The people asked the Prophet "Have you too been a shepherd?

The people asked the Prophet "Have you too been a shepherd?" He replied "Yes. For some time I grazed the sheep of the people of Makkah in Qarareet area".

No doubt it was necessary for the person, who must fight with Abu Jahls and Abu Lahabs, and one who wanted to mould, out of degraded persons, whose common sense and intelligence was at such a level that they bowed before every stone and stick, a set of those, who should not submit to the will of anyone except the Will of Allah, that he should have rehearsed the lesson of forbearance and patience, in different ways, for quite some time.

We think that there was another reason also for the Holy Prophet choosing the pastoral occupation. It was that the sight of unreasonable ways of life of the powerful ones amongst the Quraysh and demonstration of viciousness by them weighed heavily on the mind of this brave and free man; who possessed a great sense of moral dignity. Besides this, failure of the Makkan society to worship the Almighty and their going round the inanimate idols was something very unpleasant for an intelligent person.

For these reasons the Holy Prophet dissociated himself from that society and spent a part of his life in the jungles and on the slope of the mountains which were naturally located at a distance from that polluted society, so that, for some time at least, he might be relieved of the mental torture caused by the pitiable conditions prevailing in that age.

By observing the beautiful sky and the positions and shape of stars and by reflecting on the plants of the jungle an enlightened person becomes acquainted with hundreds of signs of Divine order and strengthens his natural belief in monotheism with cogent scientific proofs.

The great Prophets, notwithstanding the fact that from the very time of their coming into existence their hearts were illuminated with the glowing torch of monotheism did not consider themselves independent of the need of studying the created beings and the Universe and through this very method they attained to the highest degrees of conviction and faith.

Abu Talib's Proposal The stringent financial conditions of his nephew prompted Abu Talib, who was himself one of the chiefs of Makkah and noblemen of Quraysh and was famous for his generosity, bravery and magnanimous disposition to arrange for a vocation for him.