decided to free and adopt as his son his slave Zayd Ibn H arithah, gifted to
him by his wife a few years earlier. Later, when his own son Abdullah died,
he sought to help his uncle Abu Talib--in great financial difficulty and
burdened with a very large family-by taking his young cousin Ali ibn Abi
Talib intO his homc. Ali was !ater to marry j\'!uh am mad's youngest daugh-
ter, Fatimah.ZaydThe story of Zayd, the adopted son, IS Hlteresting for m any reasons.
Captured during a batde, he had been sold sevl.":ral times before becoming
Khadijah's slave, men Muhammad's. He remained 10 thl.": Prophet'S sl.":rvice
for seYeral years. during which time hI.": learned that his par ents were still
alive, as news circulated from tribe to tribe through verse spread by mer-
chants and travelers as mey went from village to village. Zayd then com-
posed some verse and arranged for several members of his tribe visiting
Mecca to hear it and ~port it to his family. On hearing he was there, his
father and uncle decided to leave for Mecca immediately to find Zayd and
bring him baek to his tri be. T hey heard he was at tvluhammad's and came
to him proposing to buy Zayd back. i\'luhammad in turn suggested they
sh ould let Zayd choose for himself; if he d ecided to go back with his
father and uncle. i{uhamm ad would let him go without asking for any
compensation, but if on th e contrary Zayd wanted to stay with his mas-
ter, his relatives \'ould have to accept his choice. T hey agreed, and they
went together fO ask Zayd what he wanted. I-le decided to stay with his
maste£, and explained to his relatives that he p referred slavery with
Muhammad to freedom away from him, so far did the qudities he had
found in h.im exceed what he could expect of other men. He therefo re
remained with his master, who immediately freed him and annou nced
publicly thaI Zayd was now [0 be considered as his son. that he would be
called Z ayd ibn M uhammad (Zayd , son of Muhammad), and that he
would inhem from him.^9
This story-Zayd's choice, while still a slave, of his master over his
father-ad ds another dimension to the portrait of !.luhammad that is
gradually emerging, and it tells a JOt about Muhammad's personality
before Revelation. Simple, meditative, and courteous, bu t also honest and