Muhammad in the Desert

Until the fifth year of his life Muhammad remained with the tribe of Banu Sa'd inhaling with the pure air of the desert the spirit of personal freedom and independence. From this tribe he learned the Arabic language in its purest and most classical form.

Justifiably, Muhammad used to tell his companions, "I am the most Arab among you, for I am of the tribe of Quraysh and I have been brought up among the tribe of Banu Sa'd ben Bakr." ["Most Arab among you" (Arabic, "a`rabukum") could well have been rendered "most eloquent among you." To be an Arab, or "to arabize" means to speak forth eloquently in Arabic, without stammering or grammatical mistakes, and with literary beauty. Urubah or Arabness is always something which admits of many degrees, the more Arab being always the man in better command of the Arabic language, Arabic diction, style, letters and all forms of literary beauty. Ya'rub, (literally, "he arabizes" or "speaks eloquent Arabic") was the n: me of the first Arab King, whom legend declares to be the first to have spoken in Arabic. As far as history goes, the Arabs have regarded the desert Arabic purer and more classical and beautiful than that of the towns; the tribes were graded in Urubah according to their racial purity as means for the preservation of the purity of Arabic. Hence, the Prophet's statement. -Tr.]

These five years exerted upon Muhammad a most beautiful and lasting influence, as Halimah and her people remained the object of his love and admiration all the length of his life. When, following his marriage with Khadijah a drought occurred and Halimah came to visit Muhammad, she returned with a camel loaded with water and forty heads of cattle. Whenever Halimah visited Muhammad, he stretched out his mantle for her to sit on as a sign of the respect he felt he owed her. Shayma', Halimah's daughter, was taken captive by the Muslim forces along with Banu Hawazin after the seige of Ta-if. When she was brought before Muhammad, he recognized her, treated her well, and sent her back to her people as she wished.

The young Muhammad returned to his mother after five years of desert life. It is related that when Halimah brought the boy into Makkah, she lost him in the outskirts of the city. 'Abd al Muttalib sent his scouts to look for him and he was found with Waraqah ibn Nawfal. [Waraqah ibn Nawfal was a hanif (an ethical monotheist of pre-Islamic times). He was the relation of the Prophet's wife, Khadijah, from whom she sought advice regarding Muhammad's reports about revelation.]

'Abd al Muttalib took his grandson under his protection, and made him the object of great love and affection. As lord of Quraysh and master of the whole of Makkah, the aged leader used to sit on a cushion laid out in the shade of the Ka'bah. His children would sit around that cushion, not on it, in deference to their father. But whenever Muhammad joined the group, 'Abd al Muttalib would bring him close to him and ask him to sit on the cushion. He would pat the boy's back and show off his pronounced affection for him so that Muhammad's uncles could never stop him from moving ahead of them to his grandfather's side.

Orphanhood

The grandson was to become the object of yet greater endearment to his grandfather. His mother, Aminah, took him to Madinah in order to acquaint him with her uncles, the Banu al Najjar. She took with her on that trip Umm Ayman, the servant left behind by her husband 'Abdullah. In Madinah, Aminah must have shown her little boy the house where his father died as well as the grave where he was buried. It was then that the boy must have first learned what it means to be an orphan.

His mother must have talked much to him about his beloved father who had left her a few days after their marriage, and who had met his death among his uncles in Madinah. After his emigration to that city the Prophet used to tell his companions about this first trip to Madinah in his mother's company. The traditions have preserved for us a number of sayings, which could have come only from a man full of love for Madinah and full of grief for the loss of those who were buried in its graves. After a stay of a month in Yathrib, Aminah prepared to return to Makkah with her son and set out on the same two camels, which carried them thither. On the road, at the village of Abwa  [A village located between Madinah and Jahfah, twenty-three miles south of Madinah.]

Aminah became ill, died, and was buried. It was Umm Ayman that brought the lonely and bereaved child to Makkah, henceforth doubly confirmed in orphanhood. A few days earlier he must have shared his mother's grief as she told him of her bereavement while he was yet unborn. Now he was to see with his own eyes the loss of his mother and add to his experience of shared grief that of a grief henceforth to be borne by him alone.

The Death of `Abd al Muttalib

The doubled orphanhood of Muhammad increased `Abd al Muttalib's affection for him. Nonetheless, his orphanhood cut deeply into Muhammad's soul. Even the Qur'an had to console the Prophet reminding him, as it were, "Did God not find you an orphan and give you shelter and protection? Did He not find you erring and guide you to the truth?" [Qur'an, 93:6-7].

It would have been somewhateasier on the orphaned boy had `Abd al Muttalib lived longer than he did, to the ripe age of eighty when Muhammad was still only eight years old. The boy must have felt the loss just as strongly as he had felt that of his mother. At the funeral Muhammad cried continuously; thereafter, the memory of his grandfather was ever present to his mind despite all the care and protection which his uncle Abu Talib gave him before and after his commission to prophet hood.

The truth is that the passing of `Abd al Muttalib was a hard blow to the whole clan of Banu Hashim, for none of his children had ever come to enjoy the respect and position, the power, wisdom, generosity, and influence among all Arabs as he had. `Abd al Muttalib fed the pilgrim gave him to drink, and came to the rescue of any Makkan in his hour of need. His children, on the other hand, never achieved that much. The poor among them were unable to give because they had little or nothing and the rich were too stingy to match their father's generosity. Consequently, the clan of Banu Umayyah prepared to take over the leadership of Makkah, till then enjoyed by Banu Hashim, undaunted by any opposition the latter might put forth.

