1- The Early Life of the
Apostle of Allah
It is recorded that when the mother of the apostle of
Allah became pregnant with him she had a vision, and a voice spoke to her,
saying, ‘Thou art pregnant with the prince of this nation. When he is
born on this earth, thou must say, “I place him under the protection of
the only One, from the wickedness of every envious person.” And thou
must name him Muhammad.’
While she was carrying the child in her womb she saw
a light issue from her which illuminated even the castles of Busra in
Syria
. And Abdullah b. Abdul‑Muttalib, the father of the apostle, died
while the child was yet unborn.
The apostle of Allah was born on a Monday, on the
thirteenth (lay of the month of Rabi in the year of the Elephant [c‑
570]* At the time of the apostle’s birth a Jew standing on the flat roof
of a house in Medina called forth the Jewish people and when they
assembled around him, saying, ‘Woe to you. What is the matter?’ he
told them ‘This night the star has risen, under which the apostle is
born.’
[*The year of an invasion by the Abyssinians, whose
army was made memorable in
Arabia
by having an elephant in its train.}
When his mother was delivered of the apostle of Allah
she sent the following message to his grandfather: ‘An infant is born to
you; come and see him.’ He came and she informed him of what she had
seen and heard during her pregnancy and the name she had been ordered to
give the child. It is said that his grandfather took the boy into the
Kaba [place of worship] and prayed to Allah and thanked Him for His gift;
then he brought him again to his mother. Soon he hired for the boy a
nurse, whose name was Halima.
Halima was the daughter of Abu Dhuayb of the Banu Sad
tribe. The tradition concerning her is that she went forth with her
husband and a little son whom she was suckling, with others of the women
of the Banu Sad who were in search of children to nurse. She relates:
‘In a year of dearth, when nothing was left us, I went forth on a
piebald she‑ass and we had with us a she‑camel which gave us
not one drop of milk. We could not sleep the whole night, because the
infant we had with us cried for hunger, there being nothing in my breasts
to satisfy him nor anything in our camel to nourish him. We were, however,
hoping for aid and deliverance; accordingly I continued the journey,
riding on my she‑ass which was so weak that it lagged behind and the
people complained.
‘At last, we arrived in
Mecca
to look for sucklings, and there was not a woman among us to whom the
apostle of Allah was not offered. They all refused to take charge of him
as soon as they were told that he was an orphan, because we expected
benefits from the father of an infant but did not like orphans, thinking
that a mother or a grandfather would do us but little good. Not a woman,
however, remained who had not obtained a suckling except myself. When we
assembled to depart, I said to my husband, “I am unwilling to return
with my companions and not take a suckling. I shall go to that orphan and
take it.” He replied, “Do so! Perhaps Allah will make it a blessing to
us.” Then I went and took him just because I could find no other child.
“After that, I took him to my arms and offered him
my breast he drank as much as he liked till he was satisfied, and his
‑brother did the same till he had enough. After that both of slept,
whereas before we could not sleep for our child wailing. Then my husband
approached our she‑camel, and lo! It was full. Accordingly I milked
it, and we both drank until we were satisfied and filled, so that we had a
good night. In the morning, my husband said, “By Allah, Halima, you have
brought a blessed soul.” I replied “This is just what I hope for.”
After that we departed. I mounted my she‑ass with the infant, but
the animal ran so fast that the other donkeys were not able to keep up
with it, and my companions asked, “0 daughter of Abu Dhuayb, is not this
the same donkey on which you came?” I replied, “Yes. It is the very
same”, and they exclaimed, “There is something the matter with it!”
When we arrived at our habitation in the country of the Banu Sad ‑
a more sterile land than which I do not know on the earth of Allah ‑
our sheep met me in the evening, filled with milk so that we had only to
milk and drink, whereas others could not milk a single drop. And those of
those of our people who were present said to their shepherds, “Woe toyou!
Pasture where the shepherd of the daughter of Abu Dhayb is pasturing.”
Nevertheless their sheep returned in the morning hungry, without a drop of
milk, and my sheep were filled with milk.
“In this manner we continued to receive from Allah
increase benefits for two years; then I weaned the boy and he had become
strong as no other boys had. We returned him to his mother, although we
were anxious that he should remain with us since we had seen the blessing
he brought. I asked his mother to leave him with us to grow fat, and told
her that I feared the climate and disease in
Mecca
might harm him. We did not cease to importune her until she allowed us to
take him back.
“It was not longer than a month after our return
that his milk-brother came running to me and his father, saying, “Two
men dressed in white garments have taken hold of my brother, and have
thrown him on the ground. They ripped open his belly, and are squeezing
him.” I and his foster‑father hastened out and found him standing
apparently unharmed but with his countenance quite altered. We
questioned him, and he said, “Two men dressed in white garments came to
me, who threw me down, opened my abdomen and searched in it for I know not
what.” We returned with him to our tent, and his foster‑father
said to me, “0 Halima! I fear something has happened to the boy.
Carry him to his family ere the injury becomes apparent!”
