Part 18

2) Despite the above-mentioned natural inclinations and desires, Allah 3¢ protected the Prophet #% from all forms of evil and from anything that was not in harmony with the message for which he # was being prepared.

Buhairah The Monk Meets With The Messenger Of Allah 2

Abu Taalib would often travel to Ash-Sham (Syria and surrounding regions) and elsewhere for business purposes. On one such journey, he took the Prophet #% along with him; also accompanying them were Makkah’s chieftains. When their caravan overlooked the monastery of the monk Buhairah, they made camp and began to unload some of their supplies. Meanwhile, to their surprise, Buhairah was coming out to meet them. What was so surprising was that, though they had frequently stopped beside his monastery on previous business trips, he would never come out to meet them or even pay any attention to them at all.

As they were removing some of their things, Buhairah began to

(I Saheeh As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah by Ibraaheem Al-‘Alee (pg. 57).

walk among them, until he reached the Messenger of Allah 2%, when he stopped, took the Messenger #¢ by the hand, and exclaimed, “This is the chief of ‘Alaameen (i.e., mankind, jinns, etc.). This is the Messenger of the Lord of all that exists. Allah will send him as a (form of) mercy to all that exists.” The chieftains of the Quraish said, “And what makes you know this?” He said, “When you overlooked (this place), as you were arriving from ‘Aqaba, every single tree and stone (in the area) fell down in prostration, and they do not perform prostration for anyone save a Prophet. And indeed, I know him from the seal of Prophethood that resembles an apple (in shape) and that is located below his shoulder blade.”

He returned to his monastery for a while in order to prepare food for them. When he returned with the food, the Messenger of Allah #2 was busy watching over their camels. Buhairah requested that they call him to join them in their meal. He came to them, and there was a cloud above him giving him shade. When he arrived, he found that everyone else had beaten him to the shade of the tree; nonetheless, when he sat down, the shade moved towards him and covered him. Seeing this, Buhairah said, “Look! The shade of the tree has moved to cover him.”

Buhairah told Abu Taalib and the other chieftains that they should return with the Prophet #% to their homeland; he particularly pleaded with them not to take him to the lands of the Romans, for if the Romans were to know about him and were to see the signs of his Prophethood, they would certainly kill him. As he was explaining this to them, he turned around and saw seven Romans approaching. He went to them and asked them what they wanted. They said, “News has reached us that the (awaited) Prophet is coming out during this month. Every road has been blocked with guards, and we were sent to watch over this road.” Buhairah said to them, “Suppose Allah wants a matter to be fulfilled; can any person prevent that from happening?” They said, “No.” He said, “Then pledge allegiance to him.” They then joined the chieftains of the Quraish and did no harm to the

Prophet #%. But by this point, Buhairah was becoming very worried; he had managed to convince these guards to leave the Prophet #% alone, but there was no telling whether more guards were on the way or whether the Prophet # would be identified at a Roman checkpoint. And so he said to the chieftains of the Quraish, “T insist that you tell me who his guardian is.” They said, “Abu Taalib is his guardian.” Buhairah then continued to plead with Abu Taalib until the latter finally took his advice to heart and sent the Prophet #% back home to Makkah."

The story of Buhairah provides us with many insights into the life of the Prophet 2%.

First, we learn that not all priests and rabbis distorted their revealed books. There were some among them, albeit very few in number, who were sincere and truthful, and who openly acknowledged that Muhammad #% was indeed a Messenger to all of mankind; they knew this from the signs and descriptions that they found in their revealed books.

Second, by the command of Allah 3%, inanimate objects would honour the Prophet #%, a fact that is established in various narrations. Some narrations describe how a particular stone would greet the Prophet #%; one particular narration describes how a tree wept when the Prophet #% stopped delivering sermons beside it; and the above-mentioned narration describes how trees and stones performed prostration to the Prophet # as a way of honouring him.

Third, as precocious as he was by inherent nature, the Prophet # also benefited from accompanying his uncle on business trips, particularly when Quraish’s chieftains also accompanied them. During such journeys, the Prophet # benefited from the experiences and knowledge of wise men from both the Quraish and foreign tribes.

Fourth, Buhairah knew that if the Romans found out about the Prophet 2, they would kill him. This was significant because, at

" Refer to Saheeh As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah (pgs. 58, 59).

the time, the Roman Empire extended into the lands of the Arabs, particularly Ash-Sham (Syria and surroundings regions). And so the Romans knew that the awaited Messenger, who was to come from the Arabs, would bring an end to their imperial control over the region. Since the Prophet # was a threat to the interests of their empire, Romans both feared him and ardently desired to first find him and then kill him.