Under Abu Talib's Protection

The protection of Muhammad now fell to Abu Talib, his uncle. Abu Talib was not the eldest of the brothers. A1 Harith was the eldest but he was not prosperous enough to expand his household responsibilities. A1 `Abbas, on the other hand, was the richest but he was not hospitable: he undertook the siqayah alone and refused to assume responsibility for the rifadah. Despite his poverty, Abu Talib was the noblest and the most hospitable and, therefore, the most respected among the Quraysh. No wonder that the protection of Muhammad devolved upon him.

The First Trip to al Sham

Abu Talib loved his nephew just as `Abd al Muttalib had done before him. He loved him so much that he gave him precedence over his own children. The uprightness, intelligence, charity, and good disposition of Muhammad strengthened the uncle's attachment to him. Even when Muhammad was twelve years old, Abu Talib did not take him along on his trade trips thinking that he was too young to bear the hardship of desert travel. It was only after Muhammad's strong insistence that Abu Talib permitted the child to accompany him and join the trip to al Sham.

In connection with this trip which he took at an early age, the biographers relate Muhammad's encounter with the monk Bahirah at Busra, in the southern region of al Sham. They tell how the monk recognized in Muhammad the signs of prophethood as told in Christian books. Other traditions relate that the monk had advised Abu Talib not to take his nephew too far within al Sham for fear that the Jews would recognize the signs and harm the boy.

On this trip Muhammad must have learned to appreciate the vast expanse of the desert and the brilliance of the stars shining in its clear atmosphere. He must have passed through Madyan, Wadi al Qur'a, the lands of Thamud, and his attentive ears must have listened to the conversation of the Arabs and desert nomads about the cities and their history.

On this trip, too, Muhammad must have witnessed the luscious green gardens of al Sham which far surpassed those of Ta'if back at home. These gardens must have struck his imagination all the more strongly as he compared them with the barren dryness of the desert and of the mountains surrounding Makkah. It was in al Sham that he came to know of Byzantine and Christian history and heard of the Christians' scriptures and of their struggle against the fire worshipping Persians.

True, he was only at the tender ageof twelve, but his great soul, intelligence, maturity, power of observation, memory and all the other qualities with which he was endowed in preparation for his prophet hood enabled him at an early age to listen perceptively and to observe details. Later on he would review in memory all that he had seen or heard and he would investigate it all in solitude, asking himself, "what, of all he has seen and heard, is the truth?"

In all likelihood, Abu Talib's trip to al Sham did not bring in much income. He never undertook another trip and was satisfied to remain in Makkah living within his means and taking care of his many children. Muhammad lived with his uncle, satisfied with his lot. There, Muhammad grew like any other child would in the city of Makkah.

During the holy months he would either remain with his relatives or accompany them to the neighboring markets at `Ukaz, Majannah, and Dhu al Majaz. There he would listen to the recitations of the Mudhahhabat and Mu'allaqat [At the yearly market of 'Ukaz (near Makkah), held during the holy months, poets from all tribes competed with one another in poetry. They recited their compositions in public and the greatest was given the prize of having his composition written down and "hung" on the walls of the Ka'bah. According to al Mufaddal (d. 189 A.Ii./805 c.E.), Imru' al Qays (d. 560 C.E.), Zuhayr (d. 635 C.E.), al Nabighah (d. 604 C.E.), al A'sha (d. 612 C.E.), Labid (d. 645 C.E.),'Amr ibn Kulthum (d. 56' C.E.) and Tarafah (d. 565 C.E.) were authors of the greatest poems of preIslamic days, accorded this special honor. Hence, their name "al mu'allaqda," literally "the hanging poems." Other early historians of Arabic literature claimed that the mu'allaqat were eight, adding to the seven above-mentioned a poem of 'Antarah.

Other pre-Islamic and early Islamic (up to 50 A.H./672 C.E.) poems, numbering 42 in all, were divided into six groups of seven poems each-the whole of pre-Islamic poetry adding up to seven groups of seven poems each-arranged according to their literary merit, poetic eloquence and force. They included: al mujamharat by 'Ubayd, 'Antarah, 'Adiyy, Bishr and Umayyah, al muntaqayat (literally, "the selected poems") by al Musayyib, al Muraqqash, al Mutalammis, 'Urwah, al ' Muhalhil, Durayd and al Mutanakhkhil; al mudhahhabat (literally, "The golden poems," or "written in gold") by 4assan ibn Rawahah, MAU, Qays ibn al Khatim, Uhayhah, Abu Qays ibn al Aslat and 'Amr ibn Umru' al Qays; al mashubat (literally, "the poems touched by Islam as well as pre-Islamic unbelief"), al malhamat (literally, "the epic poems"). For further details, see any literary history of the Arabs, or Muhammad 'Abd al Mun'im Khafaji, al Hayah al Adabiyyah fi al 'Asr al Jahili, Cairo: Maktabat al Husayn al Tijariyyah, 1368/1949. -Tr.] poems and be enchanted by their eloquence, their erotic lyricism, the pride and noble lineage of their heroes, their conquests, hospitality, and magnanimity.

All that the visits to these market places presented to his consciousness, he would later review, approve of, and admire or disapprove of and condemn. There, too, he would listen to the speeches of Christian and Jewish Arabs who strongly criticized the paganism of their fellow countrymen, who told about the scriptures of Jesus and Moses, and called men to what they believed to be the truth. Muhammad would review and weigh these views, preferring them to the paganism of his people, though not quite convinced of their claims to the truth. Thus Muhammad's circumstances exposed him at a tender age to what might prepare him for the great day, the day of the first revelation, when God called him to convey His message of truth and guidance to all mankind.

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