Ajay Kumar at 19:31, 28 September 2023

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{{Short description|6th-cent. monk who prophecied of Muhammad}}
{{distinguish|Bagheera (disambiguation){{!}}Bagheera}}
{{Muhammad}}

'''Bahira''' ({{lang-ar|بَحِيرَىٰ}}, {{lang-syc|ܒܚܝܪܐ}}) was a [[Nasorean]] monk from the tribe of [[Abd al-Qays]]<ref>Al-Masudi, "Muruj adh-Dhahab wa Ma'adin al-Jawhar" {{lang|ar| ,وقال المسعودي، ت : 345 هـ إن بحيرا الراهب على دين المسيح عيسى بن مريم، واسم بحيرا في النصارى سرجس، وكان من عبد القيس}}.</ref> who, according to [[Islam|Islamic religion]], foretold to the adolescent [[Muhammad]] his future as a [[prophet]].<ref name="Bahira">Abel, A. "[https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/bahira-SIM_1050?s.num=155&s.start=140 Baḥīrā]". ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'', Second edition. Brill. Brill Online, 2007 [1986].</ref><ref name="watt1">[[William Montgomery Watt|Watt, W. Montgomery]] (1964). ''[https://archive.org/details/muhammadprophets0000watt Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman]'', p. 1-2. Oxford University Press.</ref> His name derives from the [[Syriac language|Syriac]] ''bḥīrā'', meaning “tested (by God) and approved”.<ref name=Roggema>Roggema, Barbara. "[http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/bahira-COM_23570 Baḥīrā]." Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online, 2014 [2011]. Accessed July 12, 2014.</ref>

==Islamic tradition==

The story of Muhammad's encounter with Bahira occurs in the works of the early [[Muslim]] historians [[Ibn Hisham]] (died 833 CE), [[Ibn Sa'd|Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi]] (784–855), and [[Al-Tabari|Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari]] (839–923), whose versions differ in some details. The young Muhammad, then either nine or twelve years old, met Bahira in [[Syria]] while travelling with a [[Mecca]]n [[Camel train|caravan]], accompanying his uncle [[Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib|Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib]].<ref name="Bahira"/> 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.<ref name="watt1"/> Then a miraculous occurrence indicated to the monk that Muhammad would become a prophet.

When he sat under a tree, its branches moved to shade him, the movement of a cloud kept shadowing Muhammad regardless of the time of the day drew Bahira's attention.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Reflections: Majlis 5 – Ashara Mubaraka 1442 H|url=https://asharamubaraka.jameasaifiyah.edu/reflections-majlis-5/|access-date=2020-08-25|language=en-US}}</ref> The monk revealed his visions of Muhammad's future to the boy's uncle (Abu Talib), warning him to preserve the child from the [[Jews]] (in Ibn Sa'd's version) or from the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] (in al-Tabari's version). Both Ibn Sa'd and al-Tabari write that Bahira found the announcement of the coming of Muhammad in the original, unadulterated [[Gospel in Islam|gospels]], which he possessed.<ref name="Bahira"/>

A similar tradition is attributed to [[Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri]] in the works of the early ahadith compiler [[ʽAbd al-Razzaq al-Sanʽani|‘Abd al-Razzaq al-San‘ani]], in which the unnamed figure is a rabbi of [[Tayma]] instead of a Christian Syrian monk.<ref>{{cite book|page=9|title=The Expeditions: An Early Biography of Muhammad|publisher=NYU Press|last1=ibn Rashid|first1=Mamar|date=16 May 2014|translator=Sean W. Anthony|isbn=978-0814769638}}</ref> The rabbi warns Abu Talib against bringing Muhammad to Syria, as he predicts that Muhammad will be killed by the Syrian Jews if they proceed. In response, Abu Talib returned to Mecca with his nephew. Later Islamic writers gave the rabbi the name of Bahira.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Legend of Sergius Baḥīrā: Eastern Christian Apologetics and Apocalyptic in Response to Islam|url=https://archive.org/details/legendsergiusbah00rogg|url-access=limited|last1=Roggema|first1=Barbara|year=2009|publisher=Brill|page=[https://archive.org/details/legendsergiusbah00rogg/page/n56 44]|isbn=978-9004167308}}</ref>

