The Story of Bahira

Ibn Ishaq said: Abu Talib then set out with a trading caravan for Syria. When he prepared to depart and resolved to travel, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, clung to him, as people relate. Abu Talib felt compassion for him and said, “By Allah, I will take him with me. He shall never be separated from me, nor shall I ever be separated from him,” or words to that effect. He took him along. When the caravan stopped at Busra in the land of Syria… The account continues on the next printed page.

[1] A ‘a’if is someone who studies a person’s appearance and claims to foretell what will happen to him. [2] The name Bahira is pronounced with an initial bā’, a kasrah under ḥā’, a still yā’, and a shortened final vowel; another report lengthens it. He is identified as Jirjis, also called Sarjis. Some say he was a Jewish scholar from Tayma’; others say he was a Christian from ‘Abd al-Qays, which is the view Ibn Ishaq follows here. A report says that shortly before Islam a voice called out: “The best people on earth are three: Bahira, Ribab al-Shani, and the awaited third.” The third was the Messenger of Allah. See al-Ma‘arif, Muruj al-Dhahab, al-Isabah, al-Rawd al-Unuf, and Sharh al-Mawahib. [3] The manuscripts and al-Tabari read “he inclined toward him”; another reading means “he clung to him,” and a further variant means “he held fast to him.” [4] Reports differ on the Messenger’s age on this journey: nine, twelve, or another age. See al-Tabari, Sharh al-Mawahib, and al-Rawd al-Unuf. [5] Busra is a city in the Hauran region. It was the first city in Syria conquered by treaty, in 13 AH. The Messenger is said to have visited it twice. See Sharh al-Mawahib.

With them was a monk called Bahira in his hermitage. He possessed knowledge of the Christians, and, they say, no monk had ever remained in that hermitage before him; their learning came to him through a book kept there and passed down from one generation to another. The caravan had often passed him before, but he had never spoken to them or approached them until that year. When they stopped near his hermitage, he prepared a great quantity of food for them. People say that, while in his hermitage, he had seen something: he saw the Messenger of Allah in the approaching caravan, shaded by a cloud apart from the others. The people then came and stopped beneath a nearby tree. Bahira saw the cloud shade the tree, whose branches bent down over the Messenger until he sat in its shade. When Bahira saw this, he came down from his hermitage and sent word to them: “I have prepared food for you, O people of Quraysh. I would like every one of you to attend, young and old, slave and free.” One of them said, “By Allah, Bahira, something is unusual about you today. You never used to do this for us, though we have passed by you often. What is different today?” Bahira replied, “You are right; that is how it was. But you are guests, and I wanted to honor you and prepare food for you all to eat.” They gathered to him, but the Messenger of Allah stayed behind with the caravan’s baggage beneath the tree because he was the youngest. When Bahira looked over the people, he did not see the description he knew and had in mind. He said, “O Quraysh, let none of you stay away from my meal.” They replied, “Bahira, no one who should have come stayed behind except a boy, the youngest of us; he remained with our baggage.” Bahira said, “Do not do that. Call him so that he may join you at this meal.” A Qurayshi man said, “By al-Lat and al-‘Uzza, it would be a disgrace among us if the son of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib were left away from a meal…” The sentence continues on printed page 182.

[1] Qatt means “ever” or “at any time.” [2] Tahassarat means that the branches leaned and drooped; one says “I bent the branch toward me” when drawing it down. [3] Al-Tabari has “he came down from his hermitage, had food prepared, then sent for them”; the manuscripts give another wording. [4] Sharh al-Mawahib and recension A read “so that you all may eat”; other copies have a different form, which the editor calls a corruption.