The Fijaar war pitted the Quraish, along with their allies from the Kinaanah tribe, against the Hawaazin tribe. Like most Arab wars that were fought during the pre Islamic days of ignorance, the Fijaar War began with a trifling dispute and escalated into an all out war. A man named Urwah Ar-Rabhaal ibn ‘Utbah ibn Hawaazin granted his protection to No’maan ibn Al-Mundhir and his trading caravan, which was travelling to the marketplace of Ukaadh. Al-Barraadh ibn Qais ibn Kinaanah said to Urwah, “Will you protect him against the Kinaanah tribe?” Urwah said, “Yes, and for that matter, I will protect him against all of mankind.” When Urwah set out with No’maan and his trading caravan, Al-Barraadh followed close behind, waiting for an opportune moment to ambush Urwah and kill him by surprise. Al-Barraadh’s tribe, the Kinaanah, found out about what was happening, and so they too followed in close pursuit, hoping to take their stronger adversaries from the Hawaazin tribe by surprise. When Urwah and the Hawaazin found out that they were being followed, they turned around and headed towards the Kinaanah tribe, now becoming the hunters instead of the hunted. They overtook the Kinaanah tribe before they were able to enter the inviolable city of Makkah, and the two tribes fought until nightfall, at which time the members of the Kinaanah tribe were able to enter Makkah. Since Arabs considered Makkah to be holy, the Hawaazin tribe did not pursue their enemy. But on the following day, the fighting began anew, except that this time around, the Quraish entered into the fray, lending their support to

the Kinaanah tribe. In the battles that ensued, the Messenger of Allah 8 participated alongside the Quraish, albeit playing a very minor role. The word Fijaar means wickedness. The reason why the war was given this name is that the inviolability of Makkah was being defiled, and Arabs considered any defilement of Makkah’s sanctity to be a wicked and heinous crime. When he mentioned the war later on his life, the Prophet said, “I used to hand arrows to my uncles.” What this means is that the Prophet #3 would pick up stray arrows fired by the enemies and hand them to his uncles." At the time, the Prophet #% was either fourteen or fifteen years old; however, it has been said that he was twenty years old. That the Prophet #¢ only handed arrows to his uncles without fighting strengthens the former view - that he was fourteen or fifteen years old. For had he #% been twenty years old, he #% probably would have been required to fully participate in the battle, and not play the minor, secondary role that he had in fact played.

The Fudool Alliance was formed after the Quraish returned from the Fijaar War. It began when a man from Zubaid - a region in Yemen - went to Makkah with some merchandise. Al-’Aas ibn Waail purchased the merchandise from him, took possession of the merchandise, but refused to pay for it. The man from Zubaid pleaded with Quraish’s chieftains to help him, but they refused, simply because, like them, Al-‘Aas was a nobleman and a chieftain and was therefore not to be opposed. The Zubaidi man didn’t give up hope; instead, he stood beside the Kaaba and called out, asking for help from the descendants of Faihr (the Quraish) and reproaching them for their refusal to help him against the man who had wronged him. Zubair ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib, one of the Prophet's uncles, stood up and exclaimed, “Will no one help him!” As a result of Zubair’s display of anger, a meeting was

{1 As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah by Ibn Hishaam (1/221-224), and As-Seerah AlHalabiyyah (1/127-129).

convened at the house of Abdullah ibn Jud’aan; present at the meeting were the clans of Banu Haashim, Zuhrah, and Banu Taim ibn Murrah. The meeting occurred in Dhul-Qai’dah, one of the four inviolable months, and those who were present pledged and swore by Allah that they would be as one hand in their support of any victim against his wrongdoer. They then went together to Al- ‘Aas ibn Waail, seized from him the merchandise he had wrongfully taken, and returned it to it’s rightful owner. The Quraish referred to what happened in the house of Ibn Jud’aan as the Fudool Alliance. Fudool was an appropriate name for the alliance since Fudool comes from the word Fadl, which means nobility, superiority, and virtue. The Prophet #, who was present at the above-mentioned meeting, said later on in his life, “When I was a boy, I attended the Al-Muteebeen Alliance (i.e., the Fudool Alliance) with my uncles. ] would not love to have even red camels as a recompense for me breaking (the terms) of that alliance." The owner of red camels during those times would today be equivalent to a millionaire. The Prophet 2% said in another Hadeeth, “ I was present in the house of Abdullah ibn Jud’aan when an alliance (i.e., the Fudool Alliance) was formed, and I would not love to have in place of that alliance red camels. And if I were invited by it in Islam, I would answer it