Khadijah’s Conversation with Waraqah and His Prophecy

Ibn Ishaq said: Khadijah bint Khuwaylid told her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal ibn Asad ibn Abd al-‘Uzza—who was a Christian, had studied scriptures, and had acquired knowledge from people—what her servant Maysarah had reported about the monk and what he had seen when two angels shaded the Messenger. Waraqah said, “If this is true, Khadijah, Muhammad is the prophet of this community. I have known that a prophet awaited for this community would come; this is his time,” or words to that effect. Waraqah began to long for the matter to unfold and said: I have persisted, relentless in remembrance, under a grief that has long stirred sobbing; one description from Khadijah follows another— my waiting has grown long, O Khadijah. In the midst of the two Makkahs, I keep hoping for your account that I may see his emergence.

[1] See the notes numbered 2 and 3 on page 7 of this volume. [2] Waraqah’s mother was Hind bint Abi Kabir ibn ‘Abd ibn Qusayy. Waraqah left no descendants and was among those who believed in the Prophet before the mission. See al-Rawd al-Unuf. [3] This is an addition from recension A. [4] Nashij is sobbing accompanied by sound. [5] Makkah is expressed in the dual, although it is one town, because it has low-lying and elevated districts, or to indicate its two sides. Arabs use similar dual forms; the editor cites examples in poetry. [6] The pronoun in “of it” refers to the report, and the preposition is governed by “emergence.”

From what you have told us of Quss, the monk, I fear I may not live to see it: Muhammad will become a leader among us and overcome whoever contends with him; a light will appear throughout the lands, setting all creation in motion. Whoever fights him will meet with loss, while whoever makes peace with him will prosper. Would that I live to see that day and be among the first to enter; to enter what Quraysh have hated, even if all Makkah cries aloud. I hope in the Lord of the Throne that when they fall, they will rise to Him. Is lowliness anything but disbelief in the One who chooses from the heights of the constellations? If they live and I remain, events will come that make the unbelievers cry aloud; if I die, every young man will meet the ruinous and shifting decrees of fate.

[1] Tamuj means to surge or stir. [2] Fuluuj means prevailing over an opponent. [3] Recension A reads “so that I may be among most of them”; other copies read “the first among them.” [4] ‘Ajjat means that voices rose loudly. [5] ‘Uruj means ascent. [6] Mutlifah means destructive; huruj describes diverse and shifting turns of fate. The editor cites another poem by Waraqah on this theme.