Abul hasan ‘Ali Nadwi
A Mystifying Unrest
Muhammad (peace be upon him) was now approaching his fortieth year. He felt a
mystifying internal unrest, yet he did not know the rationale behind it. He was
himself not aware what the inexplicable confusion meant to him; nor did the idea
that God was about to honor him with revelation and prophethood ever cross his
mind. This was how the Prophet felt, as has been attested by God in the Qur’an:
“And thus have We inspired in you (Muhammad) a Spirit of Our Command. You knew
not what the Scripture was, nor what was Faith. But We have made it a light
whereby We guide whom We will of our bondmen. And Lo! You verily guide unto a
right path” (Qur’an 42:52).
At another place, the inability of the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) to know the reason for his internal unrest has been demonstrated in
these words:
“You had no hope that the Scripture would be inspired to you; but it is a mercy
from your Lord, so never be a helper to the disbelievers” (Qur’an 28:86).
It pleased the Will of God, All-wise and All-knowing, that His Apostle (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) should remain a stranger to the arts of
reading and writing. His contemporaries could thus never accuse him of himself
editing the divine revelations. This, too, has been subverted by the Qur’an to
settle the matter as evidenced by the following verse:
“And you (O Muhammad) was not a reader of any Scripture before it, nor did you
write it with your right hand, for then might those have doubted, who follow
falsehood” (Qur’an 29: 48).
That is why the Qur’an calls him an unlettered prophet:
Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom
they find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with them—He
commands for them the good and forbids them from evil” (Qur’an 7:157).
Hilful Fidul
It was during this period that the Quraysh came to agree upon one of the
noblest covenants made, in which the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) played a prominent part. It so happened that a man from Zabid (a town
in Yemen) came to sell his merchandise in Mecca. One of the Quraysh chieftains
in the person of Al-As b. Wayel purchased the whole of it but paid nothing in
return. Because of this, Zabid approached several influential Quraysh leaders
but none of them agreed to confront Al-As b. Wayel. Having been turned down by
those that he had previously asked for help, Zabid called upon the people of
Mecca exhorting every bold and fair-minded young man to come to his rescue. At
last, many of them, moved by embarrassment, assembled in the house of ‘Abdallah
b. Jad’an who entertained everyone who came to his house. Thereafter, they
formed a pact, in the name of Allah, for repression of acts of lawlessness and
restoration of justice to the weak and the oppressed within the walls of Mecca.
The covenant was called Hilful Fudul wherein all its members finally approached
Al-As b. Wayel and forced him to return the merchandise of Zabid.1
The Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had been one of the
prominent movers of the pact and he always made it a point to express his
satisfaction over the execution of this agreement. Once he remarked, “I had a
hand in making such an arrangement in the house of ‘Abdullah b. Jad’an to which
if I were invited again to lend a hand even after the advent of Islam, I would
have undoubtedly participated once more.” Through such Hiful Fudul, they had
agreed to restore to everyone what is due of him and to protect the weak from
the exploits and manipulations of the oppressors.
Footnots:
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, pp. 257-59
Reconstruction of the Ka‘ba
In his thirty-fifth year, the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) made a difficult decision which provoked the Quraysh and threatened to
plunge them into another sacrilegious war. The Quraysh wished to rebuild the
Ka’bah and furnish it with roofs, for it was made of loose stones, and its walls
were only a little higher than a man’s height. So, the walls were demolished and
the work of reconstruction was taken up, but when it was time to rebuild the
Ka’bah, as far as the position of the Black Stone was concerned, the question
arose as to who should place the sacred relic into its place. Every tribe
claimed the honor, until they got ready for a fight. The grounds that led to
wars of attrition during the early days of paganism in Arabia were nothing or
insignificant when compared to the grave issue that was made as the focal point
of honor on this occasion.
Banu ‘Abdul Dar brought a bowl full of blood; then they and Banu ‘Adiy pledged
themselves to fight unto death by thrusting their hands into the blood. The
conflict appeared to be the starting point of a furious struggle which might
have swallowed up the whole of Arabia in another of their oft-recurring wars.
The dilemma continued for a few days until it was agreed that whosoever would be
the first man to enter the gate of the mosque would be made as the umpire of the
matter under dispute. And so the first man to enter came, and he was no other
then the Apostle of God. “This is Muhammad,” they said as soon as they saw him
coming, and further added, “He is trustworthy and we will abide by his
decision.”
