Abu Talib had planned to go in a merchant caravan to Syria, and when all preparations had been made for the journey, the prophet of Allah (SAS), attached himself closely to him so that he compassionately decided to take him along, saying "By Allah I will take him with me and we will never separate"

When the caravan reached Busra in Syria, there was a monk there in his hermitage by the name of Bahlra, who was well versed in the knowledge of Christians. A monk had always occupied that hermitage. There he gained his knowledge from a book, handed on from generation to generation. They had often passed by him in the past and he never spoke to them or took any notice of them until this year, and when they stopped near his hermitage he made a great feast for them.

It is alleged that that was because of something he saw while in his hermitage. They allege that while he was in his hermitage he saw the prophet of Allah in the caravan when they approached, with a cloud over shadowing him among the people. Then they came and stopped in the shadow of a tree near the monk. He looked at the cloud when it over shadowed the tree, and its branches were bending and dropping over the prophet of Allah until he was in the shadow beneath it. When Bahira saw that, he came out of his hermitage and sent word to them,‘I have prepared food for you, O men of Quraysh, and I should like you all to come both great and small, bondmen and freemen’

One of them said to him, By Allah, Bahira. something extraordinary has happened today, you used not to treat us so, and we have often passed by you. What has occurred to you today?, He answered, ‘You are right in what you say, but you are guests and I wish to honour you and give you food so that you may eat.’

So they gathered together with him, leaving the prophet of Allah behind with the baggage under the tree, on account of his extreme youth. When Bahira looked at the people he did not see the mark which he knew and found his books, so he said, ‘O people of Quraysh, Do not let one of you remain behind and not come to my feast’. They told him that everyone had come except a boy who was the youngest of them and had stayed with their baggage. Thereupon he told them to invite him to come to the meal with them. One of the men of Quraysh said, ‘By al-Lat and al-'Uzza, we are to blame for leaving behind the son of Abdullah bin. Abdul-Muttalib.’ Then he got up and embraced him and made him sit with the people.

When Bahira saw him he stared at him closely, looking at his body and finding traces of his description (in the Christian books). When the people had finished eating and gone away, Bahira got up and said to him ‘Boy, I ask you by al-Lat and al-'Uzza to answer my question.’ Now Bahira said this only because he had heard his people swearing by these idols. It is said that prophet of Allah said to him, ‘Do not ask me by al-Lat and al- Uzza, for by Allah nothing is more hateful to me than these two’. Bahira replied, ‘Then by Allah, tell me what I ask’; he replied, ‘Ask me what you like’ , so he began to ask him about his sleep, appearance and his habits, and his affairs in general. The prophet's (SAS) answers coincided with what Bahira knew of his description. Then looked at his back and saw the seal of propliethood between his shoulders in the very place described in his book.

When he had finished he went to his uncle Abu Talib and asked him what relation this boy was to him, and when he told him he was his son, he said that he was not, for it could not be that the father of this boy was alive. ‘He is my nephew, he said, and when he asked what had become of his father he told him that he had died before the child was born. ‘You have told the truth,’ said Bahira. ‘Take your nephew back to his country and guard him carefully against the Jews, for by Allah! if they see him and know about him what I know, they will do him evil; a great future lies before this nephew of yours, so take him home quickly.’ So his uncle took him off quickly and brought him back to Mecca when he had finished his trading in Syria.