==Christian tradition==
The names and religious affiliations of the monk vary in different Christian sources. For example, [[John of Damascus]] (d.749), a Christian writer, states that Muhammad "having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an [[Arianism|Arian]] monk, devised his own heresy."<ref>[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/stjohn_islam.aspx St. John of Damascus's Critique of Islam]; from ''Writings'', by St John of Damascus (''De Haeresibus'', chap. 101), ''The Fathers of the Church'' vol. 37 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1958), pp. 153–160.</ref>

For [[Apology of al-Kindy (book)|Abd-al-Masih al-Kindi]], who calls him Sergius and writes that he later called himself [[Nestorianism|Nestorius]], Bahira was a [[Nasorean]], a group usually conflated with the [[Nestorian Christian|Nestorians]]. After the 9th century, Byzantine polemicists refer to him as Baeira or Pakhyras, both being derivatives of the name Bahira, and describe him as an [[Byzantine iconoclasm|iconoclast]]. Sometimes Bahira is called a [[Syrian Jacobite]] or an [[Arianism|Arian]]. The [[Medieval Christian views on Muhammad|early Christian polemical biographies of Muhammad]] share in claiming that any supposed illiteracy of Muhammad did not imply that he received religious instruction solely from the [[angel Gabriel]], and often identified Bahira as a secret, religious teacher to Muhammad.<ref name="Roggema" />

==Gallery==
{{Gallery
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| File:Young Mohammed and the monk Bahira.jpg
|A young Mohammed being recognized by the monk Bahira. Miniature illustration on vellum from the book ''[[Jami' al-Tawarikh]]'' (literally "Compendium of Chronicles" but often referred to as The Universal History or History of the World), by [[Rashid al-Din Hamadani]], published in [[Tabriz]], Persia, 1307 A.D. Now in the collection of the [[Edinburgh University Library]], Scotland
| File:Bahira.jpg
|The Monastery of Bahira the Monk in Bosra, Syria. Partially remaining
| File:Bosra basilica di bahiraHPIM3294.JPG
|Monastery of Bahira the Monk in Bosra, Syria
| File:Mohammed2.jpg
|''Muhammad and the Monk Sergius'', [[engraving]] of 1508 by [[Lucas van Leyden]] (The soldier takes Muhammad's sword. see text)
}}

==Bibliography==
* Maulana Muhammad Ali (2002), ''The Holy Qur'an: Arabic Text with English Translation and Commentary'', New Addition, Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’ at Islam Lahore Inc., Ohio, USA.
* Osman Kartal (2009), ''The Prophet’s Scribe '' Athena Press, London (a novel)
* B. Roggema, ''The Legend of Sergius Baḥīrā. Eastern Christian Apologetics and Apocalyptic in Response to Islam'' (The History of Christian-Muslim Relations. Texts and Studies 9; 2008) (includes editions, translations and further references).
* K. Szilágyi, ''Muhammad and the Monk: The Making of the Christian Baḥīrā Legend'', [[Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam]] 34 (2008), in press.
* Abel, A. (1935) “L'Apocalypse de Bahira et la notion islamique du Mahdi” Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientale III, 1–12. Alija Ramos, M.
* {{cite book |contribution= The legend of the Monk Bahira; the Cult of the Cross and lconoclasm
|editor= P. Canivet |editor2=J.-P. Rey
| author = Griffith, S. H.
| author-link = Sidney H. Griffith
| year = 1995
| title = Muhammad and the Monk Bahîrâ: Reflections on a Syriac and Arabic text from early Abbasid times
| agency = [[Oriens Christianus]]
| volume = 79
| pages =146–174
| publisher =
| location =
| issn = 0340-6407
| pmid =
| doi =
| bibcode =
| oclc = 1642167
| id =
| url = http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3289527
| quote =
}}
* {{cite journal
|author=Griffith, S. H.
|author-link=Sidney H. Griffith
|date=January 2000
|title=Disputing with Islam in Syriac: The Case of the Monk of Bêt Hãlê and a Muslim Emir
|journal=[[Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies]]
|volume=3
|issue=1
|url=http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol3No1/HV3N1Griffith.html
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716191151/http://syrcom.cua.edu/hugoye/Vol3No1/HV3N1Griffith.html
|archive-date=2006-07-16
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kab_cBgLnMY The Byzantine Church Of Buhaira En Bosra Syria]

{{Precursors in religion}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:6th-century Christian monks]]
[[Category:6th-century Arab people]]
[[Category:Life of Muhammad]]
[[Category:Precursors in religion]]
[[Category:Christianity and Islam]]
[[Category:Christian apologetics]]

Bahira - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 19:31, 28 September 2023