The study of the ways and manner...

The study of the ways and manner; of the Holy Prophet, right from his childhood till the commencement of his prophetic mission, draws in our eyes the picture of the background of his life and his sublime thoughts, and the scrutiny of the history of his childhood tells us about his brilliant future.

Rather, his brief biography upto the day he was appointed to the prophetic mission, when he declared himself to be the guide of the society, informs us about his future, and makes clear the purpose for which he had been created, and also tells us whether or not his claim to prophethood and leadership accorded with the events of his life.

It tells us whether or not his forty years' life and his behaviour, character, speech and the conduct of his long association with the people support his prophethood. Keeping this in view, therefore, we place before the readers a part of the early life of the Holy Prophet. The kind foster-mother of Muhammad looked after him for five years and did her best to nurse and cherish him. During this period the Holy Prophet learnt eloquent Arabic language and prided himself upon it afterwards.

Later Halimah brought him to Makkah and he spent some time under the loving care of his mother and the guardianship of his magnanimous grandfather. This child was the only souvenir left by Abdullah to his bereaved family.[^1] Journey To Yathrib From the day the newly-wedded daughter-in-law of Abdul Muttalib (viz.

Aminah) had lost her young and dignified husband she had been waiting for an opportunity to go to Yathrib and to see with her own eyes his last resting-place and in the meanwhile also to see her relatives in that city. Eventually she decided that the proper time for her journey had arrived and her dear child had sufficiently grown up to accompany her. They made preparations for the journey and left for Yathrib along with Umme Aiman. They stayed there for one month.

For the young child of Quraysh this journey was very severe and caused him spiritual pain, because he saw for the first time the house in which his father had breathed his last as well as the place where he was Iying buried and naturally, till that time, his mother had already told him many things about his father.