History of Islam – Pre-revelation: Birth of Prophet Muhammad – Part 5

History of Islam – Pre-revelation: Birth of Prophet Muhammad

Salam alaykum everyone, in this video, I will try to talk about the birth of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,

So let’s begin with the story of Amina, who is the mother of prophet Muhammad, pbuh. Amina told that she had a very smooth and easy pregnancy with her baby. When she was 6 months pregnant, she had a dream; and in her dream, a person said to her:

“O Amina! You are pregnant with an important person. He will be the lord of the community. When you give birth to him, name him ‘Muhammad’.”.

After this dream, Amina, first of all, could not make sense of what she was told. She had never heard the name ‘Muhammad’ before, because it was not a common name. Actually, only a few people had the name Muhammad at that time.

So the date came, Amina delivered her first and only child, in the year of 571, in April 20…According to Islamic calendar, Prophet Muhammad was born on the 12^th of the month of Rabi al-awwal, on a Monday morning..When Prophet Muhammad was born, his grandfather Abdul Muttalib was sitting near the Ka’ba. When he heard that his grandson was born, he stood up, and immediately went to see the baby. When he saw Amina, she mentioned to Abdul Muttalib the dream she had, when she was pregnant. And After Abdul Muttalib heard Amina, he gave his grandson the name ‘Muhammad’, which means ‘the one who is praised much’…Then Abdul Muttalib brought the baby to the Ka’ba; and prayed there, to show his gratitude to Allah…Then he sent the baby to his mother..

Amina, was able to nurse her baby, for only 3 or 7 days. Later on, he was nursed by a slave woman of Abu Lahab, who was one of the uncles of Prophet Muhammad. And the woman was called Suwayba. So she nursed the baby for several days; and she actually became his first wet-nurse.

Another thing is thatt, according to the earlier scriptures.

Many of the narrators agree that this mark was not on the Prophet’s body by birth, but it was stamped on his back, when he was a toddler. According to the Islamic narrations, this happened when Prophet Muhammad was staying with his 2nd wet-nurse Halima, outside of Mecca.

So, We can never know what that mark actually looked like, but we have some testimonies from the people who actually saw it. We learn from the narrations of these people that the mark was between the Prophet’s shoulders on his back, at the level of his heart. They said that it was little bit raised so anyone could feel it with the hand..Also, it was like a lump composed of reddish moles with some hairs…They also said that, The size of it, was like a bird’s egg, and there was no writing on it.(W)

Said Nursi, the Islamic scholar of the 20^th century, had significant interpretations on the birth of Prophet Muhammad that I want to share with you. In one of his books, he said: “If we consider this big universe as a book, then Prophet Muhammad, is the ink of the pen that would be written on this book. He said, If this universe is considered as a big tree, then Prophet Muhammad can be resembled to the seed and the harvest of that tree. If this universe is seen a living being, then he is the spirit of that living being. If the universe is seen a human being, then Prophet Muhammad is the mind of that human being.”

We can say that,  Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, was sent to humanity to answer the questions that People have been asking for ages, like

“Who am I ?” “Where did I come from ?” “Where am I going ?”

and so on.

He came to this world, to inform us about the owner and the creator of this world. He informed us about the past and the future. He told us what other prophets had to face in earlier times; and also he explained to us, what life will be like after death, and what awaits us when we die.

He also made us know:

• Who is God?, Why did He create the Universe? And what does He expect from us? ….So, Prophet Muhammad, gave humanity, many lessons in terms of life, death, and the Creator. Therefore, we are so grateful to him.(W)
• Peace and blessings be upon him and his family.