The blessed Tree-Living Sahabi

In the name of Allah the most beneficent and merciful.

Bahira the monk, had lived for many years in this monastery worshiping Allah, praying to Him. One day, as he was looking through his window, he saw the caravan coming from the Hijaz ( Al-Hejaz, also Hijaz, is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. It is bordered on the west by the Red Sea, on the north by Jordan, on the east by Najd, and on the south by Asir). The caravan approached with its camels, people and merchandise settling around the tree. 

He noticed there was one person in that caravan that always had a cloud shading him. If he moved to the east, it would move with him, and when he moved to the west, it followed him. And when that person arrived at the tree and sat beneath it, the cloud then passed the mission of shading this person to the tree.

Bahira was anxious with anticipation as he watched the visitors enter the monastery. Every time a person entered into the monastery, it was as if he silently wanted to urge them to hurry so that he might finally set eyes upon that person whom he had been waiting for. It was as if he was saying ‘my soul been aching to meet his soul, and I thirst to look upon him, for I have been waiting long, fearing that death might claim me before setting my eyes upon him.’ 

So when the Prophet, peace be upon him, entered the monastery, Bahira was intensely moved.

So Bahira started asking: ‘whose boy is this?’

Abu Taleb replied: “He is my son.”

Bahira asked again: “Is he your son and you his father?”

Abu Taleb said “Yes.”

Bahira said: “The father of this boy cannot be alive.”

Abu Taleb was surprised and demanded to know how Bahira could known this and he told Bahira: “He is my nephew. His father died when his mother was pregnant with him.”

Bahira replied, “Take care of this boy and protect him from enemies, for he is the Prophet that will come at the end of time.”

The life of Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is the perfect demonstration of how a Muslim should be, and a guide to his conduct towards Allah and towards people. Therefore the way we understand all Islamic texts is through the life and actions of the Prophet. Because Allah says in the Qur’an that the Prophet is the ‘good example’ for Muslims. The prophet manifests the Words of Allah.

The interest in the reliquary sites of the beloved Prophet used to be strong in the Muslim world. During the time of the Prophet, his companions were very keen on preserving them. It is the recounted that Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him and his father, used to leave the mosque that was built on the Hajj route between Medina and Mecca, in order to go to pray in another place. When he was asked about that, he replied: “It was here that I saw the messenger of God pray.” So he was visiting the sites of the Prophet. That’s model was followed by those that came after the companions of the Prophet and those after them and so on. 

If grace exists, then it is in such a place as this, The prophet sat beneath this blessed tree. He sought refuge under the tree, the tree sheltered the Prophet. This tree served the Prophet. 

This tree led Bahira to the Messenger of Allah. This tree was blessed with the touch of the messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family. 

The Qur’an says: “Oh you who believe! Answer the call of Allah and his Messengers when he call you to that which gives life; and know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart” (8-24)

This first teaches that the answer of the call of the Prophet is to answer the call of Allah and thus it is a call to life and it could be said that the Tree has lived to our day because it answers the call and received life through the Prophet by the live of Allah.

The companions of the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with them, used to compare for the water that sprayed forth during the ablution of the Prophet, and the drops of water escaping from his blessed body, in search of the blessings. If that is so, then one can imagine the blessings of a living tree that witnessed the Messenger of Allah, and the accompanied him for some time. 

Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they find described in the Torah and the Gospal with them. Qur’an (6-157)

If you go to this place and view the valley, you will be surprised to see that there are no other trees, no fields,no water. It’s a miracle of Allah. Because any living thing cannot survive there. Its unique. The blessed tree once sheltered Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (SAW), peace and blessings be upon him.

May my soul be sacrificed in love for him. How could this not be full of blessings.