Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir includes a notice on him in his History(1), stating that he was the one who concluded the truce with Khālid ibn al-Walīd over al-Ḥīrah.(2) Ibn ʿAsākir then relates at length how Khālid handed him a lethal poison which he ate without suffering the slightest harm; for, when he took it in his hand he declared: “In the name of God, and by God, Lord of earth and heaven—by whose name no sickness can harm.”(3) He swallowed it, whereupon he lost consciousness, his chin dropping to his chest; he perspired, and then regained his senses—may God have mercy on him. Ibn ʿAsākir also transmits other poems composed by ʿAbd al-Masīḥ in addition to those cited above.

—End of the footnote—

Abū Nuʿaym(5) reports: “Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us; ʿUqbah ibn Mukarram narrated to us; al-Musayyab ibn Sharīk narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Sharīk narrated to us, from Shuʿayb ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, who said:

There was at Marr al-Ẓahrān(6) a monk from Syria named ʿĪṣā who lived under the protection of al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil. God had granted him abundant knowledge and made him of great benefit to the people of Mecca through perfume, kindness, and learning. He remained in his hermitage, but each year he would enter Mecca, meet the people, and announce:

‘A child is soon to be born among you, O people of Mecca. The Arabs will submit to him and he will rule the non-Arabs. His time is at hand. Whoever lives to see him and follows him will attain his goal; whoever lives to see him yet opposes him will miss his goal. By God, I did not leave the land of bread, leaven, and safety, nor settle in a land of hunger, hardship, and fear, except in search of him.’(7)

Whenever a child was born in Mecca people would ask him about the newborn, and he would reply, ‘He has not yet come.’ They would urge, ‘Then describe him to us,’ but he would refuse, keeping the matter to himself, for he knew what might befall him from his own people and feared that such talk might one day expose him to even the slightest harm.

On the morning the Messenger of God ﷺ was born, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib went out to ʿĪṣā, stood at the base of his cell, and called, ‘O ʿĪṣā!’

‘Who is that?’ he answered.

‘I am ʿAbd Allāh,’ he replied.

The monk looked down and said, ‘May you be his father! The child of whom I have been telling you has been born—on a Monday; he will be commissioned on a Monday and will die on a Monday.’

ʿAbd Allāh said, ‘A child was born to me at dawn.’

‘What have you named him?’ asked the monk.

‘Muḥammad,’ he replied.

The monk said, ‘By God, I had hoped that this child would belong to you people of the household. We recognize him by three signs: his star rose last night, he was born today, and his name is Muḥammad. Go to him, for the one I have been telling you about is your son.’ He said: