Pre-Islamic Arabia: Jahili Arabs' Unique Idolatry/Polytheism
The interesting thing about the jahili Arabs was that they believed in the same God that we Muslims believe in, by the same name and attributes, and that is Allah. They never depicted Allah as an idol. They made idols of al-Lat (اللات), Hubal (هبل), al-Uzza (العزى), Manat (مناة), etc., but they never made an idol of Allah because they knew Allah could not be represented by an idol. They knew Allah was their Creator, Originator, and Sustainer. Allah says in the Quran:
وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَهُمْ لَيَقُولُنَّ الله
"If you were to ask them who created them, they would say, 'Allah.'" [Quran, 43:87]
وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ لَيَقُولُنَّ الله
"If you were to ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they would say, 'Allah.'" [Quran, 39:38]
وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّن نَّزَّلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ مِن بَعْدِ مَوْتِهَا لَيَقُولُنَّ الله
"If you were to ask them who sends the water (rain) from the heaven and gives life therewith to the earth after its death, they would say, 'Allah.'" [Quran, 29:63]
قُلْ مَن يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ أَمَّن يَمْلِكُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَمَن يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ وَمَن يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ ۚ فَسَيَقُولُونَ الله
"Say, 'Who provides you with sustenance out of the heaven and the earth? Who holds mastery over your hearing and sight? Who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living? Who governs all affairs of the universe?' They will surely say, 'Allah.'" [Quran, 10:31]So when the Prophet PBUH comes to them, it is not with a new god. Their paganism is not the paganism of the modern day. They know Allah is their Lord. But they are not Muslims, and we don't consider them to be Muslims. Why? Because they worship idols. Why do they worship idols when they know Allah created them? The Quran tells us — they say:
مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّهِ زُلْفَىٰ
"'We are only worshiping these beings so that they can bring us closer to Allah.'" [Quran, 39:3]So their ultimate goal is Allah — the idols were only intermediaries.
Allah says:
وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنفَعُهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ هَٰؤُلَاءِ شُفَعَاؤُنَا عِندَ اللَّهِ
"They worship besides Allah things that do not harm them nor benefit them, and they say: 'These are our intercessors between us and Allah.'" [Quran, 10:18]"We are too sinful to worship Allah directly, and these idols are holy beings, so we 'go through' them to get to the Holiest of holy that is Allah"—this is their mentality. So notice their shirk (شرك - idolatry/polytheism) was not in rejecting Allah; they firmly believed Allah is their Creator and Sustainer, but they were worshiping other than Allah — so we don't consider them to be Muslims.
This is important to note because in our times, some Muslims fall prey to this *exact* same mentality. They claim Allah is their Lord, but they feel they are too sinful to worship Allah directly, so they invent intercessors/intermediaries. Change al-Lat to pir, Manat to sheikh, al-Uzza to wali, and you get the exact same concept, word for word. They think they have to 'go through' the saint or the Prophet PBUH. "We worship this being, sacrifice to this being, invoke the blessings of this being, because this being has a higher status with Allah, and they will plead our case to Allah"—this is exactly the mentality of the jahili Arabs. They might say, "How dare you compare a pir to al-Lat! How dare you compare my sheikh to al-Lat!" Our response is: "What is al-Lat except a saint?"
Do you know the origin of al-Lat? Al-Lat was a generous man who used to feed the pilgrims a type of soup. "Al-Lat" means "the one who grinds." (Note: Al-Lat is his title, not his name.) He would stand on the road towards Makkah and feed the people on the road. So they called him "al-Lat," the one who grinds the barley for the soup. When he died, they said, "Let us commemorate him. He was a good man"—so they built a monument. And then people came, rubbed their bodies on it, put their hands on it to get blessings, and slowly but surely, it became an idol that they worshiped besides Allah. So what is al-Lat except a saint? (Note: In our religion, we are not supposed to build a monument on a grave *exactly* because of this reason.)
