The Prophet of Islam
(may Allah exalt the mention
of his name at the highest Angelic Sphere)
Family Tree of Prophet Adam (Peace be upon him): | Page
1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 |
Allah the
Almighty revealed: <<And (remember) when
your Rabb said to the Angels: "Verily, I am going to place (mankind)
generations after generations on earth." They said: "Will you
place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood,
----- while we confirm that You are free of every imperfection and praise,
thank and sanctify You." He (Allah) said: "I know that which
you do not know.">> Quran 2:30
Abu Musa
Al-Sha’ara’I narrated that Prophet Muhammad sallalahu alaihi wa
sallam said: "Allah created Adam from a
handful of dust taken from different lands, so the children of Adam have been
created according to the composition of the land. Therefore, from mankind we
have white, red, black, and yellow ones; we have good and evil, ease and
sorrow, and what comes in between them." Sahih Al-Bukhari
Abu Huraira
narrated that the Prophet Muhammad sallalahu alaihi wa
sallam said: "O Muslims! I advise you to
be gentle with women, for they are created from a rib, and the most crooked
portion of the rib is the upper part. If you try to straighten it, it will
break, and if you leave it, it will remain crooked, so I urge you to take care
of the women." Sahih Al-Bukhari
Adam and Hawwa
(Eve), alaihi salam, witnessed the birth of their
first children, on earth, a set of twins, one male and one female. His name was
Qabil (Cain) and his sister. Later Eve gave birth to another set of
male-female twins named Habil (Abel) and his sister. The rights of marriage that Allah ordained for them at that time was
for the male from one set of twins to marry his sister from the other set.
However, Qabil was not agreeable to marry Habils twin sister as his own
twin sister was much prettier than her and therefore killed his brother, Habil,
by dashing a sone against his head. This was the first murder ever committed
amongst the human species.
Muhammad Ibn
Ishaq related: that when Adam’s (alaihi salam)
death drew near, he appointed his son Shiith (Seth) to be his successor,
and taught him the hours of the day and the night along with their appropriate
acts of worship. He also foretold him of the flood that would come. Adam
(alaihi salam) also reassured his children that Allah
would send His prophets to guide man on earth. The prophets would have
different names, traits and miracles, yet they would be united in one thing:
the call to worship Allah alone.
According to
a Hadith narrated by Abu Dharr that Prophet Muhammad sallalahu alaihi wa sallam said: "Allah
sent down one hundred and four psalms, of which fifty were sent to Seth"
Sahih Al-Bukhari
With respect
to the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, from the first created man, Prophet Adam
Alaihi Salam, there are three separate sections with their respective degree of
authenticity. The first has been authenticated by biographers and genealogists
and states that Prophet Muhammad’s Sallalahu Alaihi Wa
Sallam’s genealogy has been traced to ‘Adnan. The second is subject to
controversies and doubt, and traces his lineage beyond ‘Adnan back to Prophet
Ibrahim Alaihi Salam. The third, with some parts definitely incorrect,
traces his lineage beyond Prophet Ibrahim Alaihi Salam all the way back
to Prophet Adam Alaihi Salaam, the first of human creation.
The Prophetic Family
The family of
Prophet Muhammed Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Sallam is
called the Hashemite family after his grandfather Hashim bin ‘Abd
Munaf.
Hashim
Hashim was the one
responsible for giving food and water to the piligrims. This had been his
charge when the sons of ‘Abd Munaf and those of ‘Abd Ad-Dar
compromised on dividing the charges between them. Hashim was wealthy and
honest. He was the first to offer the piligrims sopped bread in broth. His
first name was ‘Amr but he was called Hashim because he had been
in the practice of crumbling bread (for the piligrims). He was also the first
man who started Quraish’s two journeys of summer and winter. It was
reported that he went to Syria as a merchant.
In Madinah,
he married Salma, the daughter of ‘Amr from Bani ‘Adi bin An-Najjar.
He spent time with her in Madinah and subsequently left for Syria again while
she was pregnat with child. Hashim died in Ghazza in Palestine in 497AD.
Later, his wife gave birth to ‘Abdul-Muttalib and named him Shaiba
for the white hair on his head. She brought him up in her father;s house in Madinah. None of his family in Makkah learned of
his birth.
