After these events, Abu Talib had become an indispensable part of his luminous nephew. The view that he started to hold more strongly was this:

“My nephew will become a very big and important person in the future!”

Therefore, he carried out the duty of protecting the Prophet very carefully and consciously; he virtually danced attendance on the Prophet.

Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) was an incomparable youth in terms of his spirit and appearance. The virtues and beauty in both his heart and spirit had shaped his face in an extraordinarily beautiful way. He was of medium height, though his height was close to being tall, and had wavy black hair. He had a high and broad forehead and thick black eyebrows. His eyebrows were very close to one another; however, they were not connected. His eyes were pretty and black. And his long, black eyebrows added a very different kind of loveliness to his glance.

The Divine Destiny had already determined him in the pre-eternity to be the prophet of humanity. Hence, he led his life under the training of All-Maker Glorious God. That is why no signs of indecency and evil were ever witnessed by people around him all his life.

He hated idols very much. He did not respect them even once in his life.

The Quraishian idolaters had a custom. They used to gather around the idol of Bowana at certain times of the year, stayed there until the night, shaved themselves by it, cut animals, and organized big ceremonies.

Again, all the Quraishians had prepared for this kind of a ceremony. Abu Talib, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, wanted to participate in the ceremony with the other family members. But the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not want to go there and asked him to excuse himself. Abu Talib and the Prophet’s aunts were surprised at his refusal to go there. They got angry. Although they insisted on his coming as well, he would not change his mind. So they said,“We are afraid of that you will be struck down because of your turning away from our gods.”

And they put pressure on him so hard that he agreed to follow them not to break their hearts though unwillingly. As soon as they came very near to the idol, the Luminous Prophet (pbuh) was seen to have been gone. When they found him, they saw him in a horrible condition. He had turned pale and it was all clear from his appearance that he was afraid.

His uncle and aunts asked him what was wrong with him.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) answered:

“I was afraid to be harmed.”

They said: “God would not let anybody do harm to you. You have very fine qualities. Now, tell us what you saw?”

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) told them what he saw:

“When I came near to the idol, some one in white clothes appeared there and shouted, “O Muhammad! Stay back and never touch it.” (1)

After this incident, never in his life did the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) ever neither come near to any idols nor participated in their ceremonies.

Yes, he, who always preached the faith of One God as soon as he was honored with prophethood, would certainly lead a clean life even in his childhood completely away from the polytheism against which he was sent.

God Almighty was constantly protecting him even when he was not given prophethood yet. The Noble Prophet (pbuh) pointed out to this fact with his words, “My Lord has given me the good-manners in the most appropriate fashion.” (2)

Just orientalists could not deny it despite everything. Sir W. Miur makes a confession in his book, “Life of Muhammad” as follows:

“All of the information about Prophet Muhammad agrees on one point, which is his having supreme morality.”

FOURTH BATTLE OF FIJAR AND THE PROPHET

Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) was 20 years old when the fourth Battle of Fijar broke out. (3)

Before Islam, in the Era of Ignorance, murders, bloody clashes, violence, feuds, all kinds of theft and corruption followed one another. Besides, what else could be expected from a people who would frequently destroy one another, whose hearts were devoid of compassion and mercy, and whose societal lives were far away from justice and law?

Since the very beginning, the Arabs had deemed the months of Muharram, Rajab, Dhilqada, and Dhilhijja to be holy. The spilling of blood and the committing of any misdeeds and any sort of injustice were all strictly prohibited during these months. For this reason, they were referred to as the “haram (forbidden) months”.

The Battle of Fijar took place during one of these months. It acquired its name since blood was split and because both sides committed great injustice and cruelty. (4)

The Battles of Fijar were fought four times among Arabs.

The Master of the Universe (PBUH) was ten years old at the time of the first Battle of Fijar. (5)

These four battles, which took place in a long period of nine to ten years, arose from shallow and insignificant reasons.

A man from the Ghifaris said “I am the most honorable among the Arabs”, while lying down in the Ukaz fair.  Upon hearing this, a man from the Hawazin tribe assumed that it was an insult directed towards him, drew his sword, and wounded the man’s foot.  Due to this reason, the first Battle of Fijar began between the Kinana and Hawazin tribes..

The second battle broke out between the Quraysh and the Hawazin after a woman had been harassed at the Ukaz Fair.

The third battle took place between the Kinana and Hawazin tribes when a tribesman from Sons of Kinana did not pay his debt to a man from the tribe of the Sons of Amir, and had instead, extended the grace period.

Whereas the Fourth Battle of Fijar, in which our Holy Prophet (PBUH) took part when he was 20 years old, was fought among the Quraysh, Sons of Kinane, and the Qays al-Aylan. It resulted from an incident in which a man named Barraz bin Qays from the Kinana killed a man called Urwa from the Qays al-Aylan (Hawazin). (6)

The Quraysh were the allies of the Sons of Kinana; therefore, they had to fight in this battle.

Abu Talib did not want to partake in the fourth battle, which was being fought in the Ukaz Fair, since it was a “haram month” and because he guessed that there would be much cruelty inflicted. However, he was obliged to join when the other branches of the Quraysh insisted on fighting.

It was narrated that Abu Talib took his glorious nephew with him to this battle one or two times. However, our Holy Prophet (PBUH) only picked up the enemies’ arrows and handed them to his uncle. (7)

The two sides reached an agreement when they realized that this clash would not end. According to their agreement, the dead bodies would be counted, and the opponent would pay the blood money to whichever side that had the most losses; in this way, the war would finally end.

The final tally resulted in there being about twenty more dead soldiers on the Qays al-Ayan’s side; thus the Sons of Kinana and the Quraysh paid the blood money for these twenty individuals. It was in this manner that this bloody war finally came to an end, which was twenty years after the year of the incident of the elephant. (8)

[1] Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, V. 1, p. 158; Halabi, Insanu’l-Uyun, V. 1, p. 164.
[2] Abdurrahman Munawi, Faydu’l-Qadir, V. 1, p. 224.
[3] Ibn Hisham, Sirah, p. 198; Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, V. 1, p. 128.
[4] Ibn Hisham, ibid, V. 1, p. 195.
[5] Ibn Hisham, ibid, V. 1, p. 196.
[6] Ibn Hisham, ibid, V. 1, p. 196-197; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, V. 1, p. 126-128.
[7] Ibn Hisham, ibid, V. 1, p. 198.
[8] Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, V. 1, p. 128; Tabari, Tarikh, V. 1, p. 201.