Bahira, the Monk

when the messenger of allâh [pbuh] was twelve years old, he went with his uncle abu talib on a business journey to syria. when they reached busra (which was a part of syria, in the vicinity of howran under the roman domain) they met a monk called bahira (his real name was georges), who showed great kindness, and entertained them lavishly. he had never been in the habit of receiving or entertaining them before. he readily enough recognized the prophet [pbuh] and said while taking his hand: "this is the master of all humans. allâh will send him with a message which will be a mercy to all beings." abu talib asked: "how do you know that?" he replied: "when you appeared from the direction of ‘aqabah, all stones and trees prostrated themselves, which they never do except for a prophet. i can recognize him also by the seal of prophethood which is below his shoulder, like an apple. we have got to learn this from our books." he also asked abu talib to send the boy back to makkah and not to take him to syria for fear of the jews. abu talib obeyed and sent him back to makkah with some of his men servants. [ibn hisham 1/180-183; za'd al-ma'ad 1/17]