20 In Ik FootJtrpl 0/ lIN PropIHt
Bahira no ticed a skin growth identified by his books as "the seal of
prophethood" (lehalim an-nubllu<"Uwh).^2 The monk hastened to warn Abu
Talib that a particular fate awaited this boy and that he must protect him
from adversity and from the :utacks that would undoubtedly befall him,
like all previous messengers of God.
\'(/e have seen mat the first years of J\·luhammad's life were strewn \Vim
many signs. Everyone around him felt and thought that this child \vas dif-
ferent and that a particular fate lay in store for him. T he monk Ballira con-
firmed this impression and integratt:d it into the sacred history of
prophethood. At the age o f twelve, the boy beloved o f everybody was
wid that th e human beings around him would later oppose him; while he
could alread y feci that his uniqueness caused people to love him, now he
knew that in the fumre it would give rise to hatred.
Par several years, Muhammad continued to look after sheep in the hiUs
around r.,·lecca. Although he was young and so mewhat remOV<.:d from the
active life of the settled inhabitants of Mecca, he would sometimes hear of
o r \fitness the ceaseless quarrels and co nflicts among the various tribes,
which resulted in consmntly shifting alliances. In Mecca, interc!an war ... vas
the rule rather than the exception, and some exploited this by dealing unfair~
ly with traders or visimr5 whom they knew to be unprotected by any treaty
o r agreement and unable to rely on any alliancc. This was what happened to
a visiting merchant from Yemen; he had been wronged, but he decided not
to let it pass, and so he publicly explained his situation and appealed to the
nobleness and dignity of the Quraysh tribe to give him justice.^3
The P a c t of the Virtuous
Abdullah ibn Judan, the chief of the Taym tribe and a member o f onc of
the two gteat alliances of .Mcccan tri bes (known as the People o f the
Perfume), decided to invite to his home all those who wanted to put an
end m the conflicts and establish a pact of honor and justice that would
bind the tribes beyond alliances based merely on tribal, political, or com-
mercial interests.
Chiefs and members of numeIOUS tribes thus pledged that it was their
collective duty to intervene in conflicts and side widl the oppressed
against the oppressors, whoc\"t~r they might be and whatever alliances