The Message by Ayatollah Ja'far Subhani
Chapters: Birth &
Childhood of the Prophet (s)
The dark clouds of
ignorance had completely enveloped the Arabian Peninsula. Abominable and
unlawful deeds, bloody campaigns, wide-spread plundering, and
infanticide had obliterated all moral virtues, and placed the Arab
society in a strange declivity. The distance between their life and death
had become very short. Just at this time the morning star of prosperity
made its appearance and that dark atmosphere was illuminated with the
auspicious birth of the Holy Prophet. Thus the preliminary step towards
the foundation of the civilization and the advancement and prosperity of
a backward nation was taken. Soon the beams of this light lit up the
entire world and the foundation of learning, wisdom and civilization was
laid.
Every chapter of the lives of great men
is worthy of study and scrutiny. At times the personality of an
individual becomes so great and grand that all phases of his life, even
his infancy and childhood, are mysterious. The lives of the geniuses,
leaders of the society, and the forerunners of the caravan of
civilization, are usually attractive and contain sensitive and wonderful
phases. From the cradle to the grave their lives are replete with
mysteries. We read about the great men that the periods of their
childhood and youth are admirable and miraculous. And if we accept this
proposition about the great men of the world, the acceptance of
something similar to that about the Prophets and saints becomes quite
easy.
The Taurat and the Qur'an depict the
childhood of Prophet Musa as very mysterious and say "Hundreds of
innocent children were beheaded with the object, so that Musa should not
be born. However, as Allah had willed that he should make his appearance
in the world, it so happened that not only could his enemies not harm
him, but Firaun, his greatest enemy, himself became his guardian and
supporter". The Holy Qur'an says:
We revealed Our Will to Musa's mother,
saying: Put your chld in the box arid let him be carried away by the
river. The river will cast him on the bank safely, and he will be taken
up by an enemy of his and Mine. I lavished my love on you, so that you
might be reared under My watchful eye.
The sister of Musa went to the palace
of Fir'aun and said, "Shall I bring you one who will nurse him?" Then
the mother of Musa was hired to nurse the child and her son was thus
restored to her. (Surah Taha,
20: 41 - 43 ).
The period of pregnancy, birth and
nurture of Prophet 'Isa was even en more wonderful than that of Prophet
Musa. The Holy Qur'an narrates the period of growth of 'Isa in this
manner:
We sent to her (i.e. Maryam) Our spirit
(i.e. Archangel Jibril) in the semblance of a full-grown man. And when
she saw him she said "May the Merciful defend me from you! If you fear
the Lord, leave me and go your way". "I am the messenger of your Lord",
he replied and have come to give you a holy son". "How shall I bear a
child," she answered, "when I am a virgin, untouched by man"? "Such is
the Will of your Lord", he replied, "that is no difficult thing for Him.
He shall be a sign to mankind", says the Lord, "and a blessing from
Ourself. This is Our decree".
Thereupon she conceived him, and
retired to a far-off place. And when she felt the throes of childbirth,
she lay down by the trunk of a palm-tree crying "Oh, would that I had
died and passed into oblivion!" But a voice from below cried out to her
"Do not despair. Your Lord has provided a brook that runs at your feet,
and if you shake the trunk of this palm-tree it will drop fresh ripe
dates in your lap. Therefore rejoice. Eat and drink, and should you meet
any mortal say to him: "I have cooled a test to the Merciful and will
not speak with any man today" .
Then she took the child to her people,
who said to her, "This is indeed a strange thing! Sister of Harun, your
father was never a whore-monger, nor was your mother a harlot".
She made a sign to them, pointing to
the child, but they replied "How can we speak with a babe in the
cradle?"
Whereupon he spoke and said, "I am the
servant of Allah. He has given me the Gospel and ordained me a Prophet
...... (Surah Maryam. 19:18 -
32)
When believers in the Qur'an and the
Taurat and the followers of Prophet 'Isa confirm the above-mentioned
facts connected with the birth of the two great Prophets they should not
wonder at the extraordinary events which followed in the wake of the
auspicious birth of the Prophet of Islam and should not treat them to be
superficial. We learn from the books on history and ahadith (reports)
that at the time of the birth of the Holy Prophet the walls of the
palace of Khosroes split and some of its turrets collapsed. The fire of
the fire-temple of Persia extinguished. The lake of Sawah became dry.
