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Chapter 7: The Prophet’s ﷺ journey with his uncle Abu Ṭaalib to al-<br />
Shaam and the encounter with Baḥeerah the monk<br />
<strong>Al</strong>-Ḥaafiẓh Abu Bakr al-Kharaa’iṭee reported from the route of Younus Ibn Abee Is-ḥaaq,<br />
from Abu Bakr Ibn Abee Moosaa that his father said:<br />
“Abu Ṭaalib departed to al-Shaam along with the Prophet ,ﷺ and a number of elders<br />
of Quraish. When they came across the monk – i.e. Baḥeerah 38 – they stopped there<br />
and began setting up their camp, and the monk came out to them. Before that, they<br />
used to pass by him and he wouldn’t come out nor pay attention to them.” He (Abu<br />
Moosaa) said: “When they were setting up their camp, the monk walked amidst them<br />
until he came and took the hand of the Messenger of <strong>Al</strong>laah .ﷺ Then he said: ‘This is<br />
the master of all mankind and Jinn; this is the Messenger of the Lord of the worlds.<br />
<strong>Al</strong>laah will raise him as a mercy to the mankind and Jinn.’ So, some of the elders of<br />
Quraish said: ‘What is it you know?’ He said: ‘When you people came along from the<br />
mountain road, not a rock or a tree was left, except that it prostrated, and they do not<br />
prostrate except for a Prophet. And I can recognize him by the seal of the Prophethood<br />
which is below his shoulder blade.’ Then he went back and prepared some food for<br />
them, and when he brought it to them, he [the Prophet [(ﷺ) was tending to the<br />
camels. So he said: ‘Send for him.’ So he came, and there was a cloud over him that was<br />
ﷺ shading him. He (the monk) said: ‘Look how the cloud is shading him.’ So, when he<br />
came close to the people, he ﷺ found that they had beaten him to the tree’s shade.<br />
So when he ﷺ sat down, the shade of the tree leaned towards him. He (the monk)<br />
said: ‘Look at how the shade of the tree moved over him.’” He (Abu Moosaa) said: “So<br />
while he was standing over them, telling them not to take him to Byzantine with him -<br />
because if the Romans were to see him, they would recognize him by his description,<br />
and they would kill him - he turned, and there were seven people who had come from<br />
Rome. So he faced them and said: ‘What brought you here?’ They said: ‘We came<br />
because this Prophet is going to appear during this month, and there isn’t a road left<br />
except that people have been sent to it, and the information we had of him brought us<br />
38 [TN: Shaikh al-<strong>Al</strong>baanee said in “Defense of the Prophetic narrations” pg. 69 (Arabic): “The name of the monk<br />
has not been mentioned in any of the authentic narrations. The name “Baḥeerah” was mentioned in some of the<br />
extremely weak narrations. In one of these chains is al-Waaqidee, who is a (known) liar; and the other is which<br />
Muḥammad Ibn Is-ḥaaq, the author of “al-<strong>Seerah</strong>” reported without a chain. These are the two narrations which<br />
many of the historians relied on, who referred to the monk with the name “Baḥeerah”. So their conclusion is not<br />
considered since the authentic narration is in opposition to it. Moreover, other historians like al-Mas`oodee are of<br />
the opinion that his name was “Jarjis”.]<br />
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