5/8 Mohammad's Journey to Syria. [No. 7. 



" I have been informed by Abu-labbas al-Fadhl b. Salil A'raj Bagh- 

 dady who had it from 'abd al-RaAman b. Ghazwan, and he had it 

 from Yunos b. Aby IsAaq, and he had it from Abu Bakr b. Abu Miisa 

 al-Ash'ary, and he had it from his father that he (Abu Musa al- 

 Ash'ary) said : Abu Talib went to Syria and the prophet went with 

 him, in company of several Shaykhs of the Qoraysh tribe, and when 

 they came to the Rahib* he came down. They encamped, and he came 

 to them. Though they had frequently passed him before this, he had 

 not been in the habit of coming out to them or of taking any notice 

 of them. The Reporter continues : They encamped and he walked 

 about among them until he came to the prophet, whom he took by the 

 hand saying, This is the greatest man of the worlds, this is the mes- 

 senger of the Lord of the worlds, God sends him out of mercy to 

 the worlds. Some of the Shaykhs of the Qorayshites said to him, 

 "What tells you this 1 He answered, When you came forth from be- 

 tween those two hills, there was not a tree or a stone which did not 

 prostrate itself before him, and they do not prostrate themselves before 

 any one, but prophets, and I know him by the seal of prophetic mis- 

 sion, which is impressed upon him below the shoulder plates and 

 resembles a pear. Then he returned and prepared food for them, when 

 he brought it, he (Mohammad) was pasturing the camels. The Rahib 

 said Bring him to me ; Mohammad approached and was shaded by a 

 cloud. By the time he came, the others had retired into the shade of a 

 tree, and when he sat down the shadow of the tree moved to him. The 

 Rahib said, Look, the shadow of the tree moves towards him. The 

 Rahib standing up and speaking most impressively continued : Do 

 not go with him to Rum (the Byzantine empire) for the people of 

 that country when they see him will recognize him by his appearance 

 and will kill him. He turned round and there were seven Rumees, 

 he went to meet them and said, What is your object in coming here ? 



* Rahib means a month, a hermit and a Christian generally, and Cawma'ah 

 means a monastary and a hermitage, but more frequently the latter, particularly in 

 Persian. Later authors by the way of embellishing the story, place Ba^yra at the 

 head of a monastary, but according to Zohry apud Sohayly, he was a Jew, and if later 

 authors say he was a converted Jew ; it is not to be supposed that they have any 

 authority, it is merely one of their usual methods of reconciling discrepant accounts, 

 It will be observed that the name of BaAyra does not occur in this tradition. 