The idols in the temple of Makkah were turned upside down. A light
ascended from the Holy Prophet's body towards heaven and illuminated a
distance of many leagues along its path. Anushirwan and the Zoroastrian
priests dreamt very horrible dreams. When the Holy Prophet was born he
was already circumcised and his navel too had been cut. On coming into
the world he said "Allah is Great and all praise is due to Him and He is
to be praised day and night"
All these details are given in
authentic historical documents and in the collections of ahadith[69]
and keeping in view the facts regarding Prophet Musa and Prophet 'Isa,
which have been mentioned above, there is no justification for
hesitation in the acceptance of these events.
YEAR, MONTH AND DATE OF BIRTH OF THE
PROPHET OF ISLAM
The writers of "Seerah" (biographies of
the Prophet) generally agree that the Prophet of Islam was born in the
"Year of the Elephant" in 570 A.D. As it is definite that he breathed
his last in 632 A.D. when he was 62-63 years old, the year of his birth
must have been 570 A.D.
Almost all the traditionalists and
historians are unanimous that the Prophet was born in the month of
Rabi'ul Awwal, but they differ about the date of his birth. It is
well-known among the Sh'iah traditionalists that he was born after
sunrise on Friday, the 17th of Rabi'ul Awwal, whereas it is believed by
the Sunni scholars that his birth took place on the 12th of that month
on Monday.[70]
WHICH OF THE TWO VERSIONS IS
CORRECT?
It is a matter of great regret that
authentic information about the dates of birth and death of the Prophet
of Islam and, in fact, about most of the religious leaders is not
available with the Muslims and on account of this ambiguity most of the
celebrations of their birthdays, and death anniversaries, do not take
place on days which should be definite from historical viewpoint.
Aithough the Muslins scholars have recorded various events of lslamic
history in a very systematic manner it is not known as to why the dates
of birth and death of most of the religious leaders have not been
recorded after due scrutiny.
However, this problem is solvable to
some extent. In this connection let us take an example. If you wish to
write the biography of a scholar belonging to a particular city and
supposing that this scholar has left a number of children and other
relatives behind him, would you like to enquire about the details of his
life from strangers or from his friends and acquaintances in spite ot
there being present his children and other members of his family, who
naturally possess detailed and exact knowledge about the particulars of
his life? It is definite that your conscience will not permit you to do
so.
The Holy Prophet departed from amongst
the people and left behind himself his family and children. These
relatives of the Holy Prophet say, "If the Messenger of Allah is our
revered father and we have been brought up in his house and under
his patronage, we say that the head of our family came into this world
on such and such date and departed from it on such and such date. In the
circumstances is it permissible for us to ignore the statement of his
children and rely on the version of other people?
CEREMONY OF GIVING A NAME TO THE
PROPHET OF ISLAM
The seventh day approached. A sheep was
slaughtered by Abdul Muttalib as an expression of gratitude to Allah and
a number of persons were invited to the feast. In that magnificent
celebration, which was attended by most of the Quraysh, he gave his
grandchild the name "Muhammad". When it was enquired from him as to why
he had named his child "Muhammad", while this name was very rare amongst
the Arabs, he replied "I wished that he should be praised in the heavens
as well us on earth". Hassan bin Thabit, says thus in this regard:
"The Creator derived the name of His
Prophet from His own name. As such, whereas Allah is "Mahmud"
(laudable), his Prophet is 'Muhammad' (praiseworthy). Both the words
have been derived from the same root and carry the same meaning".[71]
It is certain that occult inspiration
had a part to play in the selection of this name, because, although the
name 'Muhammad' was well-known amongst the Arabs, very few persons had
till then been given this name. According to the exact statistics, which
some of the historians have collected, only sixteen persons had been
given this name before the Holy Prophet.[72]
It goes without saying that the lesser
a word is used the lesser is the chance of any misunderstanding about
it. As the Heavenly Books had predicted the advent of Islam and the
name, the particulars, the spiritual and corporeal signs of the Prophet,
it was necessary that his signs should have been so evident that the
question of any mistake should not have arisen. One of those signs was
the name of the Holy Prophet and it was essential that it should be
borne by so few persons that no doubt should be left about his
identification, especially when his qualities and signs were appended to
it. In this way the person whose appearance had been predicted by the
Taurat and the Injeel could be easily identified.
