Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (3/75)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

The best people on earth were three: Baḥīrā, Riʾāb ibn al-Barāʾ al-Shannī, and the third, the Awaited One—and that Awaited One was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Ibn Qutaybah (1) said: “The grave of Riʾāb al-Shannī, and later the grave of his son, could always be seen with a perpetual ṭash upon them,” and ṭash (2) is a light, mist-like rain.

Section
On the Prophet’s ﷺ upbringing and nurture, Allah’s sufficiency for him and His protection of him, and how He sheltered him as an orphan and enriched him after poverty.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (3) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ grew up while Allah watched over him, guarded him, and protected him from the impurities of the Age of Ignorance in preparation for the honor and the message He had decreed for him. When he reached manhood he was the most dignified of his people, the finest in character, the noblest in lineage, the best of neighbors, the most forbearing, the most truthful in speech, the most trustworthy, and the farthest removed from obscenity and the traits that tarnish men—out of innate purity and nobility. Because of all the virtues Allah had gathered in him, his people knew him only as al-Amīn, “the Trustworthy.”

It has been related to me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to speak about the way Allah protected him in his childhood and during the pre-Islamic period. He said:

“I recall being with some boys from Quraysh carrying (4) stones for one of the games children play. All of us had stripped off our waist-wrappers, placed them on our necks, and loaded (5) the stones onto them. I was going back and forth with them in that state when someone struck me—a blow I felt was painful—and said, ‘Fasten your waist-wrap!’ So I grabbed it, tied it tightly around myself, and then continued to carry the stones on my neck while my waist-wrap stayed on, unlike my companions.”

This story resembles the incident authentically reported during the rebuilding of the Kaʿbah, when he and his uncle al-ʿAbbās were moving stones. If it is not the very same event, then it must have preceded it as a prelude. Allah knows best.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq (6) said: Ibn Jurayj informed us, and he said that ʿAmr ibn Dīnār related to him that he heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh

(1) In al-Maʿārif (p. 58) a similar reading; in al-Rawḍ the wording is: “And al-Qutbī said.” (2) The same reading appears in manuscripts H and T, and in al-Rawḍ and al-Lisān (ṭashsh): “light rain,” which is the more plausible reading. (3) Sīrah Ibn Isḥāq (pp. 57–58); the text seems to be drawn from Sīrah Ibn Hishām (1/183), hence its wording closely matches that version. (4) In manuscript H: nantaqil (“we proceed”). (5) In T and Sīrah Ibn Hishām: yaḥmil (“it carries/bears”). (6) In al-Musannaf (no. 1103), al-Ṭahārah: the chapter on a man’s covering during ghusl, including the portion enclosed in brackets.

خير أهل الأرض ثلاثة: بَحِيرى، ورِئَاب بن البراء الشَّنِّي، والثالث المنتظر. وكان الثالثُ المنتظر هو رسول ﷺ . قال ابن قتيبة (١) : وكان قبرُ رِئَاب الشَّنيِّ وقبرُ ولدِه من بعده لا يزال يُرى عندهما طَشٌّ. وهو المطر الخفيف (٢) . فصل: في مَنْشَئِه (رحمهم الله) ومَرْبَاه وكفاية الله له، وحِيَاطته، وكيف كان يتيمًا فآواه وعائلًا فأغناه قال محمد بن إسحاق (٣) : فشبَّ رسولُ الله ﷺ يكلؤه الله ويحفظه ويحوطُهُ من أقذار الجاهلية لما يُريد به من كرامته ورسالته، حتى بلغ أنْ كان رجلًا أفضلَ قومِهِ مروءةً، وأحسنَهُمْ خُلقًا، وأكرمهم حسبًا، وأحسنَهُمْ جِوارًا، وأعظمهم حِلْمًا، وأصدقهم حديثًا، وأعظمهم أمانة، وأبعدَهُمْ من الفُحْش والأخلاق التي تُدَنِّسُ الرجال تنزُّهًا وتكرُّمًا، حتى ما اسمه في قومِهِ إلا الأمين، لما جمع الله فيه من الأمور الصالحة. وكان رسولُ الله ﷺ فيما ذُكر لي - يُحدِّثُ عما كان الله يحفظُهُ به في صِغَرِه وأمْر جاهليته أنَّهُ قال: "لقد رأيتُني في غلمان من قريش ننقلُ (٤) الحجارةَ لبعض ما يلعَبُ به الغلمان، كلنا قد تعرَّى وأخذ إزاره وجعله على رقبته فحمل (٥) عليه الحجارة، فإني لأُقبل معهم كذلك وأُدْبر، إذْ لَكَمني لاكمٌ ما أراه لكمةً وجيعةً، ثم قال: شُدَّ عليك إزارك. قال: فأخذتُه فشددتُه عليّ، ثم جعلتُ أحمل الحجارة على رقبتي وإزاري عليَّ من بين أصحابي" . وهذه القصة شبيهةٌ بما في الصحيح عند بناء الكعبة حين كان ينقُلُ هو وعمُّه العباس، فإنْ لم تكنْها فهي متقدِّمَةٌ عليها كالتوطئة لها. والله أعلم. وقد قال عبد الرزاق (٦) : أخبرنا ابنُ جُرَيج، أخبرني عمرو بن دينار، أنه سمع جابر بن عبد الله

(١) في المعارف (ص ٥٨) بنحوه، واللفظة في الروض: وقال القتبي. (٢) كذا في ح، ط، وفي الروض واللسان (طشش): المطر الضعيف وهو أشبه بالصواب. (٣) سيرة ابن إسحاق (ص ٥٧، ٥٨)، والنص كما يبدو منقول من سيرة ابن هشام (١/ ١٨٣) فهو بألفاظه أشبه. (٤) في ح: ننتقل. (٥) في ط وسيرة ابن هشام: يحمل. (٦) في المصنف (١١٠٣) الطهارة باب ستر الرجل إذا اغتسل، وما بين معقوفين منه.