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Prophet
Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)
• Hashim : As we have previously mentioned, he was the one
responsible for giving food and water to the pilgrims. This
had been his charge when the sons of ‘Abd Munaf and those
of ‘Abd Ad-Dar compromised on dividing the charges between
them. Hashim was wealthy and honest. He was the first to
offer the pilgrims sopped bread in broth. His first name was
‘Amr but he was called Hashim because he had been in the
practice of crumbling bread (for the pilgrims). He was also
the first man who started Quraish’s two journeys of summer
and winter. It was reported that he went to Syria as a
merchant. In Madinah, he married Salma — the daughter of
‘Amr from Bani ‘Adi bin An-Najjar. He spent some time
with her in Madinah then he left for Syria again while she
was pregnant. He died in Ghazza in Palestine in 497 A.D.
Later, his wife gave birth to ‘Abdul-Muttalib and named
him Shaiba for the white hair in his head,[Ibn Hisham 1/137;
Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen 1/26,2/24] and brought him up in her
father’s house in Madinah. None of his family in Makkah
learned of his birth. Hashim had four sons; Asad, Abu Saifi,
Nadla and ‘Abdul-Muttalib, and five daughters Ash-Shifa,
Khalida, Da‘ifa, Ruqyah and Jannah.[Ibn Hisham 1/107] •
‘Abdul-Muttalib : • We have already known that after the
death of Hashim, the charge of pilgrims’ food and water
went to his brother Al-Muttalib bin ‘Abd Munaf (who was
honest, generous and trustworthy). When ‘Abdul-Muttalib
reached the age of boyhood, his uncle Al-Muttalib heard of
him and went to Madinah to fetch him. When he saw him, tears
filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, he embraced him
and took him on his camel. The boy, however abstained from
going with him to Makkah until he took his mother’s
consent. Al-Muttalib asked her to send the boy with him to
Makkah, but she refused. He managed to convince her saying:
"Your son is going to Makkah to restore his father’s
authority, and to live in the vicinity of the Sacred
House." There in Makkah, people wondered at seeing
Abdul-Muttalib, and they considered him the slave of
Muttalib. Al-Muttalib said: "He is my nephew, the son
of my brother Hashim." The boy was brought up in Al-Muttalib’s
house, but later on Al-Muttalib died in Bardman in Yemen so
‘Abdul-Muttalib took over and managed to maintain his
people’s prestige and outdo his grandfathers in his
honourable behaviour which gained him Makkah’s deep love
and high esteem. [Ibn Hisham 1/137,138] • When Al-Muttalib
died, Nawfal usurped ‘Abdul-Muttalib of his charges, so
the latter asked for help from Quraish but they abstained
from extending any sort of support to either of them.
Consequently, he wrote to his uncles of Bani An-Najjar (his
mother’s brothers) to come to his aid. His uncle, Abu
Sa‘d bin ‘Adi (his mother’s brother) marched to Makkah
at the head of eighty horsemen and camped in Abtah in Makkah.
‘Abdul-Muttalib received the men and invited them to go to
his house but Abu Sa‘d said: "Not before I meet
Nawfal." He found Nawfal sitting with some old men of
Quraish in the shade of Al-Ka‘bah. Abu Sa‘d drew his
sword and said: "I swear by Allâh that if you don’t
restore to my nephew what you have taken, I will kill you
with this sword." Nawfal was thus forced to give up
what he had usurped, and the notables of Quraish were made
to witness to his words. Abu Sa‘d then went to
‘Abdul-Muttalib’s house where he stayed for three
nights, made ‘Umra and left back for Madinah. Later on,
Nawfal entered into alliance with Bani ‘Abd Shams bin
‘Abd Munaf against Bani Hashim. When Khuza‘a, a tribe,
saw Bani An-Najjar’s support to ‘Abdul-Muttalib they
said: "He is our son as he is yours. We have more
reasons to support him than you." ‘Abd Munaf’s
mother was one of them. They went into An-Nadwa House and
entered into alliance with Bani Hashim against Bani ‘Abd
Shams and Nawfal. It was an alliance that was later to
constitute the main reason for the conquest of Makkah.