And the most common being who is invoked and worshiped on earth besides Allah is Jesus Christ. Is Jesus a good or evil being? He is a good being. He is one of the greatest of all prophets. You see, the slippery slope doesn't occur with evil people — look at how few people worship shaytan (the Satanists), and yet billions of people worship Jesus Christ, because it is easy to slip with a good man — you put him above his place, you take him to a status above what he deserves. And this is what our religion came to prohibit. You don't worship anybody besides Allah, including the Prophet PBUH. You don't 'go through' anybody to get to Allah. Take the Prophet PBUH as a role model, not as another god or demigod.
So the shirk of the jahili Arabs was a very unique type of shirk, unlike the Hindus or the Zoroastrians — because these groups believe in another god besides Allah; but the god of the Arabs was the God of Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq, and that is Allah, the God that we Muslims believe in. Their shirk was not in rejecting Him, but ironically, in affirming Him as being too Holy.
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Wisdoms of Sending the Prophet PBUH in Arabia
If Arabia was so bad and evil, why did Allah choose it for the Prophet PBUH to come in? Why not the Romans who were the mightiest civilization, or the Persians who had an ancient civilization? Why choose a desert that didn't have anything, not even a government? Why this society?
There are many wisdoms we can glean:
1. The Arabs and Arabia was in between the two major superpowers — the Romans and the Persians. More correctly the Byzantines and the Sassanids. Arabia is smack in the middle. So it is geographically very strategic: connected to the superpowers, yet distinct to the south. Indeed, in 20-40 years, the Arabs conquered both superpowers. Allah willed these two mighty nations to be conquered by the Muslims.
2. The Arabs never had a colonialist influence, and they were never aggressive to the superpowers — they were busy fighting amongst themselves, so they never challenged Rome or Persia. Thus any attack Islam launches on these superpowers will come as a complete surprise. Indeed, when the Arab army first marched towards Rome and Persia after Islam, these superpowers laughed at them, "Who are these Bedouins wanting to attack us?" And it is said the Sassanids treated the Muslim leaders like children, "Go back and we will give you some gold coins if you want"—because they could not believe a group was coming from Arabia to attack them. It was a complete surprise, and this worked out to the advantage of the Muslims.
3. The Arabs didn't have their own unique civilization. (By civilization we mean it didn't have a unified government — no law and order in society. And they didn't have literature, art, or architecture. They didn't have written literature per se even though they had poetry, which is one step less. And they didn't have buildings of lasting significance — whereas the Romans and Persians had huge buildings and palaces that are still around to this day.) Allah says:
لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ كِتَابًا فِيهِ ذِكْرُكُمْ
"We have given you a book, in it is your legacy" [see Quran, 21:10]—meaning the Arabs didn't have a legacy before the Quran came; and the Quran gave them a legacy that people will look up to them by. So the fact that they didn't have a civilization, when Islam came, it made it easier for them to develop a unique and comprehensive culture. If Islam came to the Romans for example, it would have been very difficult — the Prophet PBUH would have had to fight the status quo, the current structure in place. But Arabia was like a vacuum waiting to be filled. And indeed the first time the Arabs were ever united was under the Prophet PBUH. So a lack of civilization was a blessing in disguise.4. There was constant internal warfare in Arabia, and the state was seen as relatively backward — thus the rise of a political power coming from Arabia was completely unexpected. The Romans and Persians were completely unprepared for the Muslim conquests.
5. Makkah was the site of the first House built for the worship of Allah, by Ibrahim and Ismail AS — therefore, it was most appropriate that it becomes the place of the first universal religion. Any other religion was sent to specific nations, e.g., Moses to the Jews, Jesus to the Children of Israel. Allah says in the Quran that the first House of worship ever established for humanity was the one at Bakkah (later became Makkah) [see Quran, 3:96]. So it is befitting that the first universal call comes from Makkah.
6. The Arabs had certain qualities that made them very good to be receptive to the Message of Islam. Of them:
a) Purity of spirit — they were simple people not polluted by philosophical indoctrinations. Of the positives of being simple is when the Truth comes, you accept it more easily. (And generally speaking, even in our times, the first converts are usually sincere innocent people.)
b) The Arabs were so used to hardship, e.g., lack of water and food — this helped the Islamic armies in the early conquests. The troops of the Romans and the Persians were spoiled — they needed supply lines and had lots of baggage; but the Arabs were used to traveling in the desert for long distances with little water and little food, and early Islamic conquests needed this stamina that neither the Romans nor the Persians had.
c) Bravery — they were not cowards.
d) Honesty — the Arabs hated lying and they were very honest people. E.g., Abu Sufyan's story with Heraclius[1] shows this: Abu Sufyan was brought in front of Heraclius, and Heraclius knew Abu Sufyan was an enemy to the Prophet PBUH [at this time], so to make sure Abu Sufyan is speaking the truth, Heraclius puts the other Qureshis at the back of Abu Sufyan and told them that if Abu Sufyan lies, make a motion that he is lying (i.e., "Tell me he is lying"). And Abu Sufyan remarked later as he was narrating this story, "Were it not for the fact that my people would have accused me of being a liar, I would have invented lies against Muhammad"—even though he is a pagan, he did not want to be called a liar. Honesty was something that was prized amongst the Arabs.
e) They were sincere in their oaths — if they gave a promise, they would uphold it, e.g., Abdul Muttalib and his promise to Allah[2]. The Arabs were people of their word, and they abided by their word. There was no need for witnesses or written documents.
f) The Arabs were the best horsemen — there was no denying this. The Romans and the Persians could not compete neither with the horses, nor with the riders, of Arabia. And indeed, there are authentic ahadith (أحاديث - plural of hadith) about Arabian horses — the Prophet PBUH praised the horses of Arabia, so the blessings remained in them, and to this day the world knows that the most prized horses are Arabian horses. And the riders were the most accustomed to brutal wars and conditions, which the Romans and the Persians were not going to be accustomed to.
7. The Arabic language is a Semitic language — and the Semitic languages are far more eloquent and powerful than languages based in Latin or any other language. E.g., from one verb you can derive over 200 words. And indeed, generally speaking, people agree that the Semitic languages are the most eloquent.
8. The Prophet Ibrahim AS made a du'a as he was building the Ka'bah — he said:
رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ
"O our Lord! Send amongst them (Ismail's progeny) a prophet (messenger) of their own, who shall recite to them Your signs, and teach them the Book and wisdom, and purify them" [see Quran, 2:129]. So Ibrahim AS made a du'a that let there be a prophet from Ismail's AS progeny, i.e., the Arabs. (Side note: He knew there would be prophets from Ishaq's [إسحاق - Isaac] AS progeny, as Allah said even before Ishaq was born:
فَبَشَّرْنَاهَا بِإِسْحَاقَ وَمِن وَرَاءِ إِسْحَاقَ يَعْقُوبَ
"We gave her [Sarah] good tidings of Ishaq, and after Ishaq, Ya'qub" [see Quran, 11:71].
وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُۥٓ إِسْحَـٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَجَعَلْنَا فِى ذُرِّيَّتِهِ ٱلنُّبُوَّةَ وَٱلْكِتَـٰبَ
"We blessed him with Ishaq and [later] Ya'qub, and reserved prophethood and revelation for his descendants" [see Quran, 29:27]. And indeed, we Muslims believe that every single prophet that came after Ibrahim AS was from the descendants of Ishaq AS. We affirm this. But we say there is only one exception, and that is the final prophet, Muhammad PBUH — he was from the descendants of Ismail AS.) So the Prophet PBUH is the result of the du'a of Ibrahim AS, and this is thus the main reason Allah chose the Arabs. The Prophet PBUH said in an authentic hadith, "I am the response of the supplication of my father Abraham, and I am the glad tiding predicted by Jesus."
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Parents of the Prophet PBUH
We have already pointed out that the lineage of the Prophet PBUH was the purest and the noblest, as the Prophet PBUH himself said in a hadith (Sahih Muslim).
Let us now move on to the issue of the birth of the Prophet PBUH. His parents are Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib (عبد الله بن عبد المطلب) and Aminah bint Wahab (آمنة بنت وهب). We have but a few lines about their life and times. We know very little about them for a number of reasons:
1. They both lived very short lives — died in their early 20s or even before.
2. They both died before it was known that the Prophet PBUH was a prophet, i.e., they were just regular people of Quraysh, so nobody recorded their stories.
3. When the Prophet PBUH becomes a prophet, it has already been 40 years since his parents have died; by the time he reaches Madinah, 53 years; by the time he dies, 63 years; so who is alive to remember what happened 63 years ago? When Islam finally became stable, no one was there to remember them. (Note: We know that the Makkan seerah lasted for 53 years, and the Madinan, 10 years. Yet the volume of the chronicles of the Madinan seerah is 3x larger than the size of the Makkan's. Why? Because when Islam is powerful and stable, that's when it becomes easier for people to narrate and record; not when the Muslims were persecuted in the streets of Makkah. So if this is the case with the life of the Prophet PBUH, what do you think of the life and times of his parents?)
So sadly, we have very little information. But what we do know, insha'Allah we will try to narrate:
Recall the story of Abdul Muttalib's vow to sacrifice his son Abdullah[3]. Immediately after the incident, when Abdullah was "saved," Abdul Muttalib decided he needed to choose a bride for his son. So he chose for him the daughter of the chief of the Banu Zuhrah (بنو زهرة), Aminah. (Note: Quraysh is a large tribe and within it are many small tribes — the Banu Hashim is one, the Banu Zuhrah is another.) Shortly before the caravan season, Abdul Muttalib proposed to Aminah bint Wahab on behalf of his son; and her father Wahab, as the chieftain of another Qureshi tribe, agreed. So Abdullah got married to Aminah, and they barely spent 3-5 days together before Abdullah had to go with the caravan to Syria, as we all know, never to be seen again. He was 18-25 years old at this time.
There are some stories/legends that are not authentically narrated, but in this particular case, we will mention one of them since there is no harm in narrating it. (Note 1: This is one of the few exceptions we make.) (Note 2: Sometimes it's okay to mention stories even though it's best to stick to the facts through the science of hadith.) It is said that Abdullah had a type of brightness (nadarah/نضارة) on his face, and he was a very handsome young man. So the young damsels of Quraysh were all eager to get him to marry them. But after he married Aminah, this brightness left his face, so they stopped taking an interest in him completely, saying, "You had a brightness in your face that no longer is there." So the brightness left him, meaning it went to his progeny, Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Allah knows best, this story is not authentic, but there is no harm in narrating something like this.
Nonetheless, so less than a week after marriage, he left to catch the caravan, and he went all the way to Syria. However, he fell seriously ill on the return journey, so when the caravan arrived in Yathrib (يثرب) (which later became Madinah), he chose to stay with his relatives there to avoid delaying the rest of the group. So he remained in Yathrib. (Note: In Yathrib was Abdul Muttalib's mother, i.e., Abdullah's grandmother. Notice how Allah prepared some relationship between the Prophet PBUH and the city he would Migrate to. The Arabs married among themselves so it was very rare for them to have relatives outside the city they lived in. On top of this, Yathrib was not a common city the Quraysh would travel to. Yet Allah prepared this relationship.) So Abdullah stayed in Yathrib, and when the caravan got back to Makkah, they told Aminah that Abdullah had fallen severely sick, and he is resting in Yathrib. But the next news came, they told her that in fact he had passed away. So Aminah became a young widow at 18-19 years old, carrying the offspring of Abdullah. And nobody knows where Abdullah is buried.
Recall the story of Abdul Muttalib's vow to sacrifice his son Abdullah[3]. Immediately after the incident, when Abdullah was "saved," Abdul Muttalib decided he needed to choose a bride for his son. So he chose for him the daughter of the chief of the Banu Zuhrah (بنو زهرة), Aminah. (Note: Quraysh is a large tribe and within it are many small tribes — the Banu Hashim is one, the Banu Zuhrah is another.) Shortly before the caravan season, Abdul Muttalib proposed to Aminah bint Wahab on behalf of his son; and her father Wahab, as the chieftain of another Qureshi tribe, agreed. So Abdullah got married to Aminah, and they barely spent 3-5 days together before Abdullah had to go with the caravan to Syria, as we all know, never to be seen again. He was 18-25 years old at this time.
