The Prophet Describes Himself

Ibn Ishaq said: Thawr ibn Yazid narrated to me, from a learned man—whom I believe to have been Khalid ibn Ma‘dan al-Kila‘i—that a group of the Messenger of Allah’s Companions said to him, “Messenger of Allah, tell us about yourself.” He replied: “Yes. I am the supplication of my father Abraham and the glad tidings of my brother Jesus. When my mother carried me, she saw a light emerge from her that illuminated for her the palaces of Syria. I was nursed among Banu Sa‘d ibn Bakr. While I was with a foster brother behind our homes, tending our small livestock, two men in white garments came to me carrying a golden basin filled with snow. They took me and opened my abdomen. They brought out my heart and opened it, removed a black clot and cast it away, then washed my heart and abdomen with that snow until they had purified them. One of them said to the other, ‘Weigh him against ten of his community.’ He weighed me against them, and I outweighed them. He then said, ‘Weigh him against a hundred,’ and then, ‘Weigh him against a thousand.’ Each time I outweighed them. Then he said, ‘Leave him.’”

Ibn Hisham’s note identifies Thawr ibn Yazid as al-Kila‘i, also called al-Rahabi, and Khalid ibn Ma‘dan as a scholar from Hims; it refers readers to biographical works for further details. The editor also records variant wording in the report and explains the light as a reference to the lands later opened to Islam. These are the editor’s notes, distinct from the transmitted report.