The
Trustworthy

Muhammad was born into the tribe known as Qureish,

the most powerful tribe in Makkah,

the tribe that was in charge of the Ancient House built by Ibrahim and Isma'il.

But by the time that Muhammad was a young man,

the walls of the Ancient House were coming apart

and it was starting to fall down.

It was decided that the House would have to be rebuilt,

and all the men from the four main clans of the Qureish joined together

to tear down the walls and then put them together again.

They tore down the stones of the walls

until they reached the hard rock of the foundations,

and then they started to build.

Everything went well until the walls were as high as a man

and they needed to replace the special black stone

that Ibrahim had set in the corner of the House.

This stone was used for the start and end of the ceremonies

that pilgrims went through when they came to Makkah to visit the House,

and because the stone was thought to be very holy

it was considered a great honour for whoever might set the stone back in its place.

Now just like children in a family will often argue and fight over who gets what and who is best,

the different families that were the clans of the Qureish argued over who would be the one to put the black stone back into its place.

They argued so much about it that in the end it seemed that

the clans might go to war with each other.

So one of the oldest and wisest amongst them,

a man called Abu Umayya of the clan Banu Makhzum,

came up with a solution.

"Let us trust in God to send us the best person to decide this" he said

"Let us agree that the first person to come into the square by the as-Safa door will choose between us."

And they did.

And who do you think was the first person to walk through the door?

It was Muhammad.

The members of the Qureishi clans were overjoyed that the solution to their problem would be decided by Muhammad.

As he had grown from boy to man, those around him had recognised his wisdom and honesty

and had given him the nickname of 'al-Amin', which means 'the Truthful and Trustworthy'.

When he walked through the door of as-Safa they knew that they could trust Muhammad to judge the situation fairly.

Muhammad thought for a moment, then took off his cloak and spread it on to the ground.

Then he ordered that the black stone be placed in the middle of the cloak,

and for the leaders of the four clans to each take a corner of the cloth and raise the stone together,

sharing the honour.

Then when the stone was close to where it needed to be set,

Muhammad himself pushed it into place.

Muhammad the Trustworthy had lived up to his name,

and the clans finished building the walls of the House together

with no more disagreement.