“I have prepared a meal for you, O people of Quraysh, and I would like all of you to attend—your young and your old, your slaves and your free men.”
One of them said, “By Allah, Bahīrā, something is unusual about you today! You never used to treat us like this, though we have often passed by you. What is the matter today?”
Bahīrā replied, “You are right; it is as you say. Yet you are my guests, and I wished to honor you and set out food for all of you.”
So they gathered around him, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained with the caravan’s baggage under the tree because of his youth. When Bahīrā looked over those who had come, he did not see the qualities he knew from his books, so he said, “People of Quraysh, let none of you stay away from my meal.”
They answered, “Bahīrā, no one who ought to be here is absent except a boy—the youngest among us—who stayed with our baggage.”
“Do not do that,” he said. “Call him so that he may join you for this meal.”
A man of Quraysh then exclaimed, “By al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzā, it would indeed be a disgrace if Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib were to miss this meal while the rest of us eat.” He went to the boy, embraced him, brought him over, and seated him with the group.
When Bahīrā saw him, he looked at him intently, examining features of his body that matched the description he possessed. After the people had finished eating and dispersed, Bahīrā approached him and said, “Young man, I adjure you by al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzā to tell me what I ask you.” (He spoke thus only because he had heard his people swearing by them.)
They relate that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “Do not ask me anything by al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzā, for by Allah, I have never hated anything as much as I hate them.”
Bahīrā said, “Then, by Allah, tell me about what I will ask you.”
He answered, “Ask me whatever you wish.”
Bahīrā questioned him about matters concerning his sleep, his habits, and his affairs, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told him. Everything matched the description Bahīrā had with him. He then looked at his back and saw the Seal of Prophethood between his shoulders, exactly where his sources had indicated.
When he had finished, he turned to his uncle Abū Ṭālib and asked, “What relation is this boy to you?”
“He is my son,” Abū Ṭālib replied.
“He is not your son,” said Bahīrā, “and it is not fitting that this boy’s father be alive.”
“He is my nephew.”
“What became of his father?”
“He died while his mother was pregnant with him.”
“You have spoken the truth,” said Bahīrā. “Take your nephew back to his land and beware of the Jews, for by Allah, if they see him and recognize what I have recognized, they will seek to harm him. Your nephew is destined for a momentous affair, so hasten back with him to his homeland.” Abū Ṭālib therefore set off quickly and, once he had concluded his trade in Syria, brought him to Mecca.
Ibn Isḥāq said: It is claimed, according to what people narrate, that Zurayr, Thamām, and Darīs—three men from among the People of the Book—saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on that same journey with his uncle Abū Ṭālib, just as Bahīrā had seen him. They wanted to harm him, but Bahīrā turned them away, reminding them of Allah and of what they found in the Scripture concerning his mention and description, and that if they were to agree