The Sanctuary in the Desert 19As is the case with most prophets, Muhammad’s birth was accom-
panied by signs and portents. Al-Tabari writes that while Muham-
mad’s father, Abdallah, was on his way to meet his bride, he was
stopped by a strange woman who, seeing a light shining between his
eyes, demanded he sleep with her. Abdallah politely refused and con-
tinued to the house of Amina, where he consummated the marriage
that would result in the birth of the Prophet. The next day, when
Abdallah saw the same woman again, he asked her, “Why do you not
make the same proposition to me today that you made to me yester-
day?” The woman replied, “The light which was with you yesterday
has left you. I have no need of you today.”
Abdallah never had the chance to decipher the woman’s words; he
died before Muhammad was born, leaving behind a meager inheri-
tance of a few camels and sheep. But the signs of Muhammad’s
prophetic identity continued. While she was pregnant, Amina heard a
voice tell her, “You are pregnant with the Lord of this people, and
when he is born, say, ‘I put him in the care of the One from the evil of
every envier’; then call him Muhammad.” Sometimes Amina would
see a light shining from her belly by which she could make out “the
castles of Syria,” a reference, perhaps, to Muhammad’s prophetic suc-
cession to Jesus (Syria was an important seat of Christianity).
As an infant, Muhammad was placed in the care of a Bedouin fos-
ter mother to be nursed, a common tradition among Arabs of seden-
tary societies who wanted their children to be raised in the desert
according to the ancient customs of their forefathers. Appropriately, it
was in the desert that Muhammad had his first prophetic experience.
While herding a flock of lambs, he was approached by two men,
clothed in white, who carried with them a golden basin full of snow.
The two men came to Muhammad and pinned him to the ground.
They reached into his chest and removed his heart. After extracting a
drop of black liquid from it, they washed the heart clean in the snow
and gently placed it back into Muhammad’s breast before disappearing.
When he was six years old, Muhammad’s mother died as well, and
he was sent to live with his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, who, as the
man in charge of providing Zamzam water to the pilgrims, filled one
of the most influential pagan posts in Meccan society. Two years later,
Abd al-Muttalib also died, and the orphaned Muhammad was once