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked them to bring a
cloth, took the Black Stone and put it inside the fabric, then afterwards asked
each tribe to take hold of an end of the cloth and then simultaneously raise it
to the required height. When the people lifted the stone in said manner, the
Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) placed it in its position
with his own hands, and the building went on above it.1 The wisdom displayed by
the Apostle on this occasion, which saved the Quraysh from measuring the might
of their swords with that of the others, strikingly illustrates his sound
judgement and also showed sparks of his genius. The sagacity of the Prophet
foretold how bloodshed is taken as a divine harbinger of peace. The incident
foreshadowed the signs of‘ the Apostle’s prudence, profoundness of his
teachings, his thoughtfulness, cool temper and the spirit of his friendliness
and altruism; in fact the cardinal virtues of one who was to become the “Mercy
for the Worlds”. These were the qualities through which the Apostle (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) transformed a people, unruly and ferocious,
continuously at war among each other, into a closely-knit fraternity by proving
and submitting himself as a Merciful Prophet before them.
Footnotes:
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, pp. 192-197
Marriage with Khadija(raa)
The Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) married Khadijah when he was twenty-five years of age. Khadijah, daughter of Khuwaylid, was noble and intelligent, wealthy and was respected for the quality and integrity of her heart. A widow whose age was then forty years,1 her late husband was Abu Hala. She carried on their business and like other merchants of Mecca she used to hire men to carry her merchandise outside the country on a profit-sharing scheme. Khadijah had an experience of the Apostle’s truthfulness, trustworthiness and honorable character and had also heard about the strange events that had taken place when the Apostle traded her merchandise in Syria. Although Khadijah had turned down several offers for her hand by some of‘ the eminent chiefs of the Quraysh, she expressed her desire to marry the Apostle. Hamza, an uncle of the Apostle, conveyed the message to him for which he readily agreed. Abu Talib recited the wedding sermon and the Apostle, united in wedlock with Khadija, commenced his marital career. All the offsprings of the Prophet (except Ibrahim who died in infancy) were born to Khadijah.2
Footnotes:
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, pp. 189-90
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, p.190 and other biographies of the Prophet
Divine Tutelage
God had made special arrangements for broadening the mind of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and had taken particular care to shut
off the faults and failures of the pagan past from him. Since his early youth,
the reserved and unassuming young man was known for his gentle disposition and
grave purity of life as well as for his candidness, honesty, integrity and a
stern sense of duty. His was the straight and narrow path and none could find
the slightest fault with him. The fair character and honorable bearing of the
Apostle won for him, in the flower of his youth, the title of Al-Amin, meaning
the Trusty,1 from his fellow populace.
Evil were the ways of young men in Mecca, and no misconduct brought anybody into
discredit. But God helped His Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
abandon the pleasures of life familiar to everybody in Mecca. Such that, on the
contrary, he was rather kind to his kinsmen, alleviated the sufferings of others
and spared or minimized expenses to meet their needs. Moreover, he entertained
guests, was ever willing to join hands with anybody who had a noble and virtuous
task2 and preferred to earn his livelihood by toiling hard for it even if it
meant living a simple life to the point of austerity.
When the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was around fourteen
or fifteen years of age, the sacrilegious war, known as the Harb-ul-Fijar, broke
out between the Quraysh and the tribe of Qays. The Apostle was present at these
encounters and picked up the arrows that the enemy had shot, and gave them back
to the Qurayshite fighters. This was his first experience with military
operations.3
Now that the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was coming into
his years of discretion, he turned his attention to find a means of livelihood.
Like other lads of his age, he took to tending of sheep and goats. It was not
deemed a disgraceful occupation in those days, rather, it helped one to be
watchful, alert and quick, kind and considerate besides allowing an opportunity
to inhale the freedom of Arabian air and the power of sand. More than that, it
had been the convention of all the prophets of old which complied with his
future prophetic office. The Prophets afterwards used to say: “Verily, there has
been no prophet who has not tended the flocks of goats.” On being asked again
whether he had also performed the work of a shepherd, the Prophet affirmed. “Yes
I did such work.”
The Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was not completely new to
the job for in his childhood days he used to accompany his foster-brothers who
tended their flocks and herds. The reports in the Sahih show that the Apostle
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to tend the goats upon the
neighbouring hills and valleys for a meager payment from the owners of the
flocks.4
Footnotes:
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, p. 183
- Khaidjah, the Prophet wife, referred to these qualities of her husband when she found hin perplexed after the first revelation to him.
