The Monk of Busra

Talhah, of the clan of Taym, was a young trader. The early reports say that on a trading journey to Busra in Syria, a monk in the marketplace asked whether anyone from the Sacred Precinct of Makkah was present, and whether Ahmad had yet appeared there, the prophet expected to emerge from that land.

Talhah returned to Makkah troubled by those words and soon learned that Muhammad ibn 'Abdillah, the trusted one, was claiming prophethood and that Abu Bakr, a friend from his own clan, had followed him. Abu Bakr took him to the Prophet ﷺ, and Talhah accepted Islam.

He did not enjoy the quiet of a hidden faith for long. Reports say that Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid, one of the fiercest men of Quraysh, bound Talhah and Abu Bakr together with a single rope to humiliate them. For this the two were called "the pair" (al-qarinan).