The Prophet Muhammad was born in the late sixth century, around 570, in Mecca. He was born on a Monday night, the twelfth day of Rabi `a, the third month of the lunar calendar.
The year of birth of Muhammad is traditionally called “Year of the elephant” in reference to events that would be held. General and Ethiopian Christian viceroy of Yemen, Abraha, had unsuccessfully attacked Mecca with a troupe of elephants to demolish the shrine revered by the Arabs (the Ka `ba). The Qur’an relates the story and it is said that the response miraculous bird throwing stones repulsed the attack. Muslim tradition says that eyewitnesses to the attack were still alive at the revelation of this Sura.
Muhammad belongs to the tribe of Quraych (or Koreish), an ancient Arab tribe. It descends from Ghalib, son of Fihri, nicknamed Quraych, a powerful and feared warrior. His father `Abd Allah ibn` Abd al-Muttalib is the son of `Abd Al-Muttalib, son of Hashim, Prince of Quraychites, governor of Mecca and steward of the Ka` ba.
The family of Muhammad Hashemite is by reference to his great-grandfather Hashim ibn `Abd Manaf. They claim to be Quraychites descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son and the custodians of the Ka’ba, the sanctuary rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael, according to Muslim tradition, and appointed by the father of the three monotheistic religions as a place of pilgrimage .
Muhammad was born in `Abd Allah ibn` Abd al-Muttalib and Amina (Amina bint Wahb or Aamina) to the daughter Wahba, head of the clan médinois des banu Zahrah. She gave birth to Muhammad in Mecca in the house of his paternal uncle Abu Talib Clan des banu Hachim on Monday 12 Rabi `al-Awwal. His birth is Ash-Shifa .
The death of his father `Abd Allah occurs before the birth of Muhammad in Yathrib, which has since changed its name to Medina. The seventh day after his birth, his grandfather `Abd Al-Muttalib gives a name to her grand-son, Muhammad, which means “The Praised.
According to Tabari, the day after the birth of the prophet, Abdou’l-Mottalib gave the name of Muhammad, as his father had been dead for four months. The prophet was guarded by Halima, daughter of Abu Dsouwaib called ben Abdellah al Harith and her husband was the son of Harith abdou l e Ozza fls Rifa. The two were part of the family of Beni Sa `d. It was a poor family who had to raise the prophet. The custom called for Arab children to be reared in the country not the city.
According to the custom of the noble families of Quraych, his mother Amina had to entrust her son Muhammad to a nanny, first Thuwaybah, the servant of his uncle Abû Lahab, then Halima bint Al-Harith As-Sa `diyyah (of Tribe Saadites, Banu Sa `d), who carries the baby in the desert where her husband lives with the tribe Saadites away from the rest of the population. Life in the middle of the desert with the Bedouin who are renowned for the purity of their language, was to provide children health and strength of expression.
Fearing for the health of children, Halima was quick to return the child to his mother Amina who died three years later. Muhammad was only six years. His paternal grandfather ‘Abd Al-Muttalib then took him home. Two years later, on his deathbed, `Abd Al-Muttalib charge Abu Talib, the eldest of his children, brother of` Abd Allah, take care of Muhammad. His uncle Abu Talib – the father of Ali – treats Muhammad like his own children.
Until the age of 40, there is little information written about his life. He was then a shepherd to a caravan before entering the service of Khadija, a rich widow who organized caravans. Despite their age difference (Khadija was 40 years and about 25 Muhammad), they marry and have two (or three, depending on the source) sons who died in infancy, and Qasim al-Tayeb, and four daughters, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum and Fatima the wife of Ali.
Works Cited:
Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam (1977)
Muhammad, Encyclopædia Britannica
Lapidus, Ira (2002). A History of Islamic Societies (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Neusner, Jacob (2003). God’s Rule: The Politics of World Religions. Georgetown University Press.
Dakake, Maria Massi (2008). The Charismatic Community: Shi’ite Identity in Early Islam. SUNY Press.
