The Birth of Muhammad and the Early Years of his Life

Zakaria Bagar

Abdullah was the favorite son of Abdul Muttalib. When he used to be seventeen years old, he used to be married to Amina, a high-born girl of Yathrib, a town in the north of Makkah. He was once not, however, destined tostay long, and died solely seven months after his marriage.

Muhammad, the future apostle of God, used to be a posthumous child.Shaikh Muhammad el-Khidhri Buck, professor of Islamic History, Egyptian University, Cairo, says in his book, Noor-ul Yaqeen fi Seeret Sayyed al-Mursaleen (1953). He (Muhammad ibn Abdullah) was once born in the house of his uncle, Abu Talib, in the “quarter” of Banu Hashim in Makkah, on the twelfth of Rabi al-Awal of the Year of the Elephant, a date that corresponds to June 8, 570.

His midwife used to be the mother of Abdur Rahman ibn Auf. His mother, Amina, sent the tidings of the auspicious birth to his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, who came, took him in his arms, and gave him the name Muhammad.

Muhammad’s share in his patrimony used to be one maid servant, Umm Ayman; 5 camels and ten sheep. This is proof that prophets can inherit property, and if they can inherit property from their parents, they can also bequeath property to their personal children.

Being a prophet does no longer disqualify them from receiving their personal patrimony nor does it disqualify their youngsters from receiving theirs. Thisassertion may additionally show up to be a non-sequitur in this context however it is not. Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, may God bless him and his Ahlul-Bait, had bestowed upon his daughter, Fatima, as a gift, the property of Fadak.

But when he died, Abu Bakr, the khalifa, and Umar, his adviser, seized the property on the plea that prophets do not bequeath any property to their very own children, and something wealth they possess, belongs, after their death,not to their children, but to their umma (the people).

It is a grim penalty that one has to pay in Islam for being the son or daughter of its Prophet. Everyone

else in the umma has the proper to inherit the wealth and property of one’s father however not the daughter of Muhammad, the Messenger of God!

It was once a customized among the Quraysh to ship their adolescents into the wasteland to spend their early years in a local weather that was extra salubrious than that of Mach. Children built up improved bodies in the vastopen spaces and pure air of the wilderness than they should in the stifling and noisome air of the City.

There was once one extra cause why the Arab aristocrats sent their youngsters to live in the desert. They have been purists in speech, and were exceptional “aficionados” of words. They had been involved by way of the Arabic language, its words, their meanings and the a number of nuances of theirmeaning; and they took exquisite delight in their own eloquence. In fact, the upper classes in Makkah predicated their authority on their rhetorical power. Makkah used to be the meeting-place of many caravans and its Arabic had emerge as corrupted into a variety of “pidgin Arabic”.

The Arab aristocrats did now not want their adolescents to analyze and to talkthe pidgin Arabic of Makkah; they desired them to communicate only the pure and uncontaminated language of the desert.

They, therefore, sent their adolescents away from Makkah to defend them from all such deleterious outcomes in the course of the early years of their lives.

Amina gave her child, Muhammad, to Halima, a girl of the tribe of Banu Asad,residing in the east of Makkah, for nursing. The infant Muhammad spent the first 4 years of his lifestyles in the wasteland with his wet-nurse. Sometime in the fifth year of his life, she is said to have brought him lower back to his mom in Makkah.

Muhammad was six years old when Amina, his mother, died. He was then taken by using Abdul Muttalib, his grandfather, to his home. But only two years had handed when Abdul Muttalib additionally died.

Just earlier than his death, Abdul Muttalib known as all his sons together and told them that he was leaving two “bequests” for them; one used to be the management of the clan of Banu Hashim, and the different used to be Muhammad ibn Abdullah, their nephew, an orphan of eight.

He then asked them who amongst them wanted his power and authority as thechief of the tribe, and who among them would take cost of the boy who had misplaced both parents. Most of his sons confirmed much eagerness to be named the chief of the tribe but no one volunteered to take charge of Muhammad.

As Abdul-Muttalib surveyed the meeting and contemplated the future of the boy, Muhammad, an uneasy silence fell over the scene. But it did not last long. Abu Talib, one of his sons, stepped ahead and stated that he desired the son of his late brother, Abdullah, and that he had no hobby in authority and power.