The Holy Qur'an mentions two names of
the Prophet.[73]
In the 138th, 2nd, 29th and 40th verses
respectively of the Surah Ale Imran, Muhammad, al-Fath and al-Ahzab he
has been called 'Muhammad' and in Surah al-Saff he has been called
'Ahmad'. The reason for this difference is that, as mentioned in
history, the Holy Prophet's mother had named him 'Ahmad' before his
grandfather gave him the name 'Muhammad'.[74]
THE INFANCY OF THE PROPHET
The Prophet was suckled by his mother
for three days only. Thereafter two other women had the honour of being
his foster-mothers.
1. Suwaybah: She was a female
slave of Abu Lahab. She nursed the Prophet for four months and remained
the object of appreciation by the Prophet himself, as well as of his
virtuous wife (Khadijah), throughout her life. Earlier she had also
nursed Hamzah, uncle of the Prophet. After his appointment to the
prophetic mission the Prophet intended to purchase her and sent someone
to Abu Lahab to arrange the transaction, but he refused to sell her.
However, she received assistance from the Prophet throughout her life.
When the Prophet returned from the battle of Khaybar he came to know
about her death and signs of grief appeared in his face. He made
enquires about her son, so that he might do some good to him, but was
informed that he had died earlier than his mother.
2. Halimah: She was the daughter
of Abi Zuwayb and belonged to the tribe of Said bin Bakr bin Hawazan.
She had three children named Abdullah, Anisah and Shima'. The last of
them also attended upon the Prophet. It was customary with the noble
families amongst the Arabs that they entrusted their children to wet
nurses. The nurses usually lived at places beyond the city so that the
children could be brought up in fresh desert air and might grow up
strong and healthy. Incidentally, while staying in the desert, the
children remained immune from the contagious diseases of the city of
Makkah which were more dangerous for the new-born babies and they also
learnt the Arabic language in an untempered region. The nurses who
belonged to the tribe of Bani Sa'd were famous in this area. They
visited Makkah at a particular time of the year and every one of them
took a new-born baby along with her. When four months had passed since
the birth of the Prophet the nurses of the Bani Sa'd tribe visited
Makkah. That year they were in the grip of a severe famine and, were
therefore, in great need of help from the noble families.
The new-born baby of Quraysh did not
suck the breast of any wet-nurse. Eventually Halimah came and the child
sucked her breast. At this moment the family of Abdul Muttalib became
very jubilant.[75]
Abdul Muttalib turned to Halimah and
said "To which tribe do you belong?" She replied that she belonged to
the tribe of Bani Said Then he enquired about her name and she told him
that it was Halimah. Abdul Muttalib was very much pleased to learn her
own name and that of her tribe and said "Very good! Very good! Two good
habits and two decent qualities. One of them is happiness and prosperity
and the other is meekness and forbearance".[76]
History tells us that the life of the
Prophet, the noble guide of the Muslims, was replete with a chain of
wonderful events from his very childhood upto the time when he was
entrusted with the prophetic mission and all these events had an
aspect of greatness. On the whole these events testify that the life
of the Prophet was not a usual one.
As regards the explanation of these
events the writers are divided into two groups, the materialists and
a number of orientalists.
1. The materialist scholars who
look at the world from the material point of view and consider the
organisation of existence as confined within the four walls of
matter and believe that.all the phenomena are material and dependent
upon physical causes do not attach any importance to these events
and even though they may be supported by a very strong authority,
they do not pay any heed to them. The reason for such an attitude on
their part is that according to the principles of materialism the
occurrence of such events is impossible. As and when, therefore,
they observe such happenings recorded in history they adjudge them
to be the offspring of the imagination, love and devotion of the
followers of the particular religion.
