A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Utsman Nuri Tufbas wrote, in “The Prophet Muhammad Muswthafa the Elect ( s.a.w. )”, that during his trip to Syria, with his uncle, Sayyidina Abu Thalib ibn ‘Abd al-Muththalib ( r.a. ), the caravan camped near the monastery of Sayyidina Bahirah ( r.a. ), a Christian monk.  Astounded at having noticed a cloud hovering around the caravan, and shading a certain person, as well as the branches of trees leaning forth to shelter someone from the Sun near where the caravan had camped, the curious Sayyidina Bahirah ( r.a. ) decided to look in to the intriguing matter and invite the Makkans inside the monastery for some food: “I have prepared food for you all.  I insist each and every member of the caravan to join, young and old, free and slave.”   The Makkans were taken aback by the invitation of Sayyidina Bahirah ( r.a. ), since he had never seemed to take much interest in them before, during their numerous other trips to Syria. ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ When Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ) was about 12 years old, he accompanied his uncle Sayyidina Abu Thalib ibn ‘Abd al-Muththalib ( r.a. ) on a trade journey to Syria.  In a place called Busra, an incident took place, which caused Sayyidina Abu Thalib ( r.a. ) to return Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ) to Makkah.   On their trade journey, they met a monk by the name of Sayyidina Bahirah ( r.a. ), who lived a simple life in a monastery.  He had simple provisions and lived a harsh life, surviving on the bare essentials.  His was an ascetic and the clothes he wore were coarse and well worn.  His residence was on the main caravan route and he regularly saw caravans passing by, carrying goods destined to be sold in the great markets of Syria.   When the caravan with the future prophet approached, Sayyidina Bahirah ( r.a. ) noticed that this caravan was different; there was something special about it.  He noticed that there ...