Prophecies of Prophethood
Abu Na'im al-Asbahani narrated in the Signs of Prophethood from his chain of transmission from Abu Suwayyah bin Khalifah who said: I asked Muhammad bin Adi bin Rabi'ah bin Su'awah bin Jashm bin Sa'd, 'How did your father name you Muhammad?' He laughed, then said: My father Adi bin Rabi'ah told me, 'I went out with Sufyan bin Mujashi, and Yazid bin Umar bin Rabi'ah, and Usamah bin Malik, intending to find Ibn Jifnah. When we got close to him, we descended to some trees and a pond, and said: Let us wash and clean our clothes here from the roughness of travel. So we started talking, when a monk appeared to us from his watchtower, saying: I hear the language of a people that is not the language of the people of this land. We said: We are a people from Mudar. He asked: From which Mudar? We said: From Khindaf. He said: (A prophet will soon be sent from among you, so take your share of him and you will be happy). We said: What is his name? He said: Muhammad. So we went to Ibn Jifnah, fulfilled our need, and then left, and each of us had a son who was named Muhammad, and this name continued to be used for generations.
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Another indication is the news brought by the Jews of Medina about the imminent arrival of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. Ibn Ishaq narrated in the biography with his chain from Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatada from men of his tribe, saying: Among the things that led us to Islam, with the mercy of Allah Almighty and His guidance for us, was when we used to hear from the Jewish men, while we were polytheists and idol worshippers, and they were people of the Book, possessing knowledge that we did not have. There were always hostilities between us and them, and whenever we took from them something they despised, they would say to us: 'The time of a prophet who is to be sent is near, we will kill you with him as 'Aad and Iram were killed.' We often heard this from them until when Allah sent His Messenger, peace be upon him, we responded to him and believed in him, while they disbelieved in him. So upon us were revealed these verses from Al-Baqarah: (And when there came to them a Book from Allah confirming what was with them, although they had previously invoked Allah to send them a messenger, and when there came to them what they recognized, they disbelieved in it; so the curse of Allah is upon the disbelievers) Al-Baqarah: 89.
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Another account is what Ibn Ishaq narrated from Salama ibn Salama ibn Waqsh - who was among the companions of Badr - who said: We had a neighbor from the Jews in Banu Abdul Ashhal. He said: One day he came out to us from his house and stood on Banu Abdul Ashhal - Salama said: I was then one of the youngest among them, lying on my shawl in the courtyard of my family - he mentioned the Day of Resurrection, resurrection, reckoning, the scales, paradise, and hell. He said this to a people who were polytheists and idol worshippers, who did not believe that a resurrection would happen after death. They said to him: 'Woe to you, O so-and-so! Do you see this happening? That people will be resurrected after their death to a home containing paradise and hell where they will be rewarded for their deeds?' He said: 'Yes, by the One whom they swear by! I wish I had a share of that fire, the greatest furnace in the house, that they would heat and then put me into it, so that I might escape that fire tomorrow.' They said: 'Woe to you, O so-and-so! What is the sign of that?' He said: 'A prophet will be sent from this region,' and he pointed with his hand toward Mecca and Yemen. They said: 'When will you see him?' He looked at me, and I was among the youngest of them, and he said: 'If this boy lives long enough, he will see him.' Salama said: 'By Allah, the night and day did not pass until Allah sent Muhammad as His Messenger, peace be upon him, while he was alive among us, and we believed in him, and they disbelieved out of envy and hatred.' He said: 'We said to him: Woe to you, so-and-so! Are you not the one who told us what you told us?' He said: 'Yes, but it is not as it is.'
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- Among those things that happened on the night of his birth, was the rising of his star that indicates his birth, peace be upon him, and with it the Jews knew that he was born.
Ibn Ishaq narrated with his chain from Hassan ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: 'By Allah, I was a young boy, seven or eight years old, and I understood everything I heard when I heard a Jew shouting at the top of his voice: 'O assembly of Jews!' When they gathered around him, they said to him: 'Woe to you! What is wrong with you?' He said: 'The star of Ahmad, by which he was born, has risen.'
Ibn Ishaq said: I asked Said ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Hassan ibn Thabit, I said: How old was Hassan ibn Thabit when the Messenger of Allah - peace be upon him - arrived in Medina? He said: Sixty, and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, arrived when he was fifty-three years old, and Hassan heard what he heard when he was seven years old.
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Among the significant stories in this matter is the story of Bahira the monk and his encounter with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, when he saw him as a young boy with his uncle Abu Talib on his journey to the Levant. Ibn Ishaq said: Then Abu Talib went on a trading caravan to the Levant, and when he prepared to depart and decided to set off, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, joined him - as they claim - Abu Talib was moved for him and said, 'By Allah, I will take him with me, and he will not part from me, nor will I part from him ever,' or as he said.
He took him with him, and when the caravan reached Bostra in the land of the Levant, there was a monk named Bahira in his hermitage, and he was knowledgeable in the Christian faith. He had been in that hermitage since he was a monk, and they claim that he inherited his knowledge from a book that they have been passing down for generations. When they arrived that year at Bahira, they had often passed by him before without him addressing them or showing interest in them until that year. When they came close to his hermitage, he prepared for them a large feast, and they claim that he saw something while he was in his hermitage that led him to believe that he saw the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, approaching with a cloud shading him from among the people.
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Then they came and settled in the shade of a tree near him. He looked at the cloud when it shaded the tree, and the branches of the tree bent toward the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, until he was shaded under it.
When Bahira saw this, he descended from his hermitage and sent for them, saying: 'I have prepared for you food, O Quraysh, and I would like all of you to attend, young and old, free and slave.' A man among them said: 'By Allah, O Bahira, you have something today; why did you not do this for us before, as we often passed by you?' Bahira replied: 'You are right; it was as you said, but you are guests, and I wanted to honor you and prepare food for you all to eat.' They gathered around him, and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, stayed behind among the people because of his young age, under the tree.
When Bahira looked at the people, he did not see the description he recognized, so he said: 'O Quraysh, let none of you stay behind from my food.' They replied: 'O Bahira, none has stayed behind from you except a boy who is the youngest among us.' He stayed behind in their belongings, so he said: 'Do not do that; call him so he may join you for this food.'
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A man from Bahira said: 'By Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, it would be shameful for the son of Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib to stay behind from the food.' Then he approached him and embraced him, seating him with the people. When Bahira saw him, he kept looking at him intently and observed certain features of his body that he found in the description he had. When the people finished their meal and dispersed, Bahira approached him and said: 'O boy, I ask you by Al-Lat and Al-Uzza to tell me what I ask you.' Bahira said this because he heard his people swear by them, and they claimed that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said to him: 'Do not ask me by Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, for by Allah, I have never hated anything as much as I hate them.' Bahira then said: 'By Allah, tell me what I ask you.' He replied: 'Ask me whatever you wish.' He began asking him about various aspects of his life, his sleeping, his appearance, and his affairs. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, informed him, and it matched what Bahira had in his description. Then he looked at his back and saw the seal of prophethood between his shoulders, in accordance with the description he had. When he finished, he turned to his uncle Abu Talib and said: 'What is this boy to you?' He said: 'My son.' Bahira said: 'He is not your son, and this boy's father should not be alive.' He said: 'He is my nephew.' Bahira asked: 'What happened to his father?' He said: 'He died, and his mother was pregnant with him.' Bahira said: 'You have spoken the truth; take your nephew back to his homeland and beware of the Jews, for by Allah, if they see him and recognize what I recognized from him, they will bring him harm. A great matter is destined for this nephew of yours, so hasten him back to his land.'