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Muhammad: The Upright Youth
Muhammad: The Upright Youth "...verily you are on a straight path" (Quranic chapter 43: verse 43), "His behaviour has been the Quran", "When the hero is a Prophet": thus God described Muhammad (pbuh) first; thus his wife described his sublime manners second; and thus the man (pbuh) was described third (1840) by fair historians like the Scottish essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) when he delivered a series of essays that made a shift in Oriental studies. A contemplating reader is to observe here that a big part of what Carlyle (ibid) describes as heroism has undoubtedly been based on theethical aspect of Muhammad's character, even before receiving any divine revelation; and it is that one in the Prophet's youth that is to be perused here. As a young man, historians maintain, Muhammad (pbuh) has been told never approached the lecherous surroundings of his age: gambling, drinking, adultery and so forth (see Carlyle's essays (ibid) and Arabic sources like "The Sealed Nectar"). He never worshiped or circumambulated an idol before divine revelation; never did he when his people walked naked around the Kaaba. His people noticed that, took it as a clear-cult evidence of his upright ethics to the extent that a woman high-ranked in his tribe, never saw him before, heard about the youth (pbuh), asked him to manage her merchandise and work for her though he was still 25 years. The woman (his wife Khdija later) sent her servant Maisara with the young man (pbuh) on a journey to the Levant, and the servant came with the glad tidings that the young man's behaviour was never seen before and that his chastity was second to none. The news encouraged her to offer herself as a wife though she was 15 years older and perused by the tribe masters, an unprecedented event and a proof of sublime morality. Precursors prior to his prophethood Maysera, her servant, told her about some miracles that accompanied him wherever he went; a cloud used to shade him wherever he went. Also, it happened that when the Kabba was rebuilt that young men used to carry stones over their heads putting their clothes over their head their clothes. When Mohammed did the same he received a punch, felt it but it was not painful. It was also narrated the prophet after receiving the revelation that he said there is a certain stone that used to greet him whenever he passed by it.
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