Our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ , was about five years old when he went back to live with his mother and grandfather. Aminah was very happy.
Muhammad ﷺ had many paternal uncles, the sons of ^Abdul-Muttalib. His eldest uncle, Abu Talib, was very fond of him. His uncle Hamzah and al-^Abbas were about his own age. These two uncles later embraced Islam. The dear mother of our Prophet, Aminah, died when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was six years old. ^Abdul-Muttalib took care of his beloved grandson, Muhammad ﷺ .
Two years later, ^Abdul-Muttalib died at an advanced age. Consequently, the Prophet’s uncle Abu Talib (the son of ^Abdul-Muttalib) took on the care of the young Muhammad ﷺ . Although he was poor with several children, Abu Talib made young Muhammad ﷺ , part of his household, favouring him over his own children. Abu Talib noticed many special things about his new ward. The children of Abu Talib woke up with messy hair and mucus in their eyes. Abu Talib noticed that Muhammad ﷺ on the other hand, woke from sleep with his hair looking neat, as if it had been anointed with olive oil.
As well, instead of having mucus, the eyes of Muhammad ﷺ looked bright, as if someone had applied kohl to them. Abu Talib noticed that whenever they ate together with young Muhammad ﷺ present, the food was enough for all of them. They all felt full. However, when they ate without Muhammad ﷺ , the food did not satisfy them. Hence, when the family would want to eat, Abu Talib would say, ”Wait until my son (Muhammad ﷺ ) comes.” With Muhammad present, they got full and still had some food left at the end. Abu-Talib used to give the cup of milk to Muhammad ﷺ first because he noticed that when Muhammad ﷺ was the first, to drink, the milk would be enough for everyone. Due to all of this, Abu Talib declared, ”This is a blessed child!”
Umm Ayman, the Prophet’s nanny, said, ”As a child, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, never said that he was hungry or thirsty like the other children do. He used to wake up and go drink from the well of Zamzam. After that, when we offered him food he would say ‘l am full.”’ There were no schools in Arabia at that time and few people of the city could read or write. Muhammad ﷺ grew up not reading or writing, not because he was unable, but because he did not go to school for that knowledge. Although he did not attend school, Muhammad ﷺ knew and spoke the Arabic language flawlessly. Muhammad ﷺ memorized information without the need to write it down.
When Muhammad ﷺ, was twelve, he went with Abu Talib, who was a merchant, towards the land of ash-Sham. A priest called Bahira saw Muhammad ﷺ. He knew immediately that there was something special about Muhammad ﷺ
He embraced him and then offered him food. Then, he uncovered Muhammad’s back looking for a mark between his shoulders that he knew the last Prophet would have. Bahira knew signs of the last Prophet from the teachings of Prophet Jesus عليه السلام that had been preserved. Bahira said to Abu Talib, ‘Your nephew has a very high status. Return with him to your hometown and guard him against the Jews, lest they notice the signs that l noticed.’
Abu Talib hurriedly finished his trade and returned with Muhammad ﷺ to Makkah. Out of fear for his safety, Abu Talib no longer took Muhammad ﷺ with him on his trading routes. At that time, there were people who were Christians claiming to follow Prophet Jesus’ teachings and people who were Jews claiming to follow Prophet Moses’ teachings. By that time, neither group was truly following the teachings of these beloved prophets. The Christians had perverted the true message of Jesus and said that he was the son of God. The Jews denied the Prophethood of Jesus عليه السلام.
At that time, the Jews still had the Torah, which was revealed to Moses. In the true Torah, God revealed the description of the last Prophet and ordered that they should follow him when he came. The same information was in the scripture revealed to Jesus. However, by the time of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, this scripture had been distorted. There are many stories about how Christians and Jews had heard that a last prophet was to come, and they knew the sign of how to recognize him. What is called the ”Old Testament” or Torah nowadays is not the Tawrah revealed to Moses. One proof, is that in the ”Old testament” it is written that God created the heavens and Earth in six days, and then He rested on the seventh day. This is blasphemy. In reality, God never revealed to any Prophet that he rested. In the greatest verse of the holy Qur’an (al-Baqarah, 255), God refuted those who say this about Him. God revealed that neither slumber nor sleep seizes him. In another verse of the Qur’an, God mentions that He created the heavens and Earth in six days, and He was not overwhelmed by fatigue (Qaf, 38). Praise is due to Allah.