There are some stories/legends that are not authentically narrated, but in this particular case, we will mention one of them since there is no harm in narrating it. (Note 1: This is one of the few exceptions we make.) (Note 2: Sometimes it's okay to mention stories even though it's best to stick to the facts through the science of hadith.) It is said that Abdullah had a type of brightness (nadarah/نضارة) on his face, and he was a very handsome young man. So the young damsels of Quraysh were all eager to get him to marry them. But after he married Aminah, this brightness left his face, so they stopped taking an interest in him completely, saying, "You had a brightness in your face that no longer is there." So the brightness left him, meaning it went to his progeny, Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Allah knows best, this story is not authentic, but there is no harm in narrating something like this.
Nonetheless, so less than a week after marriage, he left to catch the caravan, and he went all the way to Syria. However, he fell seriously ill on the return journey, so when the caravan arrived in Yathrib (يثرب) (which later became Madinah), he chose to stay with his relatives there to avoid delaying the rest of the group. So he remained in Yathrib. (Note: In Yathrib was Abdul Muttalib's mother, i.e., Abdullah's grandmother. Notice how Allah prepared some relationship between the Prophet PBUH and the city he would Migrate to. The Arabs married among themselves so it was very rare for them to have relatives outside the city they lived in. On top of this, Yathrib was not a common city the Quraysh would travel to. Yet Allah prepared this relationship.) So Abdullah stayed in Yathrib, and when the caravan got back to Makkah, they told Aminah that Abdullah had fallen severely sick, and he is resting in Yathrib. But the next news came, they told her that in fact he had passed away. So Aminah became a young widow at 18-19 years old, carrying the offspring of Abdullah. And nobody knows where Abdullah is buried.
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Date & Time of the Birth of the Prophet PBUH
The Prophet PBUH was born in the famous Year of the Elephant. But when was the exact date? It is commonly known that it was the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal (ربيع الأول) — but the fact of the matter is there is no unanimously agreed upon opinion. However, the Prophet PBUH told us certain things that we know for sure — of them, in the famous hadith of Sahih Muslim, a man asked the Prophet PBUH, "Why do you fast on Mondays?" He PBUH said, "This was the day I was born on, and this was the day revelation began to me." So we know for a fact that he was born on a Monday. As for the year, there is a narration in which Uthman ibn Affan asks an old sahabi, Qubath ibn Ashyam (قباث بن أشيم), after the death of the Prophet PBUH, "Are you akbar (أكبر - older/grander) than the Prophet PBUH?" He said, "The Prophet PBUH is grander than me, but I am older than him." Then he said, "The Prophet PBUH was born in the Year of the Elephant. As for me, I remember my mother taking me outside of Makkah as a child, and I saw the dried-up green dung that the elephant had left." So Qubath puts a year on the Prophet's PBUH birth. Another sahabi, Suwayd ibn Ghafla (سويد بن غفلة), said, "The Prophet PBUH and I were both born in the same year, the Year of the Elephant." So we agree that he PBUH was born in the Year of the Elephant. And remember, the Arabs did not have an established calendar and only had a calendar based on events (e.g., the Year of the Drought, the Year of the Invasion) until Umar RA made the Islamic calendar; so when exactly is the Year of the Elephant? Difficult to date because we don't have any chronicles of the Abyssinians. But by and large, the majority of historians say it corresponds to 570 CE.
What about the month and the day of the month? Looking at two of the earliest books ever written about the seerah, we find different accounts: (1) Ibn Ishaq (d. 150 AH) says without any chain of narrators, "The Prophet PBUH was born on a Monday, the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal in the Year of the Elephant." This explains why this opinion is present. However, between Ibn Ishaq and the Prophet PBUH is almost 150 years — and he doesn't tell us where he gets the date from, who is narrating this to him, and what is the chain of narrators. (2) When we look at the second earliest book, the Tabaqat (الطبقات) of Ibn Sa'd (ابن سعد) (d. 230 AH), it says, "The Prophet PBUH was born on a Monday. Some people say he was born on the 10th of Rabi' al-Awwal, and others say the 2nd of Rabi' al-Awwal"—two opinions, neither of which conforms to the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal. And it is said that Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH) also said that the Prophet PBUH was born on the 10th of Rabi' al-Awwal.