Hashim had
four sons; Asad, Abu Saifi, Nadla and ‘Abdul Muttalib, and five
daughters; Ash-Shifa, Khalida, Da’ifa, Ruqyah, and Jannah.
‘Abdul Muttalib
After the
death of Hashim, the charge of piliogrim’s food and water was passed on
to his brother Al-Muttalib bin ‘Abd Munaf who was also honest, generous and
trustworthy. When ‘Abdul Muttalib reached the age of boyhood, his uncle Al-Muttalib
heard of him and went to Madinah to fetch him. When he saw him tears filled his
eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He embraced him and took him on his camel. The
boy however abstained from going with him to Makkah until he took his mother’s
consent. Al-Muttalib asked her to send the boy with him to Makkah, but
she refused. He managed to convince her saying, "Your son is going to
Makkah to restore his father’s authority, and to live
in the vicinity of the Sacred House".
In Makkah,
people wondered at seeing ‘Abdul Muttalib, and they considered him the
slave of Al-Muttalib. Al-Muttalib said; "He is my nephew,
the son of my brother, Hashim". The boy was brought up in Al-Muttalib’s
house. Later on Al-Muttalib died in Bardman in Yemen and ‘Abdul
Muttalib took over and managed to maintain his people’s prestige and outdo
his grandfathers in his honourable behavious which gained him Makkah’s deep
love and high esteem.
When
‘Al-Muttalib, his uncle, died, Nawfal usurped ‘Abdul Muttalib of his
charges. ‘Abdul Muttalib sought help from the Quraish but they abstained
from extending any sort of support to either of them. Subsequently he wrote to
his uncles of Bani An-Najjar (his mother’s brothers) to come to his aid. His
uncle, Abu Sa’d bin ‘Adi (his mother’s brother)
marched to Makkah at the head of eighty horsemen and camped in Abtah in Makkah.
‘Abdul Muttalib received the men and invited them to go to his house but
Abu Sa’d said; "Not before I meet Nawfal."
He found Nawfal sitting with some old men of Quraish in the shade of Al-Ka’bah.
Abu Sa’d drew his sword and said: "I swear by
Allah that if you don’t restore to my nephew what you have taken, I will kill
you with this sword." Nawfal was thus forced to give up what he had
usurped, and the notables of Quraish were made to witness his words.
Abu
Sa’d then went to ‘Abdul Muttalib’s house where he stayed for
three nights, made Umra, and left back for Madinah. Later on Nawfal enetered
into alliance with Bani ‘Abd Shams bin ‘Abd Munaf against Bani Hashim.
When Khuza’a, a tribe, saw Bani An-Najjar’s support to ‘Abdul Muttalib, they
said: "He is our son as he is yours. We have more reason to support him
than you." ‘Abd Munaf’s mother was one of them. They went into An-Nadwa’s
House and entered into alliance with Bani Hashim against Bani ‘Abd Shams
and Nawfal. It was an alliance that was later to constitute the main
reason for the conquest of Makkah. ‘Abdul Muttalib witnessed two
important events in his lifetime, namely digging Zamzam well and the Elephant
raid.
In brief ‘Abdul
Muttalib received an order in his dream to dig Zamzam well in a particular
place. He did that and found the things that Jurhum men had buried therein when
they were forced to evacuate Makkah. He found the swords, armour and the two
deer of gold. The gate of Al-Ka’bah was stamped from the gold swords and the
two deer and then the tradition of providing Zamzam water to piligrims was
established.
When the well
of Zamzam gushed forth with water, the Quraish made a claim to partnership in
the enterprise, but ‘Abdul Muttalib refused their demands on grounds that Allah
had singled only him out for this honourable job. To settle the dispute, they
agreed to consult Bani Sa’d’s diviner. On their way, Allah showed them His
Signs that confirmed ‘Abdul Muttalib’s prerogative as regards the sacred
spring. Only then did ‘Abdul Muttalib make a solemn vow to sacrifice one of his
adult children to Al-Ka’bah if he had ten.
