(1) He is Abu Talib ibn Abd Manaf ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, the father of ʿAli (may God be pleased with him), the paternal uncle, guardian, educator, and supporter of the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Prophet grew up in his household and accompanied him on a journey to Syria in his youth. The Prophet invited him to Islam, but Abu Talib hesitated out of fear that the Arabs would ridicule him for abandoning his ancestors’ faith. He died in 3 BH. See: al-Tabaqat al-Kubra by Ibn Saʿd, vol. 1, pp. 119–125; al-Kamil by Ibn al-Athir, vol. 2, pp. 37–38, 90–91; al-Aʿlam by al-Zarkali, vol. 4, p. 315. Among what Abu Talib said: "And you invited me, and I knew that you were sincere in counsel; Indeed you spoke the truth and were the first to be trustworthy. You presented a faith I learned to be The best of all religions for humankind. Were it not for reproach or fear of insult, You would have found me open and sincere." See: al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya by Ibn Kathir, vol. 3, p. 47. (2) God says in the Quran: “Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet whom they find written in the Torah and the Gospel, who enjoins them what is right and forbids them what is wrong, makes lawful for them the good things and prohibits for them the impure, and lifts from them their burden and the shackles which were upon them—those who believe in him and honor him and assist him and follow the light sent down with him—it is they who will be successful.” (al-Aʿraf 7:157) Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH) comments in his Tafsir (2/251): “This describes Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the books of the earlier prophets; their nations were given glad tidings of his coming and commanded to follow him. His attributes remain in their scriptures, known to their scholars and rabbis.” Ibn Ishaq reports in his Sirah (1/196–197) that a monk named Bahira—renowned among Christians for his learning—when he saw the Prophet (peace be upon him) with his uncle Abu Talib in Bosra, Syria, where Abu Talib had gone on a trading caravan, said to Abu Talib: “Return your nephew to his homeland and beware of the Jews. By God, if they see him and recognize in him what I have recognized, they will wish him harm; your nephew holds a great rank. Hurry back with him to your land.” He also relates that some of the People of the Book, when they saw in the Messenger what Bahira had seen …