Christianity and Islam

Christianity and Islam T he Prophet of Islam was born in Makkah in Arabia in 570 A.D. and died in 632 in Madinah, another city in Arabia, at the age of 62 years. The Prophet Muhammad’s father had died before his birth; therefore, his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, brought him up. After the latter’s death, the duty devolved upon his paternal uncle, Abu Talib. Muhammad (May God’s blessings be upon him) was twelve years old when he accompanied his uncle and patron, Abu Talib, on a caravan journey to Syria, in the course of which their trading party camped at Busra. There, he met a Christian monk known as Bahira, who was well versed in Christian scriptures. This monk happened to come out of his cell and saw Muhammad. He recognized in Muhammad the signs of prophethood as recounted in Christian books. Therefore he asked Muhammad some questions, which he answered quite satisfactorily. Afterwards Bahira went up to his uncle, Abu Talib, and said, ‘How is this youth related to you?’ ‘He replied, ‘He is my son.’ Bahira said to him, ‘He is not your son; this young man’s father cannot be alive.’ Abu Talib said, ‘Indeed, he is my brother’s son and my brother died even before his birth.’ ‘True,’ he said. ‘Return to your land with your nephew and protect him against enemies. For, by God, if they see him and know about him what I know about him, they will do him harm. A great future lies in store for him. So hurry to your land with the young boy. Abu Talib felt a little alarmed and took him back to Makkah soon after he had finished his trading in Syria (Seerah Ibn Hisham,