‘Accordingly, we took him back to his mother, who
asked, “What has brought you here, when you were so anxious that he
should remain with you?” I replied, “Allah has caused my son to grow
and I have done my duty, but I feared that something might befall him and
therefore I have brought him back to you as you desired.” She said,
“Such is not the case! Tell me the truth about it.” And she would not
let me alone until I had told her everything. Then she asked, “Are you
afraid that he is possessed by Satan?” and I replied, “Yes.” She
said, “No, by Allah! Satan has no access to him, because something great
is the matter with my son. Shall I tell you about it? While I was pregnant
with him, I saw a light issuing from me and, by Allah, I could not have
had a pregnancy which was easier or lighter than this. When he was born,
he placed his hands on the ground and raised his head to heaven. Do not
trouble yourself about him, and return home.” ‘
Later, the apostle of Allah himself described what
had happened. ‘Whilst I and my milk brother were pasturing some
animals in the rear of our house, two men came to us dressed in white
garments and bearing a golden platter full of snow. They took hold of me,
opened my belly, extracted my heart, split it open and took out of it a
black lump of blood which they threw away. Then they washed my heart and
belly with snow, until they had purified them. Then one of them said to
his companion, “Weigh him against one hundred of his people.” And he
weighed me with them, but I proved heavier than they. Then he said,
“Weigh him with one thousand of his people.” This he also did, and I
was again found more heavy. After that he said, “Leave him; for if you
were to weigh him against his whole nation, he would outweigh it.” ‘
Later, the apostle of Allah was in the habit of saying that there was not
a prophet who had not pastured sheep.
According to their
traditions, the people believe ‑ but Allah knows best ‑ that
when his nurse brought him back to
Mecca
, she lost him amongst the crowd while she was taking him to his
family. She searched, but could not find him again,
and she went his grandfather, Abdul‑Muttalib, and said, ‘I have
arrived this night with Muhammad, but while I was in the upper part of the
city he strayed from me, and I know not where he is.’ The grandfather of
Muhammad stood up near the Kaba and prayed to Allah to restore the boy,
and it is believed that he was found by two men of his own tribe who
brought him to Abdul‑Muttalib with the words, ‘Here is your son.
We found him in the upper of
Mecca
.’ Then his grandfather took him and, making him ride on his back,
walked round the Kaba, recommending him to Allah and praying for him.
After that he sent him to his mother, Amina.
The apostle of Allah and his mother and his
grandfather were under the protection and keeping of Allah, and the boy
grew a prosperous plant on account of the grace for which He had
predestined him. When the apostle had attained his sixth year his mother
Amina died in the place called Abwa, between
Mecca
and
Medina
, when she was returning to
Mecca
with him from a visit to his uncles. The apostle of Allah remained with
his grandfather, Abdul‑Muttalib.
It was usual to place a bed for Abdul‑Muttalib
in the shade of the Kaba, around which his sons sat until he arrived; none
of his sons ventured to sit on the bed, from respect towards him. Once the
apostle of Allah, who was a plump boy, came and sat on it, and they pushed
him away. When Abdul‑Muttalib saw this, he said, ‘Let my son
alone! By Allah, he will become something great.’ Then he made the boy
sit down by his side on the bed, and allowed him to stroke his back with
his hands, and whatever he did pleased Abdul‑Muttalib. But when the
apostle of Allah had attained his eighth year his grandfather died.
AbduI‑Muttalib had been the acknowledged leader
of the Quraysh tribe, guardians of the holy city of
Mecca
. When he died none of his many sons was influential enough to succeed him
and leadership and influence began to pass to the descendants of his
cousin, Umayya, who had long been envious of the power wielded by
Abdul‑Muttalib.
After the death of his grandfather, the apostle of
Allah lived with his uncle Abu Talib, to whose care Abdul‑Muttalib
is believed to have entrusted him because Abu Talib and the father of the
apostle were brothers by the same father and mother.
A soothsayer came once to Mecca
to prophesy to the Quraysh and they brought their sons to him to hear his
prophecies. Abu Talib visited this man, who looked at the apostle of
Allah, but was then diverted from him. When the soothsayer was again at
leisure, he asked for the boy and wanted to see him; but when Abu Talib
perceived the man’s anxiety he took his nephew away. The soothsayer
exclaimed, ‘Woe to you! Bring back the boy whom I have just seen; for,
by Allah, he will have high dignity.’ But Abu Talib would not return.
On another occasion Abu Talib went with a caravan on
a trading journey to Syria. When he was about to depart the apostle of Allah clung to him, and it is
believed that Abu Talib was so touched by this that he exclaimed, ‘By
Allah! I shall take him with me, and we shall never be separated from each
other.’ Accordingly he took the boy with him.
