Story of the Birth of Prophet Muhammad SAW
Do you Know that Prophet Muhammad Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him, the Master of Prophets, was born to Abdullah and Amina in the month of Rabi ul Awwal? Alhumdulillah this is the month of Rabi ul Awwal so I request all of you reading this post to send Darood and Salam on our dear Prophet.
Today I would like to share with you the Story of birth of our dear Prophet-Prophet Muhammad SAW.May the Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Bibi Aminah felt that her pregnancy was very unique: She felt no discomfort or any pain during the pregnancy. She felt that her pregnancy was unbelievably smooth. When she was walking down the road, she would see that branches of trees would bow in front of her. Sometimes, she would hear branches of trees and stones reciting Ya Rasul Allah. She started noticing these sigs even before thebProphet PBUH came into this world.
A lot of times, she would feel that a light would emanate from her womb.
Hadith: ‘My mother also had visions during her pregnancy. When she bore me, a light came forth from her womb that lit up the castles of Syria’.
This was a glad tiding from Him that a person that she was bearing insider her, when he comes into this world, he will not be an ordinary human being. He will be the beloved Prophet PBUH and he will conquer the castles of Syria. His followers will be so powerful that he will spread this
message to all the corners of this world. They will even conquer the castles of Syria It was the lightest of pregnancy. A lot of times, she saw that stars would actually descend and stare at Bibi Aminah or stare at her womb.
Whenever she would go to the well of zam zam to draw the water from the well,she didn’t have to lower the bucket inside the well. Zam zam would itself rise up for her. The women around her started to notice this. This is why the women of her community started to say to her that make sure you stay here, so we can fill up our buckets quickly before the water goes down again.
Once she felt that a voice addressed her: ‘You are pregnant with the lord of this nation; when he drops to the ground in birth, say the words: ‘I invoke for him the protection of the One God, from the evil of all who envy, from everyone committed to his oath and every prowling slave…’. So an angel taught her to recite this dua once the Prophet PBUH was born.
All of these signs were very unfamiliar for her, but she understood that something very special was about to happen.
Why did the stars come down during her pregnancy, to greet Bibi Aminah?
If we also wish to shine like a star in the sky, then we will also have to lower ourselves to follow the blessed teachings of the Prophet PBUH. Result of following his teachings is that we will become like the stars.
Quran: ‘He has made the sky of this world beautiful with lamps’. One ishara that we get from this ayat, is that He has decorated the sky with these stars and He has made the earth beautiful with the people who truly love Him. Just like the stars are the zeenat of the sky. Similarly, those who truly love Him, they are the zeenat/beauty of this earth.Those who follow him like the stars:
Hadith: ‘My sahaba are like stars. Whosoever you follow from among them, you will be guided’.
The greatest sign that was mentioned in the Torah and different scriptures: the Red Star started to shine. This wa an eminent sign that was mentioned in the Torah: when the Prophet PBUH would be close to entering the world, the red star would start to shine.
As soon as the Jews of Madinah saw that the red star had started shining, they restlessly started discussing that the last messenger was about to come. They were so confident that the final messenger would be from aوmongst ther own descendants. So they went to all of the home of Madinah, to find out if there were any women who were close to delivery. There were some women who were expecting, but there was a lot of time left for their delivery. So they were shocked to find out that perhaps, the final messenger
wasn’t from their community. And then they found out that the most noble person of the Quraysh (Muttalib), his daughter in law was the one who was expecting. As soon as they realized that the final messenger wouldn’t be from their own lineage, but rather from the Quraysh, they became furious and they refused to accept it. This was a power struggle for them.
They felt that if the final messenger was from their own community, then it would make it easy for them to gain control of the entire region. This was their disloyalty that He mentioned over and over again in the Quran. They hid the Torah. They deliberately changed the teachings of the Torah. They hid all of these signs because of this arrogance nd power struggle. They just couldn’t accept that the final messenger wouldn’t be from their people.
A few days after the red star started to shine, the greatest event in the history of humanity took place: the Prophet PBUH was born.
Signs at the birth of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh)
1. Chosroe’s domed palace shook (in Persia) and 14 balconies fell down. He was renowned to be the king of that time. Allah swt wanted to show to all of humanity that now there will be another person who will be the true leader and king of this world. Interpretation: After 14 generations, you will lose your throne.He thought that he still had 14 descendants who wouldcome after him, and then the throne will be taken over. Sohe felt relaxed that we will look at it when it happens. However, Allah swt ordained it such that these 14 generations happened very quickly (10 kings ruled in the next 4 years, and the remainder kings ruled under the khilafa of Uthman RA). It was during the time of Uthman RA’s khilafa, when Chosroe’s castle was triumphed over by the sahaba.
2. Fire of Persia went out: the people in Persia were all fire worshippers. This fire had been flaming for 1000 years and it had never gone out. For the first time in 1000 years, the night when the Prophet PBUH was born, that fire went out.
This fire was a sign of ignorance/shirk, and now this fire isgoing to go out forever because the Prophet PBUH has come into this world. Now, he is going to dispel this darkness of shirk/ignorance forever.
3. Lake Sawa emptied: this was a lake in Persia became empty
that same night.
4.Magian priest had a dream that night. He dreamt that wildcamels were driving pure bread horses away, and had crossed the river and spread into their land. When this priest woke up in the morning, and he shared his dream with his magicians, they said that these Arabs are going to
drive you out. And they will take over Persia. They will take over your castles.
The reason for all of these signs:
These people thought thatthey had so much power. However, Allah swt wanted to show them that now this very night, someone so special has
come into this world, that now your power is onlytemporary. And he is going to rule over the hearts ofpeople. These people might still rule over people’s bodies.However, the ruler of hearts has come into this world.
