Was Monk Bahira, Muhammad’s teacher?

Was Monk Bahira, Muhammad’s (a.s.) teacher?

According to the allegation of orientalist scholars the Christian monk Bahira was Muhammad’s (a.s.) teacher. When Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, was a child he met monk Bahira, during a travel trade and got knowledge about Islam from him.

First of all, it should be known that this allegation is full of contradictions. As it was told, this meeting took only as long as a dinner time and this child had remembered everything till he became a Prophet at the age of 40. A nine-year-old child could memorise the entire Quran, but he couldn’t do this in only a few hours!

Moreover, the terms in the Quran are mostly not a copy of the Old and New Testament, contrary they are criticizing the facts which are against the belief of tawhid in a very harsh form. Even the Quran gives a lot of knowledge which contains the opposite of being a copy of the other books. In other words, the Quran is more relevant with criticizing the old books, instead of copying or validating them.

This allegation is a contradiction with these Quran verses:

“And you did not expect that the Book would be inspired to you…” (al-Qasas [28] 86).

“…You did not know what the Book was, nor (what) the faith (was)…” (ash-Shūra [42] 52).

This allegation is a contradiction the narrations, about the first revelations (wahy). If Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, had expected to be a prophet for thirty years, he shouldn’t have been surprised or scared, when he got his first revelations. However, according to the narrations he was surprised and scared when he got his first revelations in the cave Hira.

Therefore, this allegation is not true according to logic, historical narrations and the Quran.