…among us,” then the man went to him, embraced him, and seated him with the group. When Bahira saw him, he examined him intently, looking at features of his body that matched the description he knew. After the people had finished eating and dispersed, Bahira approached him and said, “Boy, I adjure you by al-Lat and al-‘Uzza to tell me what I ask you.” Bahira said this because he had heard the people swear by those two idols. They relate that the Messenger of Allah replied, “Do not ask me by al-Lat and al-‘Uzza. By Allah, I have never hated anything as much as I hate them.” Bahira said, “Then, by Allah, tell me what I ask you.” He replied, “Ask me whatever you wish.” Bahira asked him about his sleep, appearance, and other matters. The Messenger answered him, and each answer matched the description Bahira had. Bahira then looked at his back and saw the Seal of Prophethood between his shoulders, in the place described in the account. Ibn Hisham said: It was like the mark left by cupping. Ibn Ishaq said: When Bahira had finished, he turned to Abu Talib and asked, “What is this boy to you?” He replied, “My son.” Bahira said, “He is not your son, and this boy’s father should not be alive.” Abu Talib said, “He is my brother’s son.” Bahira asked, “What happened to his father?” Abu Talib replied, “He died while his mother was pregnant with him.” Bahira said, “You have spoken truly. Take your brother’s son back to his homeland and guard him from the Jews. By Allah, if they see him and recognize what I have recognized, they will seek to harm him. Your brother’s son will have a great destiny. Take him back to his country quickly.”

[1] Ihtadanahu means he took him from beside him and embraced him. [2] These words are additions found in recension A. [3] It is also said that Bahira asked him by al-Lat and al-‘Uzza as a test; the editor considers this preferable to Ibn Ishaq’s explanation. See al-Shifa’ and Sharh al-Mawahib al-Laduniyyah. [4] The Seal is so called because it was among the signs by which scholars of earlier scriptures recognized him. See Sharh al-Mawahib. [5] Al-miḥjam is the instrument used for cupping; the mark resembles flesh raised by the cup. Another report describes it as a birthmark surrounded by dark hairs, like an apple or a dove’s egg, near the cartilage of his left shoulder. See Sharh al-Mawahib and al-Rawd al-Unuf. [6] Al-Tabari and Sharh al-Mawahib read “they would surely seek to harm him”; other copies have a variant the editor considers corrupt.

His uncle Abu Talib quickly took him back and brought him to Makkah as soon as his trade in Syria was finished. People relate that Zareer, Tammam, and Daris, a group from the People of the Book, had seen in the Messenger of Allah signs like those Bahira saw during that journey with Abu Talib. They wanted to take him, but Bahira turned them away, reminding them of Allah and of the descriptions of him they found in scripture. He warned that, if they persisted in what they intended, they would not reach him. He continued speaking until they understood and accepted what he said, then they left him and went away.

The Messenger of Allah grew up while Allah Most High watched over him, protected him, and kept him away from the impurities of the pre-Islamic age, in preparation for the honor and message intended for him. He grew to manhood and became the finest of his people in manliness, character, nobility, hospitality, forbearance, truthfulness, and trustworthiness. He was the farthest of them from indecency and from traits that stain a man, out of purity and nobility, until among his people he was known only as al-Amin, “the Trustworthy,” because Allah had gathered within him every good quality.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to speak—as I was told—about how Allah protected him in his childhood and during the pre-Islamic period. He said: “I remember being among Qurayshi boys, carrying stones for one of the games boys played. We had all taken off our clothes, each one placing his garment around his neck to carry stones on it. I was going back and forth with them like that when someone I could not see struck me painfully and said, ‘Tie your garment around yourself.’ I took it and fastened it around me, then continued carrying stones on my neck with my garment on, unlike my companions.”

Al-Suhayli comments that this story is reported in an authenticated hadith in connection with the rebuilding of the Ka‘bah. The Messenger of Allah was carrying stones with his people, who placed their garments over their shoulders to protect them from the stones. He carried stones on his shoulder with his garment fastened around him. Al-‘Abbas said, “Son of my brother, put your garment on your shoulder.” When he did so, he fell unconscious. Then he said, “My garment, my garment,” fastened it around himself, and resumed carrying the stones.