Ibn Kathir (ابن كثير) (d. 774 AH) in his al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya (البداية والنهاية) said, "The majority opinion is that the Prophet PBUH was born in Rabi' al-Awwal. But others have other months as well. The scholars differed with regards to the date of his birth. One group said he was born on the 2nd of Rabi' al-Awwal — this is the opinion of Abu Ma'shar al-Sindhi (أبو معشر السندي) (d. 171 AH), Ibn Abd al-Barr (ابن عبد البر) (d. 463 AH), and al-Waqidi (الواقدي) (d. 207 AH) [three very early authorities]. Another opinion is that he was born on the 8th of Rabi' al-Awwal — this is the opinion of Ibn Hazm (ابن حزم) (d. 456 AH), Imam Malik ibn Anas (مالك بن أنس) (d. 179 AH), Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (ابن شهاب الزهري) (d. 128 AH), and Muhammad ibn Jubayr ibn Mut'im (محمد بن جبير بن مطعم) (d. ~100 AH). A third opinion is the 10th of Rabi' al-Awwal — this is the opinion of Ibn Asakir (ابن عساكر) (d. 571 AH) and Ja'far al-Sadiq (جعفر الصادق) [the descendant of the Prophet PBUH] (d. 148 AH). The fourth opinion is the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal — this is the opinion of Ibn Ishaq, but there is no isnad on this matter [note: and Ibn Kathir does say this is the most popular opinion in his time]. The fifth opinion is the 17th of Rabi' al-Awwal. The sixth opinion is the 22nd of Rabi' al-Awwal. The seventh opinion is not even in Rabi' al-Awwal but in Ramadan (رمضان) — this is the opinion of al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar (الزبير بن بكار) (d. 256 AH). [And there are other opinions as well.]"
To summarize: There are over 10 opinions in the earliest books of Islam about the exact day that the Prophet PBUH was born — none of them are clear-cut with solid evidence. All of them are the opinions of early authors and narrators. And to be academic, the opinion of the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal seems to have much less weight than the 2nd, the 8th, and the 10th — because these three have tabi'un, tabi' al-tabi'un, and even the descendant of the Prophet PBUH narrating; whereas the opinion of the 12th is by Ibn Ishaq who came ~150 years after the birth of the Prophet PBUH, and he is narrating without any isnad.
So if this is the case, why then is the opinion of the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal the most popular? Two reasons: (1) Because it is Ibn Ishaq's opinion — and 90% of seerah writers only rely on Ibn Ishaq. (2) The first time the Prophet's PBUH birthday was celebrated as a public event (i.e., the Mawlid al-Nabi), the authorities who celebrated it chose the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal to celebrate it on — thus it spread like wildfire.
The Mawlid al-Nabi (مولد النبي - Observance of the Birthday of the Prophet PBUH) — the first recorded instance that we have of people celebrating the birthday of the Prophet PBUH is around 517 AH, i.e., the 6th century of Islam. So for 500 years, the concept of celebrating the birthday of the Prophet PBUH was simply unknown to the Muslims. Celebrating birthdays was not the custom of the Arabs — they didn't even record dates. (Note: Celebrating birthdays is a Western concept that later spread to the world.) The first group that celebrated the Mawlid was the Fatimids of Egypt. (Note: The Fatimids are not of Sunni theology, they are of extreme Shia groups — the ancestors of today's Aga Khanis and Bohras, i.e., the Isma'ilis.) They instituted over 30-40 festivals, and of them was the Mawlid. When it was done, 150 years later, some Sunni governors in Mosul thought this was a good idea, so they imported the festival, and they copied it and did it on the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal in around 670 AH, and it became a very luxurious festival — various governors and rulers competed who could have the grander festival. Free meat, free bread, gifts, etc. (Note: And of course, there are reasons why rulers want to have festivals — to attract trade and stimulate the economy, i.e., the same reason why governments in our time want the Olympics/World Cup to happen in their country.) Thus slowly but surely, the Mawlid began to spread in Sunni lands. Initially, some scholars opposed it (and some scholars said it is allowed with certain conditions) — but after a while, under public pressure, the floodgates opened, and it became a very common festival. And therefore, the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal became commonly known to the public as the birthday of the Prophet PBUH, even though, as we have seen, the 2nd, the 8th, and the 10th are more authentic historically. [Further reading: The Birth-Date of the Prophet and the History of the Mawlid by Dr. Yasir Qadhi]
So if this is the case, why then is the opinion of the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal the most popular? Two reasons: (1) Because it is Ibn Ishaq's opinion — and 90% of seerah writers only rely on Ibn Ishaq. (2) The first time the Prophet's PBUH birthday was celebrated as a public event (i.e., the Mawlid al-Nabi), the authorities who celebrated it chose the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal to celebrate it on — thus it spread like wildfire.