‘Abdul-Muttalib witnessed two important events in his
lifetime, namely digging Zamzam well and the Elephant raid.
[Mukhtasar Seerat Ar-Rasool, p.41,42; Ibn Hisham 1/142-147]
• In brief, ‘Abdul-Muttalib received an order in his
dream to dig Zamzam well in a particular place. He did that
and found the things that Jurhum men had buried therein when
they were forced to evacuate Makkah. He found the swords,
armours and the two deer of gold. The gate of Al-Ka‘bah
was stamped from the gold swords and the two deer and then
the tradition of providing Zamzam water to pilgrims was
established. • When the well of Zamzam gushed water forth,
Quraish made a claim to partnership in the enterprise, but
‘Abdul-Muttalib refused their demands on grounds that Allâh
had singled only him out for this honourable job. To settle
the dispute, they agreed to consult Bani Sa‘d’s diviner.
On their way, Allâh showed them His Signs that confirmed
‘Abdul-Muttalib’s prerogative as regards the sacred
spring. Only then did ‘Abdul-Muttalib make a solemn vow to
sacrifice one of his adult children to Al-Ka‘bah if he had
ten. • The second event was that of Abraha As-Sabah Al-Habashi,
the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) viceroy in Yemen. He had seen
that the Arabs made their pilgrimage to Al-Ka‘bah so he
built a large church in San‘a in order to attract the Arab
pilgrims to it to the exclusion of Makkah. A man from Kinana
tribe understood this move, therefore he entered the church
stealthily at night and besmeared its front wall with
excrement. When Abraha knew of that, he got very angry and
led a great army – of sixty thousand warriors – to
demolish Al-Ka‘bah. He chose the biggest elephant for
himself. His army included nine or thirteen elephants. He
continued marching until he reached a place called
Al-Magmas. There, he mobilized his army, prepared his
elephants and got ready to enter Makkah. When he reached
Muhassar Valley, between Muzdalifah and Mina, the elephant
knelt down and refused to go forward. Whenever they directed
it northwards, southwards or eastwards, the elephant moved
quickly but when directed westwards towards Al-Ka‘bah, it
knelt down. Meanwhile, Allâh loosed upon them birds in
flights, hurling against them stones of baked clay and made
them like green blades devoured. These birds were very much
like swallows and sparrows, each carrying three stones; one
in its peak and two in its claws. The stones hit Abraha’s
men and cut their limbs and killed them. A large number of
Abraha’s soldiers were killed in this way and the others
fled at random and died everywhere. Abraha himself had an
infection that had his fingertips amputated. When he reached
San‘a he was in a miserable state and died soon after. The
Quraishites on their part had fled for their lives to the
hillocks and mountain tops. When the enemy had been thus
routed, they returned home safely. [Ibn Hisham 1/43-56;
Tafheemul-Qur'an 6/462-469] The Event of the Elephant took
place in the month of Al-Muharram, fifty or fifty five days
before the birth of Prophet Muhammad [PHUH] which
corresponded to late February or early March 571 A.D. It was
a gift from Allâh to His Prophet and his family. It could
actually be regarded as a Divine auspicious precursor of the
light to come and accompany the advent of the Prophet and
his family. By contrast, Jerusalem had suffered under the
yoke of the atrocities of Allâh’s enemies. Here we can
recall Bukhtanassar in B.C. 587 and the Romans in 70 A.D.
