The Prophet’s Descent and Birth
his kind mother
after the accident of splitting his chest, halima -his nursing mother-had been so scared that she sent him back to his mother. so he was with his mother till the age of six.
amena- the mother of the messenger- thought that she had to visit the grave of her husband in yathreb- the former name of madina -as a kind of loyalty to him. so she went out of makkah in a journey for about 500 km with her orphan child muhammed -may prayers and peace of god be upon him- , her maid om ayman and her father in law abd al muttaleb. she stayed there for a month then she returned. she was sick in the beginning of her way back and she got worse till she died in abwa (a place between makkah and madina.
his kind grandfather
abd al muttaleb took the child back to makkah carrying feelings of kindness towards his orphan grandson, who had a new catastrophe, which reminded him of all his old ones; especially his own son’s death (abdullah, muhammad’s father). so he felt extreme compassion, he never felt before .he loved him so much that he did not let him alone to his imposed loneliness, and treated him better than his own sons. ibn hisham stated that abd al muttaleb had used to sit beside the ka’ba - the sacred house of allah - and his sons around him. and it had happened many times that the child muhammed -may prayers and peace of allah be upon him- comes to sit in the place of his grandfather where his uncles did not dare to sit in out of respect to their father. so his uncles take him away of the place of his grandfather. but his grandfather was always letting him sit beside him putting his hand on his back and cheering with all his actions saying: " let my son sit; i swear he will have a great future ".his grandfather died when he was ten years ,two monthes and ten days . but before his death abd al muttaleb decided to make muhammed - may prayers and peace of allah be upon him- in the host of his uncle abu taleb (the brother of his father).
muhammad’s stay with his uncle
he became a young man with his uncle and under the care and keeping of allah, who protected him from the impure pre-islamic paganism
of his folk .so he was the best among his people because of his: chivalry, morals, generosity, kindness, patience, honesty and truthfulness. he was the best neighbor and was the best in all his deeds. he was so honest that all his people were calling him " al ameen"- the honest-and that is of course because of allah’s protection over him.
it was a habit done by the gentlefolk of makkah to entrust their children to the women living in the desert to breast-feed them, because the desert was the best place for the growth of the children’s body, and it was the farthest from diseases of the urbanism, which attack their bodies frequently.
in addition to that is to make those children perfect their arabic language, and get used to talk classical arabic since an early age.
the amount of attention and care given to children differs from a tribe to another, so the gentle folks of makkah were much concerned that their children should be with the most caring tripe. the most reputed tripe in that issue was the tripe of bany sa’ad.
bany sa’ad’s reputation was beyond that; it was not only in taking care of children in a perfect way, but also because of their spoken arabic was a pure one, and they had good, respectable morals. therefore, muhammad’s grandfather abdel muttaleb was very much concerned to give his grandson to the tribe of bany sa’ad.
when halima al sa’dia ( the woman who breast-feeded muhammad pbuh ) came to take him and felt that his family is much concerned to make their child brought up in her tribe, she desired a high donation and so was paid by abdel muttaleb what she desired.
the prophet himself (pbuh) was proud of his growing up in bany sa’ad, and used to say: “i am the most arabian one of you; i am from quraish and was brought up in bany sa’ad bin bakr”
some historians mention that muhammad was presented to all wet nurses who came to makkah and they refused to take him for being an orphan and poor, they desired the rich people’s children, and that halima took him just because she did not find another child. in the contrary, that was not true. muhammad was not poor he was living in his grandfather’s house abdel muttaleb; the master of quraish that all people like to get some of his wealth. sources mentioned that abraha’s army in his assault on ka’ba acquired two hundreds of camels of abdel muttaleb.
abdel muttaleb also ransomed his son abdullah with one hundred camels, and slayed a heap of camels in his marriage, so that all people did eat from it.
al-ya’kouby mentioned that when abd el muttaleb died he was wrapped up in two costumes (yemen’s costumes) that worth one thousand molecules of gold.
you believe after all this that no one of bani sa’ad’s women wanted to have muhammad to grow up in her house.
muuhammad (pbuh) spent four or five years with the family of (halima bent aby thu’aib al sa’dia) and her husband (al haarith ben abdel ozza). then something happened made her accelerate returning him to his mother in makkah; when her young son told her that two men took muhammad and split his chest and extracted a black leech from it and washed his heart and returned it to its place. historians differed in the truth of the split of the heart if it is perceptible or abstract. however, it may refer to inaccessibility that allah gave muhammad – peace be upon him- that reinforced him against natural humanity offences and earthly life temptations.
his foster brothers are –peace be upon him:
abullah ben al haarith, anisa bent al haarith, huthafa bent al haarith (known as ash-shaima’: her nickname) that was very close to the prophet - peace be upon him.
the prophet’s childhood at bany sa’ad’s had its effect on his carnality shape and on his mental alternation in prospective. his preparation for mental meditation was shaped there since his early age.
etiene denie, the french orientalist, says in his book "muhammad, allah's messenger": "such body and behavioral health which he (pbuh) owed to the desert, had helped him a lot in enduring the hardships he had to face. muhammad (pbuh) loved to remember such period, he used to say "among the invaluable blessings that allah (the almighty) had bestowed on me is that i was born in quraish, the noblest of the tribes. that i was raised up in the desert of bani sa’ad, the healthiest place in hijaz". such images that were among the first elements that affected his feelings, kept engraved in his soul; those of him shepherding the cattle and watching over them in their grazing areas.
such readiness for meditation and loneliness was not compatible with the riotous manners of his fellow friends, that's why he used to seclude himself from them and stay alone where he can find calmness and serenity.