Now, at Busra, in
Syria
, there was a monk named Bahira who was of the Christian faith. He had
always lived in the same hermitage, which possessed a book ‑ for the
instruction of the monks ‑ which was passed down and was always kept
by the oldest among them. When the caravan encamped in the vicinity of
Bahira’s hermitage ‑ and they had previously often passed by
without his speaking or presenting himself to them ‑ he prepared a
great deal of food for them, reputedly because of something he had seen
whilst in his cell. It was said that, from his hermitage, he had seen the
apostle of Allah in the caravan, and that as the caravan approached a
cloud hung over the apostle of Allah. When the caravan arrived the people
halted under a tree near the cell of the hermit, and he saw the cloud
overshadow the tree, and the branches bent themselves over the apostle of
Allah so protect him. When Bahira saw this he came down from his cell and
ordered food to be prepared. When it was ready he sent the following
message to the people of the caravan, ‘I have made a dinner for you, o
ye Quraysh people. I should like you all to come, the small and the big,
the bondmen and the free! One man among them replied, ‘By Allah, Bahira!
There is something the matter with you today, because you have not acted
thus with us before, though we passed often near you! What is the matter
with you now? Bahira replied, ‘You have spoken the truth. But you are
guests and I should like to honour you, and give a dinner to all of
you.’ Accordingly they all assembled, but the apostle of Allah remained
under the tree, because of his extreme youth, with the baggage of the
people. When Bahira looked around and missed him, he said, ‘O, ye
Quraysh people! Leave no one of you behind, deprived of my food.’ They
replied, ‘No one who ought to come has remained behind, except a boy,
and he is the youngest of the people and therefore has been left with our
baggage.’ Bahira said, ‘Do not treat him in this way, but call him to
dine with you,’ and one of the Quraysh exclaimed, ‘I swear by al-.Lat
and by al‑Uzza that we are at fault for excluding the son of
Abdullah from partaking with us of this dinner!” Then he went to him,
brought him in his arms, and seated him among the people. When Bahira saw
him he scrutinized him closely and examined him to find the signs lie
sought.
When the people had finished eating and dispersed
Bahira addressed the apostle of Allah as follows, ‘I adjure you by
al‑Lat at‑Uzza; answer the questions I shall ask.’ (Bahira
used these words because he had heard the Quraysh swearing by these two
idols.) It is said that the apostle of Allah replied, ‘Do
not ask me by a]‑Lat and by al‑Uzza; for, by Allah, I have
never hated anything more intensely than these two.’ Bahira continued, I
adjure you by Allah to answer what I shall ask’, and the apostle of
Allah said, ‘Ask me what thou wilt.’ Accordingly he put to him various
questions about his state during sleep, and his condition and
circumstances, to which the apostle of Allah gave replies which agreed
with what Bahira expected of him. Then Bahira looked on his back and
discovered the seal of prophecy between his shoulders.
After he had examined the boy, Bahira went to Abu
Talib and asked, ‘What is this boy to you?’ He replied, ‘My son!
Bahira rejoined, ‘He is not your son, nor is there any need for this boy
to have a father living.’ Abu Talib said, ‘He is the son of my
brother’, and Bahira asked, ‘What has become of his father?’ When
Abu Talib replied, ‘He died whilst the boy’s mother was pregnant with
him’, Bahira said, ‘You have spoken the truth. Return with your nephew
to his country, and guard him from the Jews; for, by Allah, if they see
him and know about him what I know, they will try to injure him, because
something very great will happen to this nephew of yours. Therefore make
haste to return with him to his country.’ Accordingly his uncle departed
quickly with the apostle of Allah and took him to
Mecca
as soon as he had finished his trading in
Syria.
According to the legend current among the people,
three Christians or Jews named Zurayr, Tammam, and Daris, had the same
information about the apostle of Allah as Bahira had. When they saw the
boy during this same journey with his uncle Abu Talib, and contemplated
doing him some harm, Bahira warned them against it and reminded them of
God and of the description they would find in the scriptures; he said,
too, that even if they persisted in their intention they could not carry
it out. At last they understood and believed what he said, and they
departed.
The apostle of Allah grew ‑ Allah protecting,
keeping and guarding him from the abominations of idolatry, having predestined
him to become His apostle and the recipient of His grace ‑ till he
became the most excellent man of his people, the most agreeable in
behaviour, the most noble in descent, the finest in neighbourly feeling,
the greatest in meekness, and the most truthful in utterance; the greatest
in fidelity, the furthest from wickedness and from acts which pollute; so
exalted and noble that he was called among his people ‘the faithful’,
because of the good qualities Allah had bestowed upon him.
The apostle of Allah later told how Allah had
preserved him in his childhood and state of innocence, saying, ‘I was
among Quraysh boys and we were carrying stones for some play. We were all
naked, and every boy had placed his ezar [loincloth] around his
neck to carry stones in it, and I had done the same. When I was thus
moving about, some Being whom I did see struck me a fearful blow and
exclaimed, “Bind on thy ezar “; accordinglyl I girded myself
therewith, and thus carried the stones on my neck, I being the only one
among my companions who wore his ezar.’
The War of the Wicked broke out when the apostle of
Allah was twenty years old, and it was called Wicked because during the
sacred month two tribes, the Kinana and the Qays Aylan, considered it
right to do what was not right at such a time. The Quraysh, after the
sacred month, went to the aid of their allies, the Kinana. The apostle of
Allah was taken out by his uncles during one battle to witness the fight,
and he afterwards said, “I was arrowing to my uncles, that is to say, I
brought them the arrows, which the enemies had shot against them.’
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