2004], p. 178)