Bahira

Bahira (Arabic: بَحِيرَىٰ, Classical Syriac: ܒܚܝܪܐ) is the name in Islamic tradition of a Christian monk who is said to have foretold Muhammad's prophethood when they met while Muhammad was accompanying his uncle Abu Talib on a trading trip. There are several versions of the story, with elements that contradict each other. A few of these accounts have been questioned by some modern historians, while others have found substantial information asserting to its historical accuracy. Most contemporary and classical Islamic historians accept the story as true, some of whom include Imam Ibn Isḥāq (d. 150/767-8) (Sīrah, p. 73), Imam Ibn Saʿd (d. 230/845) (al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā, 1:97,122), Imam Abū Nuʿaym (d. 430/1038) (Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah, p. 168), Imam Bayhaqī (d. 458/1066) (Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah, 2:24), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (d. 463/1071) (al-Istīʿāb, 1:34), Imam Nawawī (d. 676/1277) (Tahdhīb al-Asmāʾ, 1:24), Ḥāfiẓ Mizzī (d. 742/1341) (Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, 1:189), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751/1350) (Hidāyat al-Ḥayārā, 2:407; Zād al-Maʿād, 1:75), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373) (al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, 2:229, 283), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar (d. 852/1149) (al-Iṣābah, 1:475; Fatḥ al-Bārī, 8:716), Ḥāfiẓ Sakhāwī (d. 902/1497) (al-Maqāṣid al-Ḥasanah, p. 122), Ḥāfiẓ Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505) (al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, 1:141), Shāh Walī Allah Muḥaddith Dehlawī (d. 1176/1762) (Qurrat al-ʿAynayn, p. 106 as cited in al-Yawāqīt al-Gāliyah, 4:373), Mawlānā Rashīd Aḥmad Gangohī (d. 1323/1905). At least one Muslim scholar has been quoted as rejecting this account, namely al-Dhahabi.