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, 186
- The Arabic term used is Qararit about which Shibli No’mani writes n Sirat un Nabi, Vol. I, that scholars differ about the meaning of word. Suwaib b. Sa’id, the teacher of Ibn Majah, holds that Qirat (pl. Qararit) being a fraction of dirham or dinar, the Tradition means that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to tend goats on payment and hence Bukhari included it under the chapters pertaining to wages. The finding of Ibrahim Al-Harbi, on the other hand, is that the word signifies a place near Ujhad and Ibn Jawzi prefers this meaning. ‘Oyeni has also given many reasons to support the view and the author of Nur-in-Nibras has, after a detailed discussion of the word, upheld the latter view.
‘Abu Talib Becomes the Guardian
After the death Of ‘Abdul Muttalib, Abu Talib took the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) under his care for he and ‘Abdullah, the Apostle’s father, were brothers by the same mother. Abdul Muttalib had also been insisting upon Abu Talib to take care of the Apostle himself. Accordingly, Abu Talib took the Apostle under his protection and even treated him with more care and affection than his own sons, ‘Ali, J’afar and ‘Aqil.1
Once, when the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was nine years old,2 Abu Talib planned to go on a merchant caravan to Syria. Knowing this, the Apostle approached his uncle, and nestling close to him, insisted on accompanying him in the journey. Abu Talib was moved and agreed to take him to Syria. When the caravan reached Busra in Syria, it broke the journey for a short stay and while there, they met a monk by the name of Buhaira who lived in his cell. He came out against his practice, to welcome the merchants and made a great feast for them. The caravan found favor with Buhaira, so they say, because of something that he had seen while in his cell. When Buhaira saw Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), he saw in him the signs of the apostleship that he had known, and advised Abu Talib, “Return to your home with this youth, and guard him from the Jews; for great dignity awaits your nephew.” Abu Talib immediately took the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) back to Mecca by virtue of Buhaira’s advice.
Footnotes:
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, p. 179
- As related by authentic Traditions
Death of Amina & ‘Abdul Muttalib
When the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was six years
old, his mother took him to Yathrib to pay a visit to her father. She also
wanted to call on the grave of her late husband,1 but while on her way back to
Mecca, she died at a place called Abwa.2 The Apostle must have felt lonely and
sorrowful at the death of his mother in the middle of his journey. Incidents of
such nature had been a common fixture in his life since birth, perhaps as a
divine dispensation for his upbringing in a particular way, one which is
reminiscent of the great role that he has to play in the future. Finally, the
Abyssinian bondwoman, Umm Ayman Barkah, brought him to his grandfather in Mecca.
‘Abdul Muttalib loved the Apostle so dearly, making him the apple of his eye and
never allowed him to be distant from him. He would make the Apostle sit beside
him on his bed in the shade of the Ka’ba and caress him to show his affection.
When the Apostle (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was eight years of
age, ‘Abdul Muttalib also passed away.3 The Apostle (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) was now left behind, alone and abandoned. He had never seen
his father, and would have had no recollection of him, but the death of the
adoring grandfather must have been very depressing and inconsolable for him.
Footnotes:
- Later on the Prophet used to relate some of the incidents of his journey with his mother. After his migration to Medina, when the Apostle saw house of Bani Najjar, he remarked that his mother had bivouacked at that place and the well there was full of husk. (Sharh al-Mawahib ul-Ladunniya, Vol. I, pp. 167-8)
- The place is near Mastura halfway between Mecca and Medina.
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, pp. 168-9
The Suckling Period
Thuwaybah, a bondwoman of the Prophet’s uncle Abu Lahab, suckled him
momentarily for a few days while ‘Abdul Muttalib continued to look for a
wet-nurse to nurture his favorite grandson. It was customary in Mecca to place
the suckling babies under the care of a desert tribeswoman, where the child
grows up in the free, chivalrous air away from the cramp, contaminating
atmosphere of the city, and learns the wholesome ways of the Bedouins. Those
were the days when the chaste, unaffected and natural expression of the desert
people was considered as the finest model of grace and elegance of the Arabic
language. Together with the milk of a bedouin woman, the babies drank the fluent
language that flew across the desert.
