الرحلة إلى الشام مع أبي طالب
Journey to Syria with Abu Talib
40 BH (~583 CE)
Busra, Syria بصرى الشام
At the age of twelve, Muhammad ﷺ accompanied Abu Talib on a trade caravan to Syria. During the journey, they encountered a Christian monk named Bahira (also known as Sergius) near Busra. Bahira recognized signs of prophethood in the young Muhammad ﷺ and advised Abu Talib to take him back to Makkah and guard him carefully.
Why this matters
This event demonstrated that even before prophethood, the signs of Muhammad's ﷺ special status were recognizable to people of knowledge from earlier scriptures. The encounter with Bahira is one of the earliest recorded acknowledgments of Muhammad's ﷺ future mission.
Hadith references
Jami' at-Tirmidhi, #3620
Narrated by: Abu Musa al-Ash'ari
“Abu Talib went to Ash-Sham (Syria) and the Prophet ﷺ went with him along with some elders of the Quraysh. When they came near the monk Bahira, he came out to them... He said: 'Go back with him and guard him against the Jews, for by Allah, if they see him and recognise in him what I recognise, they will plot evil against him.'”