2. There is also a group of the
orientalists, who apparently present themselves to be theists and
godly persons and express belief in the supernatural, but, on
account of weakness of their faith, their pride about their
knowledge and predominance of materialism over their thoughts, while
analysing events, follow the principles of materialism. We
frequently come across this sentence in their discourses "Prophethood
is the state of being a human genius. A Prophet is a social genius
who illuminates the path of life of human beings with his brilliant
ideas etc.... " Discourses of this type originate from a sense of
materialistic thinking which considers all religions to be the
outcome of human reflection, although the doctrinal scholars have
proved, while discussing 'general prophethood', that prophethood is
a divine gift which is the source of spiritual inspirations and
connections, and, unless there is a diffusion from the side of the
Almighty, not the slightest benefit can be derived by this side
(i.e. by the Prophets). However, as the Christian orientalist looks
at these matters from the materialistic point of view and wishes to
measure all events in accordance with the scientific principles,
which have been discovered through tests and expert meets, he
subjects to criticism all those events which have a supernatural
aspect and denies their genuineness.
WORSHIPPERS OF ALLAH
These are the people who believe
that the properties and structure of the material world are under
the management of another world and another power (the world of
solitude and metaphysics) is responsible for the order of the
physical world. In other words the material world is not free and
independent and all its fixed rules and natural and scientific laws
are inspired by another world viz. the Will of the Creator which
surrounds all things that exist. It is He who has created matter and
enforced sound laws amongst its ingredients and erected it on the
basis of a chain of natural and scientific principles.
Along with believing in the
scientific laws and whole heartedly accepting the statements of
scholars about the connections of physical beings upto the extent to
which they have been substantiated by science, the people belonging
to this group also believe that these scientific rules and
principles and the wonderful system of the material world are
connected with another organization, all parts of which revolve
according to the Will of that High Being. Furthermore, they do not
consider these scientific laws to be permanent and unalterable and
believe that watchful Power can change them at any time it likes, in
order to achieve some special object. It is competent to do so and
(not only competent but) has actually done this many times for such
aims and objects as it has had in view.
They say that supernatural and
surprising acts of the Prophets which do not accord with the natural
laws have been performed through this channel. These people do not
permit themselves unduly to reject or doubt what they come across in
the Holy Qur'an and in the Hadith as well as in authentic and
reliable history hooks merely on the ground that it does not conform
With the standards of nature and scientific laws. Now we mention two
events from the mysterious and wonderful life history of the Holy
Prophet relating to his childhood and when this narrative is kept in
view no room is left for any improbability or doubt about them.
1. The historians have quoted
Halimah as saying: "When I assumed responsibility for bringing up
the new-born child of Aminah I decided to feed the infant with my
milk in the same assembly and in the presence of his mother. So I
put into his mouth my left breast which contained milk, but the
child was more inclined to my right breast. However, I did not have
anv milk in my right breast since I had given birth to my
first-born. The insistence of the child made me put my milkless
right breast in his mouth, and, as soon as he began sucking it, its
dry mammary glands were filled with milk and this incident made all
those present wonder.[77]
2. She also says "From the day I
took Muhammad to my house I became all the more prosperous and my
wealth and herd increased".[78]
Undoubtedly in these matters the
judgement of materialists and their followers differs from that of
the persons who worship Allah, although none of them has observed
these events and the only evidence for them is the statement of the
nurse of the Holy Prophet. As those who follow materialistic
principles cannot explain such incidents through natural sciences,
they immediately say that these events are the creation of
imagination. If they are very much respectful they say that the
Prophet of Islam did not stand in need of such miracles. There is no
doubt about the fact that the Prophet did not stand in need of these
miracles, but not standing in need of something is a matter totally
different from a judgement on its being true or false. However, a
godly person, who considers the organism of nature to be conquered
and subdued by the Will of the Creator of the world and believes
that the entire Universe including the smallest being (viz. atom)
and the biggest phenomenon (viz. the Milky Way) rotates according to
His plan and control. After studying these events and their
supporting evidence, he looks at all these events with due respect
and, even if he is not satisfied, he does not reject them outright.