The people from the tribe of Bani S’ad were known for the gracefulness of their
speech. Halima S’adiya, a member of this tribe, ultimately came to have the
precious baby under her wings. This was a year of famine wherein Bani S’ad had
been rendered miserable. The tribe came to Mecca to look for children to be
suckled, but no woman to whom the Apostle of God was offered, agreed to take the
child because none expected a goodly return for nurturing or nursing an infant
whose father was already dead. They said, “An orphan! What will his mother and
grandfather give in return?” At first, Halima also declined the offer but
suddenly she felt a craving for the baby. She had also failed to get a charge
for her and, therefore, before going back home, she returned and finally took
the baby back with her. Halima found before long that her household was blessed
with luck, her breast overflowed with milk, the udders of her she-camel were
full and everything seemed to bring forth happiness. The women of Halima’s tribe
now spread the rumor, “Halima, you have certainly got a blessed child.” They
began to feel envious of her.
Halima weaned the baby until he was two years old, for it is customary upon the
foster-children to return to their families at such an age. Besides, the boy was
also growing up faster than the other children, and by the time he was two, he
was already a well-grown child. Thus, Halima brought the Apostle of God back to
Amina but begged her to be allowed to keep the boy for some extended time as he
had brought her luck. Amina agreed and allowed Halima to take Muhammad (Peace be
upon him) back with her.1
Some months after his return to Bani S’ad, two angels seized the Apostle of God
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), opened up his chest and extracted a
black drop from it. Then they thoroughly cleaned his heart and healed the wound
after putting his heart back in its place.2
The Apostle of God (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) looked after the
sheep with his foster-brothers in the unfathomable or boundless wilderness of
the desert, far away from the pretensions, hypocrisy, pomp and pride of the
city, where his thoughts became clear like the desert air. His life was simple
like the sand and he learnt to endure the hardships and dangers of the wildness.
And with the people of Bani S’ad, his ears became accustomed to the rhetoric and
eloquence of the pure and classical language of the Bedouins. The Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) often used to tell his companions: “I am the
most Arab of you all for I am of Quraysh origin, and I was suckled among Bani
S’ad b. Bakr.”3
Footnotes:
- The interesting story of the period, as told by Halima, has been preserved by Ibn Hisham. See Vol. 1,pp. 162-166
- The detailed account of the story can be seen in the biographies of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Imam Muslim relates the incident on the authority of Anas b. Malik under the heading ‘Ascent of the Prophet’ in his Kitab-ul-Iman.
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, 167
The Birth of the Prophet(pbuh)
The Prophet was born on Monday, the 12th of Ra’i-ul Awwal1 in the year of the
Elephant. Certainly, it was the most auspicious day in the history of mankind.
Thus, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the son of ‘Abdullah, b. ‘Abdul Muttalib,
b. Hashim, b. ‘Abdul Munaf, b. Qusayy, b. Kilab, b. Murra, b. Ka’b b. Lu’ayy, b.
Ghalib, b. Fihr, b. Malik, b. Al-Nadr, b. Kinana, b. Khusayma, b. Mudrika, b.
Ilyas, b. Mudar b. Nizar b. Ma’add, b. ‘Adnan.
The parentage of ‘Adnan is further traced by Arab genealogists to Ismail b.
Ibrahim.2 After the birth of Muhammad (peace be upon him) Amina sent someone to
inform his grandfather. He came, looked at the baby lovingly and took him to the
K’aba where he praised3 Allah and prayed for the infant. ‘Abdul Muttalib then
gave him the name Muhammad, which means, “He who is praised.” The Arabs were
surprised at the unfamiliar name4 given to the newborn babe by ‘Abdul Muttalib.
Footnotes:
- A noted astronomer,Mahmud Pasha of Egypt, has computed the date of birth as Monday, the 9th of Rabi-ul-Awwal in the year of Elephan which was, according to the Gregorian calendar, the 20th April, 571 A.D.
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, Pp. 1-2
- Ibn Hisham, pp. 159-60
- Ibn Kathir, Vol. I, p. 210, Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, p. 158
Abdallah & Aminah
‘Abdul Muttalib, Chieftain of the Quraysh, had ten sons who were all worthy
and outstanding, but ‘Abdullah was the noblest and most prominent among them.1
‘Abdul Muttalib wedded him to Amina, the daughter of Wahb b. ‘Abdu Munaf, who
was the leading man of Bani Zuhra. She (Amina) was the most excellent woman
among the Quraysh in birth and stature at that time.2
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was born after the death of his father. Before his
birth, Amina witnessed many an omen foretelling a great future for her son.3
Footnotes:
- Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, p. 108
- Ibid, p. 110
- Ibid, p. 158