The Mawlid al-Nabi (مولد النبي - Observance of the Birthday of the Prophet PBUH) — the first recorded instance that we have of people celebrating the birthday of the Prophet PBUH is around 517 AH, i.e., the 6th century of Islam. So for 500 years, the concept of celebrating the birthday of the Prophet PBUH was simply unknown to the Muslims. Celebrating birthdays was not the custom of the Arabs — they didn't even record dates. (Note: Celebrating birthdays is a Western concept that later spread to the world.) The first group that celebrated the Mawlid was the Fatimids of Egypt. (Note: The Fatimids are not of Sunni theology, they are of extreme Shia groups — the ancestors of today's Aga Khanis and Bohras, i.e., the Isma'ilis.) They instituted over 30-40 festivals, and of them was the Mawlid. When it was done, 150 years later, some Sunni governors in Mosul thought this was a good idea, so they imported the festival, and they copied it and did it on the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal in around 670 AH, and it became a very luxurious festival — various governors and rulers competed who could have the grander festival. Free meat, free bread, gifts, etc. (Note: And of course, there are reasons why rulers want to have festivals — to attract trade and stimulate the economy, i.e., the same reason why governments in our time want the Olympics/World Cup to happen in their country.) Thus slowly but surely, the Mawlid began to spread in Sunni lands. Initially, some scholars opposed it (and some scholars said it is allowed with certain conditions) — but after a while, under public pressure, the floodgates opened, and it became a very common festival. And therefore, the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal became commonly known to the public as the birthday of the Prophet PBUH, even though, as we have seen, the 2nd, the 8th, and the 10th are more authentic historically. [Further reading: The Birth-Date of the Prophet and the History of the Mawlid by Dr. Yasir Qadhi]
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib (سعيد بن المسيب) (d. 95 AH) said, "It has been narrated to me that the Prophet PBUH was born at high noon." And this is the only narration we have about the timing of the birth of the Prophet PBUH. He was born at high noon when the sun was at its pinnacle and peak. And of course, there is a clear symbolism here that is not lost on anybody: When the sun is brightest, this is when he is coming out with his own Truth — just like the bright sun illuminates everything, so too this prophet will illuminate everything and nothing will remain dark around him.
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The Birth of Prophet Muhammad PBUH
When it comes to the actual birth of the Prophet PBUH, we only have one academically sound report in Musnad Imam Ahmad (مسند الإمام أحمد); and all the rest are just legends, so we will skip over — because frankly, we don't need these fairy tales and lies to praise the Prophet PBUH. The facts are enough. What is really amazing is that the earliest books you go to have the least information; yet as you go on and on in history, the books get bigger and bigger, and the details get more and more — makes you wonder, where did these details come from? Ibn Ishaq is the author of the first comprehensive book of seerah, and he says he will write everything he comes across, yet the size of his book was barely 10-15 volumes. And then you have a book written 700 years later, 5x the size! And this book is full of "...and it is said to me" — where is it coming from? Legends. E.g.: (1) In one report, it is said the Prophet PBUH was born already circumcised. (2) In another, it is said he was born and fell into sajdah (سجدة - prostration). (3) In another, it is said he was born and he lifted his finger to the sky to say the shahada (الشهادة - the Testimony of Faith). We don't need to invent these legends. He is the best human, and the facts are enough to show us this. When we resort to these tales, it makes our religion not look as dignified. Ibn Ishaq mentions none of these things.