The second
event was of Abraha As-Sabah Al-Habashi, the Abyssinian (Ethiopian)
viceroy in Yemen. He had seen that the Arabs bmade their piligrimage to
Al-Ka’bah. Hence he built a large church in Sana’a in order to attract the Arab
piligrims to it to the exclusion of Makkah. A man from Kinana tribe who
understood his motive entered the church stealthily at night and besmeared its
walls with excrement. When Abraha knew of that he was very much angered and led
a great army, of sixty thousand warriors, to demolish the Ka’bah. he chose the bigger elephant for himself. His army included
nine or thirteen elephants. He marched on until he reached a place called
Al-Magmas. There, he mobilized his army, prepared his elephants and prepared to
enter Makkah. When he reached Muhassar valley, between Muzdalifa and Mina, the
elephant knelt down and refused to go forward. Whenever they directed it north,
south or east, the elephants moved quickly, but when directed westwards towards
Al-Ka’bah the elephants knelt down. Meanwhile, Allah loosened upon them birds
in flights, hurling against them stones of baked clay and made them like green
blades devoured by cattle. These birds were very much like swallows or
sparrows, each carrying three stones; one in its beak and two in its claws. The
stones hit Abraha’s men and cut their limbs and killed them. A large number of Abraha’s
soldiers were killed in this way and the others fled at random and died
everywhere. Abraha himself had an affliction that had his fingertips
amputated. When he returned to Sana’a he was in a miserable state and died soon
after.
The
Quraishites, on their part, fled for their lives to the hillocks and mountain
tops. Ehen the enemy had thus been routed, they returned home safely.
The Event of
the Elephant took place in the month of Al-Muharram, fifty or fifty five days
before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wa
Sallam. This corresponds to approximately late February or early March 571 AD.
It was a gift from Allah to His Prophet and his family. It could actually be
regarded as a Divine auspicious precursor of the light to come and accompany
the advent of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wa
Sallam and his family. By contrast Jerusalem had suffered under the yoke of the
atrocities of Allah’s enemies. Here we can recall Bukhtanassar in BC 587 and
the Romans in 70 AD. Al-Ka’bah, by Divine Grace, never came under the hold of
the Christians, the Muslims of that time, although Makkah was populated by
polytheists.
News of the
Elephant Event reached the most distant corners of the then civilized world.
Abyssinia (Ethiopia) maintained strong ties with the Romans,
while the Persians on the other hand, were on the vigil with respect to any
strategic changes that were looming on the socio-political horizon, and soon
came to occupy Yemen. Incidentally the Roman and the Persian Empires stood for
the powerful civilized world at that time. The Elephant Raid Event riveted the
world’s attention to the sacredness of Allah’s House and showed that this House
had been chosen by Allah for its holiness. It followed then that if any of its
people claimed Prophethood, it would be congruous with the outcome of the
Elephant Event, and would provide a justifiable explanation for the ulterior
Divine Wisdom that lay behind backing polytheists against Christians in a
manner that transcended the cause-and-effect formula.
‘Abdul
Muttalib
had ten sons, Al-Harith, Az-Zubair, Abu Talib, ‘Abdullah, Hamzah, Abu Lahab,
Ghidaq, Maqwam, Safar and Al-’Abbas. He also had six daughters, who were,
Umm Al-Hakim - the only fair one, Barrah, ‘Atikah, Safiyah, Arwa and Omaima.
‘Abdullah
‘Abdullah was the
father of Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wa
Sallam. His mother was Fathima, daughter of ‘Amr bin ‘Aidh bin ‘Imran
bin Makhzum bin Yaqda bin Murra. ‘Abdullah was the smartest of
‘Abdul Muttalib’s sons, the chastest and the most loved. He was also the son
whom the divination arrows pointed at to be slaughtered as a sacrifice to
Al-Ka’bah. When ‘Abdul Muttalib had ten sons and they reached maturity,
he divulged to them his secret vow in which they silently and obediently
acquiesed. Their names were written on divination arrows and given to the
guardian of their most beloved goddess, Hubal. The arrows were shuffled and
drawn and indicated that ‘Abdullah was to be sacrificed. ‘Abdul
Muttalib then took the boy to Al-Ka’bah with a razor to be slaughtered.
Quraish, his uncles from the Makhzum tribe and his brother Abu Talib,
however, tried to dissuade him from consummating his purpose. He then sought
their advice as regards his vow. They suggested that he summon a she-diviner to
judge whereabout. She ordered that the divination arrows should be drawn with Abdullah’s
name and ten camels and ordered that every time ‘Abdullah’s name was
drwan an additional ten camels should be added and the draw repeated. The
operation was thus repeated until the number of the camels amounted to one
hundred. At this point the arrows selected the camels. and
consequently the were all slaughtered instead of his son. The slaughtered
camels were left for anyone to consume, be it humans or animals.
