The Prophet’s first meeting with a Christian occurred when he, as a young boy aged between nine or twelve, he joined his uncle’s (Abu Talib) merchant caravan for a trip to Syria it was his first journey north.
So After days of travel, the caravan arrived at a place near Syria called Bostra, a Roman colonial city. The Romans used to come here to trade with the Arabs. Near this marketplace lived a monk called Bahira’. His cell had been used by generations of monks before him and contained ancient manuscripts.
Monk Bahira was known for his belief that a prophet was soon to appear among the Arabs. Bahira had studied old manuscripts, where he had learned of the coming of a final prophet, and he was convinced that this prophet would appear in his own lifetime. He was particularly interested in the Arab merchants who visited Syria, to see if his conviction would come true.
Bahira' saw the caravan in the distance and was amazed to see that over it was a large white cloud. It was the only cloud in a clear blue sky and it appeared to be shading one of the travelers. The monk was even more surprised to see that the cloud seemed to follow the caravan but disappeared when the person it was shading sat down under a tree.
When he also noticed that a tree lowered its branches over the caravan to provide further shade, he immediately realized that this caravan must contain an extraordinary person or persons.
Bahira’ knew from the scriptures that a prophet was expected to come after Jesus and it had been his wish to see this prophet before he died. Realizing that what he had just seen was a miracle, he began to think that his wish might, after all, come true.
The monk sent an invitation to the Meccans to come and eat with him. The Arabs were surprised because they often passed by and Bahira’ had never invited them before. When the group was all together for the meal, the monk said, 'Is this everyone?’ 'No', someone said, 'a boy was left watching the camels.'
Bahira’ insisted that the boy should join them. The boy was Muhammad (pbuh). When he arrived Bahira’ said nothing, but watched him all through the meal. He noticed many things about his appearance which fitted the description in the old manuscripts. Later on he took him aside and asked Muhammad (pbuh) many questions.
Bahira began to scrutinize hime very intently, looking at various parts of his body and finding certain qualities in him. Finally, when all had finished dining and had dispersed, Bahira went up to the boy and said, "Boy, by al-Lat and al-Uzza I charge you to answer what I will ask you." Bahira only used these words because he had the boy's people swearing by these two gods.
They claim that the Messenger of God told him: "Don't ask me anything by al-Lat and al-Uzza; for, by God, I hate nothing more than them." So Bahira said, "By God, would you tell me about waht I ask you?" So the boy told hime to ask whatever he liked.
The monk then asked him various questions about his sleep, habits, circumstances, and so on; and the Messenger of God responded. And what Bahira heard matched the description he expected.
The he looked at the boy's back and saw the seal of prophethood between his shoulders, in the very place according to the description he had.
They talked together about Allah, and about Muhammad's life and family. What was said made Bahira certain that this was indeed the Prophet who would follow Jesus.
Having conlcuded this, he went to the boy's uncle Abu Talib and asked, "What relation is he to you?" "He is my son," he replied.
Bahira objected, "He's not your son. This boy can't have a living father, he is destined to grow up an orphan."
"Well," Abu Talib replied, "he 's actually my newphew."
"And what happened to his father?" the monk asked.
"He died while the boy's mother was still pregnant with him."
"Now you're telling the truth," the monk went on.
He recognized the Prophet and said while taking his hand:
“This is the master of all humans. Allâh will send him with a Message which will be a mercy to all beings.”
Abu Talib asked: “How do you know that?”
He replied: “When you appeared from the direction of ‘Aqabah, all stones and trees prostrated themselves, which they never do except for a Prophet. I can recognize him also by the seal of Prophethood which is below his shoulder, like an apple. We have got to learn this from our books.”
He also asked Abu Talib to send the boy back to Makkah and not to take him to Syria for fear of the Jews. Abu Talib obeyed and sent him back to Makkah with some of his men servants and he ordered Abu Talib to watch over Muhammad (pbuh) with great care.
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