Bosra, Syria
Coordinates: 32.518972, 36.482842
The Monastery of Bahira
This Structure is believed to be the monastery of Bahira the monk, who prophesied about Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in his childhood
The Monastery of Bahira is one of the most significant Muslim sites in this area
Both Ibn Sa’d and al-Tabari write that Bahira found the announcement of the coming of Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the original, unadulterated gospels, which he possessed.
The standard Islamic view is that Christians corrupted the gospels, in part by erasing any references to Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Bahira was an Arab Nestorian or possibly Gnostic Nasorean monk who, according to Islamic tradition, foretold to the adolescent Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ his future as a prophet. His name derives from the Syriac bhira, meaning “tested (by God) and approved”.
Story
The young Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, then either nine or twelve years old, met Bahira in the town of Bosra in Syria while travelling with a Meccan caravan, accompanying his uncle Hz. Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib رضي الله عنه.
When the caravan passed by his cell, the monk invited the merchants to a feast. They accepted the invitation, leaving the boy to guard the camel. Bahira, however, insisted that everyone in the caravan should come to him.
Then a miraculous occurrence indicated to the monk that Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ would become a prophet.
When he sat under a tree, its branches moved to shade to him, the movement of a cloud kept shadowing Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ regardless of the time of the day drew Bahira’s attention.
The monk revealed his visions of Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ’s future to the boy’s uncle (Hz. Abu Talib رضي الله عنه), warning him to preserve the child from the Jews (in Ibn Sa’d’s version) or from the Byzantines (in al-Tabari’s version), as he predicts that Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ will be killed by the Syrian Jews if they proceed. In response, Hz. Abu Talib رضي الله عنه returned to Mecca with his nephew. Later Islamic writers gave the rabbi the name of Bahira.
Both Ibn Sa’d and al-Tabari write that Bahira found the announcement of the coming of Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the original, unadulterated gospels, which he possessed.
In the Christian tradition Bahira became a heretical monk, whose errant views inspired the Qur’an.
