Tuesday next week August 25, 2026 will, insha Allah, be another birthday of the seal of prophethood in Islam, Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who was born in the hilly city of Makkah on Monday, the 12th day of RabiulAwwal in the year 570AD; which is also referred to as the year of elephant in Islamic literature. He died at the age of 63 on June 8, 632AD; which is 1,394 solar years ago, or roughly 1,467 lunar years.
While Muhammad (SAW)’s father, Abdullah bn Abdul-Mutalib from the Quraysh tribe died as a young man before he was born, his mother, Amina daughter of Wahb and granddaughter of Abdu-Manaf from the tribe of Zuhrah died in the sixth year after his birth. Some of his names, which himself mentioned in a hadith reported by both Imams Bukhari and Muslim include Ahmad, Mahiy (technically meaning the one who wipes away unbelief), Hashir, and ’Aqib.
Thuwaybah, a freed female slave of Abu Lahab(Prophet Muhammad’s Uncle, an unbeliever) was one of the women that fostered little Muhammad. He was also fostered by Halimatu s-Sa’diyyah when he was sent to the clan of Sa’d bn Bakr even though she returned him back to his mother after an incident we would relate here. Annas (RA) reported that while the Prophet (SAW) was under the foster care of Halimatus-Sa’diyyah, Angel Jibril once came to him while he was playing in the midst of other children. Jibril opened the young Muhammad’s heart, removed a piece of flesh from the heart and said, “This is the Shaytan’sshare in you.” Jibril washed it in a gold-plated container with Zamzam water, put it together again as it were and then returned it to its original place. Other children who saw this ran to the mother and shouted, “Muhammad has been killed.” Annas reported that there was a sign of stiches on the Prophet Muhammad’s chest.
Muhammad (SAW) got married to Khadijah daughter of Khuwaylid (RA) who was attracted to him by his singular virtues of honesty, hard work, fair-mindedness, and other qualities that made him a rare human personality in the history of mankind. Khadijah gave birth to all of Muhammad’s children except Ibrahim. As a man of impartial character, he was honoured by Allah to place the Black Stone at its corner in the Ka’bah mosque.
There was a heated argument about who was to place the Black Stone at its position. The people of Makkah then agreed unanimously that whoever came out first from a route across the valley would have the privilege to place the Black Stone. Luckily, the Prophet (SAW) emerged therefrom and the people said, “The trustworthy has come.” With his Allah-granted wisdom, the Prophet (SAW) put the Black Stone on a cloth and invited all the groups that hitherto argued on who had the right to placing the Black Stone and asked them to hold the cloth from all the sides; and in unity, they lifted the Black Stone and placed it at the position we see it today.
The Prophet (SAW) was a unique personality adored by Allah, the angelic world, plants and even creatures in the physical world. Imam Muslim reports a hadith in which the Prophet (SAW) said, “I knew a rock that used to greet me even before I received the message of Islam; and I still recognize it even now.” In a hadith reported by Tirmidhi, Ali bn Abi Talib (RA) said, “I once went out with the Prophet (SAW), and he would not pass by a rock or a tree but it would salute him.”
Imam Ahmad bn Hambal reports on the authority of Ibn Mas’ud (RA) who said he was once rearing a flock of sheep owned by ’Uqbah. Then the Prophet (SAW) and his companion Abu Bakr as-Sadiq (RA) passed by him. The Prophet (SAW) then asked him, “O young boy, do you have milk?” He (Ibn Mas’ud) replied saying, “Yes, but it’s a trust.” The Prophet then asked Ibn Mas’ud if he had any she-goat that no he-goat had gone near among his flock. Ibn Mas’ud said he brought a she-goat from his flock and the Prophet (SAW) rubbed over its udder which immediately started lactating; with milk flowing. The Prophet (SAW) collected and drank from the milk and gave Abu Bakr also to drink. Thereafter, the Prophet (SAW) said to the udder to cease (lactating), and it did. Ibn Mas’ud then came close to the Prophet (SAW) and said, “Educate me (about this).” The Prophet (SAW) rubbed over Ibn Mas’sud’s head and said, “May Allah grant you mercy; You are indeed a young boy (already) granted knowledge.”
Among the travails experienced by the Prophet (SAW) in the hands of polytheists was the persecutions he suffered in the hands of ’Uqbah bn Abi Mu’ait who once came to the Prophet (SAW) while he (the Prophet) was praying. ’Uqbah cuddled his piece of cloth round the prophet’s neck very tightly and forcefully until Abu Bakr s-Sadiq rushed and intervened; reciting Qur’an 40:28 “What! Will you slay a man because he says ‘My Lord is Allah, and he indeed brought you clear arguments from thy Lord? …”
Owing to their public hatred for the Prophet (SAW), the pagans of Makkah, the mother of (all) cities, called him with humiliating names including sorcerer, silly, poet, storyteller, fabricator, and liar. Indeed,Muhammad (SAW) endured with patience, perseverance, magnanimity all the acts of persecutions that he was subjected to by the unbelievers of Makkah. One most important virtue of the Prophet that needs to be reiterated here is how he called people to Islam with wisdom and good speech as instructed in Qur’an 16:25.
Sadly, the 21st century generation of Muslims have become a near-complete contradiction of almost everything virtuous the Prophet (SAW) epitomized in everyday life; public as well as private. We have almost lost our bearing as a community of believing men and women guided by the holy book of Islam and the orthodox traditions of his noble Prophet (SAW) whose birthday we celebrate every day.
May Allah guide us as leaders and the led, as teachers and students, as fathers and children, as husbands and wives, judges and suspects, law enforcers and law-abiding citizens, as rich and as poor men and women, as dealers and consumers, as highly-placed and lowly-placed, be a true reflection of the true teachings of Islam, Amin. Happy Eidul Maulid in advance.
