He said, “Look at how the shade of the tree has leaned toward him.” While he was still standing over them, begging them not to take him to the Byzantines—for if the Byzantines saw him, they would recognize him from the description and kill him—suddenly seven men from Byzantium appeared. He went out to meet them and asked, “What has brought you here?” They replied, “News has reached us that a prophet will emerge this month. No road has been left unattended; men have been sent along every route. We have been informed about him and were dispatched to watch this one.” He asked, “Is anyone following behind you who is better than you?” They said, “We were told only about him on this road of yours.” He said, “Tell me: if Allah intends to bring something to pass, can any person avert it?” They answered, “No.” He therefore urged them to pledge allegiance to him, and they stayed with him. Then he said, “I adjure you by Allah, which of you is his guardian?” They said, “Abu Talib.” The monk persisted in pleading with him until he sent the boy back (1).

Muhammad ibn Saʿd has narrated this incident at greater length. Ibn Saʿd said: “Muhammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Wāqid told us; Muhammad ibn Ṣāliḥ and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar al-Zubayrī reported to us.” Muhammad ibn ʿUmar added: “Ibn Abī Ḥabībah also related to us from Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, who said: When Abu Talib set out for Syria and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ accompanied him on that first journey—he was twelve years old—

when the caravan reached Busra in the land of Syria, there was a monk named Baḥīrā in his cell. Christian scholars used to succeed one another in that cell, studying a book they had inherited. They halted near Baḥīrā—although they had often passed by him before without his speaking to them—until that year, when they camped at a spot close to him.