Abu Talib’s forthright assertion clinched the matter for Abdul Muttalib. He decided to make Abu Talib now not solely the guardian of Muhammad however also the guardian of the clan of Banu Hashim.

Abdul Muttalib announced on his death-bed that his son, Abu Talib, would prevail him as the new chief of Banu Hashim, and that he would additionally be the guardian of Muhammad. He then ordered the meeting to renowned Abu Talib as the new leader of Banu Hashim. The latter complied, and used to be then dismissed.

History ratified the judgment of Abdul Muttalib. His son and successor, Abu Talib, discharged both obligations most honorably.

Sir John Glubb

In 578 Abdul Muttalib died. Before his death, he charged his son, Abu Talib, to look after Muhammad.

Abdullah, Muhammad’s father, had been the brother of Abu Talib by each their father and mother.

Abdul Muttalib’s different sons had curiously come from special wives. (The Life and Times of Mohammed, 1970)

Abu Talib and his wife were very blissful and proud to receive Muhammad into their family. They took him now not into their domestic but into their hearts, and they cherished him more than they loved their own children.

Abu Talib was a man of remarkable dignity and commanding presence. During his incumbency as the chief of Banu Hashim he bore the titles of the “Lord of Quraysh,” and “Chief of the Valley.” Like other contributors of his tribe, he was once also a merchant, and his caravans traveled to and from Syria and

Yemen

In each season, Abu Talib’s caravans left Makkah for their a range of destinations . Occasionally, he himself accompanied a caravan to supervise the sale and purchase of merchandise in the overseas markets. Young Muhammad is pronounced to have traveled with him to Syria with one of the caravans when he used to be twelve years old.

Early in life, Muhammad, the future prophet, built up a reputation for truthfulness, integrity and sound judgment. Since there had been no banks in those days, he became a “banker” for the Makkans. They delivered their cash, jewelry, and other valuables to him for safe-keeping, and whenever they desired anything back, he again it to them. They referred to as him Amin (trustworthy) and Sadiq (truthful).

Sir William Muir

Endowed with a subtle thinking and subtle taste, reserved and meditative, he (Mohammed) lived lots within himself, and the wondering of his coronary heart furnished occupation for amusement hours spent by means of guys of alower stamp in rude sports activities and profligacy.

The truthful persona and honorable bearings of the unobtrusive adolescence received the approbation of his fellow-citizens; and he obtained the title, by using common consent, of Al-Amin, ‘the Faithful.’

Thus revered and honored, Mohammed lived a quiet and retired existence in the household of Abu Talib. (Life of Mohammed, 1877, p. 20)

When Muhammad was once twenty years old, a battle broke out between Quraysh, his tribe, and the tribe of Hawazin. Though he used to be present in the campaigns of this war, he did not take any phase in fighting. He did now not kill or wound anyone, therefore showing at this early period, his hatred of bloodshed. He is, however, said to have picked up arrows from the ground, and to have given them to his uncles who have been fighting.

A few years later, Muhammad used to be admitted as a member into the League of the Virtuous. As cited earlier, this League had pledged itself to shield the weak, to oppose the tyrants and the oppressors, and to put a cease to exploitation in all forms.

It is noteworthy that it used to be the clan of Banu Hashim, to which Muhammad, the future prophet belonged, which inaugurated the League of the Virtuous. Was it a mere coincidence? There is no way to answer this question. But by using their demarche, the Banu Hashim had declared warfare upon iniquity and injustice. They made it clear that they would now not connive at the crimes of the strong against the weak; nor would they acquiesce in the exploitation of the bad by the Quraysh of Makkah.

Not many years later, Muhammad used to be to launch a software for the reconstruction of human society the financial factor of which would understand precisely the destruction of exploitation. He would take the “privileges” of the Quraysh, and their “right” to exploit the negative and the weak, away from them.

Montgomery Watt

The League of the Virtuous looks to have performed an necessary phase in the life of Mecca, and in giant phase to have been directed against the guys and the policies to which Mohammed later determined himself opposed. Inspecific his clan of Hashim got here to have a leading position in the League of the Virtuous. (Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman, 1961).