Al-Ka‘bah, by Divine Grace, never came under the hold of
the Christians – the Muslims of that time – although
Makkah was populated by polytheists. News of the Elephant
Event reached the most distant corners of the then civilized
world. Abyssinia (Ethiopia) maintained strong ties with the
Romans, while the Persians on the other hand, were on the
vigil with respect to any strategic changes that were
looming on the socio-political horizon, and soon came to
occupy Yemen. Incidentally, the Roman and Persian Empires
stood for the powerful civilized world at that time. The
Elephant Raid Event riveted the world’s attention to the
sacredness of Allâh’s House, and showed that this House
had been chosen by Allâh for its holiness. It followed then
if any of its people claimed Prophethood, it would be
congruous with the outcome of the Elephant Event, and would
provide a justifiable explanation for the ulterior Divine
Wisdom that lay behind backing polytheists against
Christians in a manner that transcended the cause-and-effect
formula. ‘Abdul-Muttalib had ten sons, Al-Harith,
Az-Zubair, Abu Talib, ‘Abdullah, Hamzah, Abu Lahab, Ghidaq,
Maqwam, Safar and Al-‘Abbas. He also had six daughters,
who were Umm Al-Hakim – the only white one, Barrah,
‘Atikah, Safiya, Arwa and Omaima. [Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen
2/56,66; Talqeeh Fuhoom Ahl Al-Athar, p8,9] • ‘Abdullah
: • The father of Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]. His mother was
Fatimah, daughter of ‘Amr bin ‘A’idh bin ‘Imran bin
Makhzum bin Yaqdha bin Murra. • ‘Abdullah was the
smartest of ‘Abdul-Muttalib’s sons, the chastest and the
most loved. He was also the son whom the divination arrows
pointed at to be slaughtered as a sacrifice to Al-Ka‘bah.
When ‘Abdul-Muttalib had ten sons and they reached
maturity, he divulged to them his secret vow in which they
silently and obediently acquiesced. Their names were written
on divination arrows and given to the guardian of their most
beloved goddess, Hubal. The arrows were shuffled and drawn.
An arrow showed that it was ‘Abdullah to be sacrificed.
‘Abdul-Muttalib then took the boy to Al-Ka‘bah with a
razor to slaughter the boy. Quraish, his uncles from Makhzum
tribe and his brother Abu Talib, however, tried to dissuade
him from consummating his purpose. He then sought their
advice as regards his vow. They suggested that he summon a
she-diviner to judge whereabout. She ordered that the
divination arrows should be drawn with respect to
‘Abdullah as well as ten camels. She added that drawing
the lots should be repeated with ten more camels every time
the arrow showed ‘Abdullah. • The operation was thus
repeated until the number of the camels amounted to one
hundred. At this point the arrow showed the camels,
consequently they were all slaughtered (to the satisfaction
of Hubal) instead of his son. • The slaughtered camels
were left for anyone to eat from, human or animal. This
incident produced a change in the amount of blood-money
usually accepted in Arabia. • It had been ten camels, but
after this event it was increased to a hundred. Islam, later
on, approved of this. Another thing closely relevant to the
above issue goes to the effect that the Prophet [PBUH] once
said: "I am the offspring of the slaughtered two,"
meaning Ishmael and ‘Abdullah. [Ibn Hisham 1/151-155;
Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen 2/89,90] ‘Abdul-Muttalib chose Amina,
daughter of Wahab bin ‘Abd Munaf bin Zahra bin Kilab, as a
wife for his son, ‘Abdullah. She thus, in the light of
this ancestral lineage, stood eminent in respect of nobility
of position and descent. Her father was the chief of Bani
Zahra to whom great honour was attributed. • They were
married in Makkah, and soon after ‘Abdullah was sent by
his father to buy dates in Madinah where he died. In another
version, ‘Abdullah went to Syria on a trade journey and
died in Madinah on his way back. He was buried in the house
of An-Nabigha Al-Ju‘di. He was twenty-five years old when
he died. Most historians state that his death was two months
before the birth of Muhammad [pbuh] . • Some others said
that his death was two months after the Prophet’s birth.
When Amina was informed of her husband’s death, she
celebrated his memory in a most heart-touching elegy. [Ibn
Hisham 1/156-158; Fiqh As-Seerah p.45] ‘Abdullah left very
little wealth —five camels, a small number of goats, a
she-servant, called Barakah – Umm Aiman – who would
later serve as the Prophet’s nursemaid. [Muslim 2/96;
Talqeeh Fahoom Ahl-Athar p.4; Mukhtasar Seerat Ar-Rasool p.
12]
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