how could he then have been willing to let him travel to Syria as Khadijah’s trade representative?
The report also contains dubious expressions that resemble the florid language of the itinerant storytellers (ṭuruqiyya). Ibn ʿĀʾidh did transmit its general meaning in his Maghāzī, but without the phrase, “Abū Bakr sent Bilāl with him,” and what followed. He said, “al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us, saying: Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn Mūsā informed me,” after which he conveyed the story in substance.
Ibn Isḥāq states in the Sīrah that Abū Ṭālib set out for Syria with a caravan, taking the Prophet ﷺ with him while he was still a youth. When they reached Busra, there was a monk named Bahīrā in his hermitage—the most learned of the Christians there. A monk had always occupied that hermitage, inheriting their knowledge from a book that, according to their claim, was passed down generation after generation.
They camped near the cell, and Bahīrā prepared a meal for them, prompted—so they allege—by something he had seen as they approached: a cloud shading the Prophet alone among the people, and when he halted he sat beneath a tree whose branches bent over him. Bahīrā then left his cell, ordered the food to be set out, and summoned them. When they arrived, one of them said, “O Bahīrā, you have never done this before; what is the matter?” He replied, “True, but you are guests and I wished to honor you.” They all gathered, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—being the youngest—remained with their baggage.
When Bahīrā looked over the company and did not see him, he said, “People of Quraysh, let no one stay back from my meal.” They answered, “No one is absent except a lad, the youngest among us.” He said, “Do not do that; call him.” One man exclaimed, “By al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā, this would indeed be disgraceful for us: the son of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib staying behind while we eat!” He then rose, embraced the boy, and brought him. When Bahīrā saw him he scrutinized him intently, looking for certain marks on his body that matched the description he possessed. After they had eaten and dispersed, Bahīrā stood up and said, “Young man, I ask you by al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā to tell me…"