We come across a similiar event in
the Holy Qur'an regarding Maryam (mother of Prophet 'Isa) about whom
it has been said:
When the time for Maryam, being
delivered of the child, drew near she lay down by the trunk of a
palm-tree and (on account of throes of childbirth, loneliness and
fear of accusations) she wished to Allah that she might die. At this
moment she heard a voice saying, "Do not despair. Your Lord has
provided a brook that runs at your feet and if you shake the trunk
of this (withered up) palm tree, it will drop fresh ripe dates in
your lap. (Surah Maryam,
19:24 - 25).
Although there is a great
difference between Maryam and Halimah from the point of view of
their respective positions and virtues, but a similar difference
also exists between the two new-born babes. And if the personal
merit and excellence of Maryam made her an object of Divine
blessings it is also possible that the position and rank which this
infant (i.e. Muhammad) was to acquire later might have made his
nurse worthy of Allah's bounties.
We also learn something more about
Maryam from the Holy Qur'an
Her chastity and piety had elevated
her so much that whenever Zakariyah visited her place of worship, he
found heavenly food there, and when he asked her from where that
food had come, she used to say that it had come from Allah.
(Surah Ale Imran, 3: 32)
On this basis we should not doubt
the correctness of such miracles or consider them to be impossible.
FIVE YEARS IN THE DESERT
The Holy Prophet spent five years
amongst Bani Sa'd tribe and was sufficiently grown up. During this
period Halimah took him to his mother twice or thrice and eventually
made him over to her.
The first time that Halimah took
him to his mother was when his suckling period was over. She,
however, insisted on her giving him back to her. The reason for her
insistence was that this child had become a source of bounties and
blessings for her, and the reason why his mother acceded to her
request was that cholera had broken out in Makkah at that time.
The second time that she took him
to l\lakkah was when a group of Ethiopian clergymen came to the
Hijaz and saw Muhammad amidst the tribe of Bani Sa'd. They observed
that all the signs of the Prophet who was to come after Prophet 'Isa,
as given in the Heavenly Books, were found in this child. They,
therefore, decided to take hold of him, in whatever manner it might
be possible, and to take him to Ethiopia, so that the honour of
having the Prophet might fall to the share of that country.[79]
This is not at all unlikely,
because, as clearly mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, the signs of the
Prophet of Islam had been narrated in the Injeel. It was, therefore,
perfectly in order that the sages of that time should have
identified the person in whom those signs were present. The Holy
Qur'an says in this regard:
And of 'Isa, who said to the
Israelites: "I have been sent to you by Allah to confirm the
Taurat already revealed and to give news of an apostle who will come
after me. His name is Ahmad". Yet when he (the Prophet about whom 'Isa
had foretold), came to them with all the signs and proofs to support
his truthfulness), they said: "This is plain magic ''. (Surah
al-Saff, 61 6).
There are other verses also which
show that the signs of the Prophet of Islam were clearly described
in the Heavenly Books and the earlier peoples were aware of them.[80]
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[69]
Tarikh-i Ya'qubi, vol. II page 5; Biharul Anwar, vol. XV, chapter 3,
pp. 231 - 248 and Seerah-i Halabi, vol. I, page 64.
[70]
Miqrizi has collected all the statements with regard to the day,
month and year of the birth of the Prophet in al-Amta' (page 3).
[71]
Seerah-i Halabi, vol. I, page 93.
[72]
Mudrak Pesh, vol. I, page 97.
[73]
As regards the words 'Taha' and 'Yasin' some scholars believe that
they are the 'moqatta' Ietters of the Holy Qur'an and not the names
of the Prophet.
[74]
Seerah-i Halabi, vol. I, page 93.
[75]
Biharul Anwar, vol. XV, page 442.
[76]
Seerah-i Halabi, vol. I, page 106.
[77]
Biharul Anwar, vol. XV, page 345 quoted from Fazatil-i Waqidi.
[78] Manaqib-i Ibn
Shehr Ashob, vol. I, page 24.
[79] Seerah-i Ibn
Hisham, vol. I, page 167.
[80] Vide Surah al-A'raf,
7:157 |
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