the prophet (may prayers and peace of allah be upon him) being in bani saad, - a tribe in which he was spending his childhood ( a habit done by all noble families at that time, to let their children spend their childhood with tribes living far in the desert and depending on nature in their living and speaking the standard arabic language, so that their children grow in a healthy physical and spiritual area)- the accident of splitting his chest happened in his fourth year.
muslim narrated that anas said:” gabriel came to the messenger (pbuh) and laid him down. then he split his chest and took out his heart, and took a leech and said:" this is the share of the devil from you". gabriel washed his heart with the water of zamzam - a well in makkah- in a golden tub. after that he gathered his heart together and put it in its place back again. the children had gone to his nursing mother and told her that muhammed was murderd. when she found him he was pale. anas mentioned that he saw the place of the splitting in his chest.
he is muhammad, son of abdullah, son of abdul-mottaleb, son of hashem, son of abd-manaf, son of qusay, son of kilab, son of murrah, son of ka’ab, son of lo’ay, son of ghaleb, son of fehr, son of malek, son of al-nadr, son of kenanah, son of khozayma, son of madrekah, son of elyas, son of modar, son of nezar, son of ma’ad, son of adnan.
ibn-hagar said “muhammad’s (peace be upon him) descent up to adnan is agreed upon by all scholars”
aisha (may allah be pleased with her) also said the same “the descent of all people is known up to ma’ad son of adnan”. al tabarani
even abu-sufyan admitted muhammad’s (peace be upon him) honorable descent when hercules asked him “how is his descent among you?”
abu-sufyan replied “he is of high descent among us” hercules said “so do all messengers when sent to their people”
muhammad’s (peace be upon him) names:
it is mentioned in both books of bukhary and muslim, that muhammad (peace be upon him) once said “i have five names, i am muhammad, ahmad (the thankful), al-mahy (the eraser) whom allah erases infidelity with, al-hasher (the resurrecter) whom all people will resurrect at my feet, and i am al akeb ( the successor.) ”
abu-mussa said that muhammad (peace be upon him) once told us his names, saying “i am muhammad, ahmad, al-moqaffi (successor), al-hasher (the resurrecter ), the prophet of repentance, and the prophet of mercy”
abu-hurayrah said (in the book of al-bukhary) : muhammad (peace be upon him) said once “don’t you wonder how allah protects me from quraish’s cursing, they are cursing mothammam, and i am muhammad”
he (allah) gave him part of his name to honor him
allah is mahmoud (praised) and he is muhammad (praised upon)
ebn-hagar said “it seems to me that muhammad (peace be upon him) meant that allah privileged him with those five names which no one before was named with, not that he has only those five names”
al-sohaily thinks that before the prophet there were only three men named “muhammad”, while ibn-hagar said that he wrote a book about the names of muhammad (peace be upon him), in which he counted 15 men called muhammad before the prophet.
many books were written about the names of muhammad (peace be upon him). some counted over 300 names, many of which have no source, many others are of his characteristics, and many more were not mentioned as names, for instance, some counted “labenah” (adobe – brick) for what was mentioned in “al-bukhary book” that muhammad (peace be upon him) once said “me and the prophets are like a man building a house as beautiful as it should be, except for a small place in the size of a brick in a corner. all people walked around the house admiring it and wondering, “shouldn’t anyone place this brick!!” and i am this brick, for i am the last of the prophets”
as for his agnomen (nickname) is “abu al-qassem”, for it was mentioned in the books of muslim and al-bukhary that one day mohammad (peace be upon him) was in the market, a man called another man saying “abu al-qassem”. there muhammad (peace be upon him) turned and said “use my name, but don’t use my agnomen”.
in his 25th of age, the prophet (pbuh) worked in trading with khadieja’s money ( khadieja – may allah be pleased with her- who became later his wife, and is his 1st wife).
ibn ishaak said:” khadieja bint khuwailed was an honest rich woman who used to pay for men to travel for her in her trading. quraish – the prophet’s tribe – were working in trading, so when khadieja heard about muhammad’s honesty and good manners, she asked him to work for her and travel with her trading to ash-shaam ( now known as all syria, jordan lebanon and palestine) and paid for him more than anyone before with a servant called maysarra.
when muhammad (pbuh) came back from his mission in ash-sham, he used to trade in the markets of makkah or other neighbor markets; such as ukadh, majnah and thalmajaz.
muhammad (pbuh) didn’t spend his days long only in trading; he worked to offer himself a good proper life. he spent the rest of his time in imitating and thinking about the world, the universe around him and the creator of all these things.
after “al fijar war”, an agreement was held between many tribes of quraish: “ banu hashim, banu al muttalib, asad bin abdel uzza, zahra bin kilab and taiem bin murra “.
they held this agreement in the resident of abdullah bin jad’aan al taimy for being of great honour in these tribes. this agreement was for the sake of supporting the oppressed in makkah till they give them all their rights back.
muhammad (pbuh) witnessed this agreement; he said after legation:” i witnessed “al fudoul “agreement in the resident of abdullah bin jad’an, and if i will be invited to such an agreement in islam i wont refuse.”
the target of this agreement was against the rules of that time that was controlled by tribalism or racism, that distinguish the people of high rank from those lower.
it was said that the reason of this agreement was because of a man that came to makkah to sell some goods; al ‘aas bin wael al sahmi took his goods without giving him his rights. this person tried to get his rights back and asked for help from all heads of quraish. this caused them to meet and hold this agreement and the man got his rights back again and all oppressed after that were protected because of this agreement.