However, there is one authentic hadith pertaining to the birth of the Prophet PBUH, mentioned by the Prophet PBUH himself, as recorded in Musnad Imam Ahmad: "When my mother gave birth to me [or in another version: when my mother was carrying me], she saw a light emanate from her that reached all the way to the palaces of the city of Busra (بصرى - Bosra) in al-Sham (الشام - Greater Syria)." Scholars have tried to understand why al-Sham. Allah knows best, but we could surmise that al-Sham was mentioned because:
1. It is a blessed, holy land, as Allah says in the Quran, "Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed" [see Quran, 17:1].
2. Later in his life, the Prophet PBUH prophesied that al-Sham would remain a fortress of Islam. (Note: And amazingly, indeed, al-Sham was the first province the Muslims conquered outside the Arabian Peninsula, and Damascus remained the capital of the Umayyads for centuries.)
So the light emanating toward al-Sham is an indication that the Prophet PBUH is going to challenge the status quo. Realize before the coming of Islam, Damascus was the right hand, the jewel, of the Byzantine Empire where everything happened — commerce, trade, culture, civilization, etc. So it was impossible for the Arabs to think that Damascus would one day become the core of their civilizations.
As Muslims, we also believe that Isa ibn Maryam will descend in al-Sham where he will meet the Mahdi.
Now, there are a few incidents that are alleged to have occurred that are not found in the authentic books:
1. The temples of the pagans fell down upon the birth of the Prophet PBUH. (Note: Sh. YQ himself doesn't believe this to be true.)
2. A lot of scholars say when the Prophet PBUH was born, this was when the jinn were stopped entry into the heavens. Before this, they were allowed, and they would listen to [the conversations of] the angels in the heavens. Allah references this in the Quran in Surah al-Jinn (سورة الجن):
2. A lot of scholars say when the Prophet PBUH was born, this was when the jinn were stopped entry into the heavens. Before this, they were allowed, and they would listen to [the conversations of] the angels in the heavens. Allah references this in the Quran in Surah al-Jinn (سورة الجن):
وَأَنَّا كُنَّا نَقْعُدُ مِنْهَا مَقَاعِدَ لِلسَّمْعِ ۖ فَمَن يَسْتَمِعِ الْآنَ يَجِدْ لَهُ شِهَابًا رَّصَدًا
"Indeed, we used to sit there in (hidden) stations, to (steal) a hearing; but any who listen now will find a flaming fire watching him in ambush" [Quran, 72:9]. So one group of scholars says this happened at the birth of the Prophet PBUH. But the correct opinion is that this occurred not at his birth, but when his prophethood began, i.e., 40 years later. And other ahadith reference this as well.Getting back to Ibn Ishaq's narration: Ibn Ishaq says the Prophet PBUH was circumcised on the 7th day, and his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, held a feast for him, and he chose the name Muhammad which was a very uncommon name — there was nobody in Makkah by this name. People asked him, "Why are you calling him by a name that nobody has heard of?" He said, "I want him to be praised by the people of the earth as I want him to be praised by the people of the heavens." ("Muhammad" means the one who is praised.)
When the news of the birth of the Prophet PBUH spread amongst the Quraysh, his uncle Abu Lahab (أبو لهب) [whom as we all know would later become one of the main enemies of the Prophet PBUH when his prophethood begins] set a slave girl free just because she came with this good news of the birth of his nephew. This shows how happy he was. And there is a hadith in Musnad Imam Ahmad that al-Abbas (العباس) saw Abu Lahab in his dream (after Abu Lahab had died) being punished with the utmost severe punishment. Al-Abbas asked him, "Didn't your relationship with the Prophet PBUH [as his uncle] benefit you?" He said, "No, except for the one thing that I did: when the good news came that he was born, I freed Thuwaybah (ثويبة) (the slave girl); and because of this, I am allowed a few drops of water."
[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Muhammad Abdul Rahman, April 2021]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Muhammad Abdul Rahman, April 2021]