This incident
produced a change in the amount of blood-money usually accepted in Arabia. It
had originally been ten camels, but after this event, it was increased to one
hundred. Islam, later on, approved of this. Another thing closely relevant to
the above issue goes to the effect that the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu
Alaihi Wa Sallam, once said: "I am the offspring
of the two slaughtered", meaning Ishmael and ‘Abdullah.
‘Abdul
Muttalib
chose Amina, daughter of Wahab bin ‘Abd Munaf bin Zahra bin Kilab,
as a wife for his son, ‘Abdullah. She thus, in the light of this
ancestral lineage, stood eminent in respect of nobility of position and
descent. Her father was the chief of Bani Zahra to whom great honour was
attributed. They were married in Makkah, and soon after ‘Abdullah was
sent by his father to buy dates in Madinah where he died. In another account,
‘Abdullah went to Syria on a trade journey and died in Madinah on his way back.
He was buried in the house of Al-Nabigha Al-Ju’di. He was twenty five
years old. Most historians state that his death was two months before the birth
of Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Sallam. Some
say that it was two months after. When Amina was informed of her husband’s
death, she celebrated his memory in a most heart-touching elegy.
‘Abdullah left very
little wealth behind - five camels, a small number of goats, a
she-servant called Barakah Umm Aiman, who would later serve as the
Prophet’s nursemaid.
Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wa
Sallam
(may Allah exalt the mention of his name at the highest
Angelic Sphere)
Muhammad Sallalahu
Alaihi Wa Sallam was born in bani Hashim Lane in Makkah on Monday morning, the
ninth (9) of Rabi’ Al Awwal, the same year of the Elephant Event, and forty
years of the reign of Kisra (Khosru Nushirwan). ie; the
twentieth (20) or twenty second (22) of April 571 AD.
His mother, Amina,
immediately sent the good news to his grandfather ‘Abdul Muttalib.
Happily he came to her, carried the baby to Al-Ka’bah, prayed to Allah and
thanked Him. ‘Abdul Muttalib named the baby Muhammad, a name not
then common amongst the Arabs. He circumsized him on the seventh day as was the
custom then.
The first
woman who suckled the new born baby after his mother was Thuyebah, the
concubine of Abu Lahab, with her son, Masrouh. She had suckled Hamzah
bin ‘Abdul Muttalib before and later Abu Salamah bin ‘Abd Al-Asad
Al-Makhzumi.
The Prophet
Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Sallam was later entrusted to Haleemah
bint Abi Dhuaib from Bani Sa’d bin Bakr. Her husband was Al-Harith bin
‘Abdul ‘Uzza called Abi Kabshah, from the same tribe.
Muhammad Sallalahu
Alaihi Wa Sallam had several foster brothers and
sisters. They were Abdullah bin Al-Harith, Aneesah bint-Al-Harith, Hudhaifah
or Judhamah bint Al-Harith (known as Ash-Shayma).
On the death
of Amina, Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Sallam,
was brought up by his grandfather ‘Abdul Muttalib in Makkah. He was
loved very much by his grandfather even above the prefrence of his own
children. When Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Sallam was eight years two
months and ten days old, his grandfather ‘Abdul Muttalib passed away in Makkah
and he then came under the charge of his uncle Abu Talib who was his father’s
brother.
Muhammad Sallalahu
Alaihi Wa Sallam in his youth was modest, of virtuous
behaviour and graceful manners. He proved himnself to be the ideal of manhood
and to possess a spotless character. He was the most obliging to his
compatriots, the most honest in his talks, and the mildest in temper. He was
also the most gentle-hearted, chaste, hospitable, and always impressed people
by his piety -inspiring countenance. He was the most truthful and the best to
keep covenant. His fellow citizens, by common consent, gave him the title of
"Al-Ameen", The Trustworthy.
His position
as the Messenger of Allah was bestowed upon him in his fortieth year and he
faced many a challenge both from his own people and others in bringing forth
Islam into the world. The history of his Prophethood is much too lengthy to be
accomodated in this genelaogical table and should be referred to in other
texts.
Muhammad Sallalahu
Alaihi Wa Sallam died on Monday the 12th Rabi Ul-Awwal
in the eleventh (11) year of Hijra. 634 AD. He was 63 years and 4 days old.