Birth of Prophet Muhammad SAW
1.He did sajdah when he was born
2. He knelt down on his eyes and he looked up towards thesky (this is unusal for a baby)
As soon as he was born, A-Muttalib took him in his hands, and he took him to the Kaaba. This was the custom in those days, that they would take their new borns to the Kaaba in order to make duas. He then named him Muhammad because of the beauty of his blessed face. His face was so beautiful. He was blessed with the kind of beauty that no other human being had been gifted with. The reason that Muttalib named him Muhammad was because: Allah swt inspired his heart Muhammad means the one who has been praised. i.e. theProphet PBUH is that human being who has been the most praised in this entire world.
Another name that was given to him was Ahmed. This means the one who praises. The Prophet PBUH would become that person who would do the most hamd of Allah swt, and he is also the person whose hamd will be done the most by other people, out of all human beings.
Day of birth: Monday (scholars unanimous)
Year of birth: Aam al feel (scholars unanimous)
Date of birth: between the 9th and 12th of Rabbiul awwal
(not unanimous), but the exact date is not communicated to
us by the Prophet PBUH
The Prophet PBUH was nursed by his own mother, AminahBibi. There was also a woman who used to live with Amina.Her name was Thuwayba. She also suckled the Prophet PBUH.
The tradition of those times was that the babies that were born in Makkah were sent outside Makkah, to be nursed by women who weren’t residents of Makkah. There were 2 reasons for this:
1. Since Makkah was the commercial hub of those days. So many people would come from the different countries for the annual pilgrimage. These people would bring all types of sicknesses and viral infections. In those days, there were no vaccinations for infants, against all these sicknesses. Hence,this is why infants and babies were sent outside Makkah so
that they wouldn’t fall sick, and in order to prevent them from catching these viral infections.
2.Since Makkah was a commercial hub, and it was home to so many visitors annually, the pure dialect of the Arabic language had been corrupted. So in order for the kids to learn the collect dialect of the pure Arabic language, they felt that they needed to go outside of Makkah where the purest form of Arabic language existed. Because these werepeople who were very proud of their language. They had an oral tradition. And they were extremely eloquent and they were into literature/reciting poetry. For them to be able to pronounce Arabic, and converse in the purest form of Arabic was of prime importance. Therefore, infants were sent out of Makkah so they could spend the first 3-5 years of the life being nursed and raised by the women over there. The parents would go and visit them there themselves, or the women who were nursing those babies would bring the babies back every year, so the parents could meet them. So when the Prophet PBUH was born, it was decided by Bibi Aminah and Muttalib that he should also be sent outside Makkah.
There was a valley where a tribe used to live by the name of Banu Sa’d. And the valley where they used to live was called the valley of Banu Sa’d. This was 100-150 km from Makkah.
It was a tradition amongst the women of those days, that these women would travel to Makkah and they would bring babies back to their own valleys. And they would nurse these babies. And they would get paid for this.
Halima Sa’dia was a woman from Banu Sa’d. The reason that she was called Sa’dia was because she was from the tribe of Banu Sa’d. She was the daughter of Abu Dhu’ayh. She travelled with 10 other women to Makkah.
When they were travelling, the drought that they were afflicted with and the poverty was so severe, that Halima narrates that ‘When I was travelling, I was travelling on a donkey that was going so slowly, and it was so tired and frail that I felt that I would never reach Makkah.’ She was
travelling with her son and husband (Harith Abd al-Uza).They also brought one camel with them. She narrates that the camel was empty and there was no milk in the udders.The other women went ahead of Halima, and Halima trailed behind on her slow donkey with her family and camel.
When these women reached Makkah, each one of them was offered to nurse the Prophet PBUH. But as soon as that they heard that he was an orphan, immediately, they refused.
Bibi Aminah was extremely upset because no one was accepting her son, and she felt that she would have to nurse him in Makkah herself. And she was scared for the life of her son.
Shen Halima arrived in Makkah, all of the other children had already been taken by the other women. She was also offered the Prophet PBUH but she refused initially because she actually found out that he is an orphan. But somehow,something inspired her heart. And she said that I want to have a look at her baby. As soon as she say the blessed and beautiful face, she was stirred by love, and she agreed to nurse him, even though she realized that she wont be given ample provision in return because he was an orphan.
But she took him because:She was stirred by love for the Prophet PBUH.
She said to her husband that there is no way that I can return empty handed. All the other women have gotten a child. And all of them refused this child. And someone has to nurse this child. I can’t go back empty handed So she took the Prophet PBUH to her husband. When they were about to mount their donkey, all of a sudden, they noticed that their camel (whose udders had been empty),they saw that the udders were full. And there was a lot of milk in the camel. So Harith immediately began to milk the camel, and they all drank to their fill. And then, Halima noticed that her chest was full of milk. Initially, before she met the Prophet PBUH, her chest had no milk, and she couldn’t even offer any milk to her own son. And all of a sudden, she felt that even she was full of milk. So she fed the Prophet PBUH and she also fed her own son. And both the children drank to their fill. And Halima and her husband all drank to their fill from the camel’s milk.
When this happened, Harith sent to Halima that: What a beautiful and blessed child you have brought with you! Perhaps Allah swt will bring us some blessings through him.It seems that this child is full of blessings.
The moment that the Prophet PBUH became part of their household, it was at that moment that the blessing of the Prophet PBUH started to illuminate their lives.
MashaAllah! Jazak Allah Khayr for sharing.
MashaAllah