Prophet Muhammad
Biography of Prophet Muhammad
Abd al Muttalib was the grandfather of Prophet Muhammad. His real name was Shaiba. His youngest son was named Abdullah. Abdullah was the father of Prophet Muhammad. The name of Mother of Prophet Muhammad was Amina.
Abdullah was aged 17 when he got married. He married Amina.
Death of Abdullah - Prophet Muhammad's Father
Soon after Abdullah's marriage, he set off on a trip with fellow merchants. On return while passing Medina, he fell ill and died. At the time of Abdullah's death, Amina was pregnant with Prophet Muhammad.
Birth of Prophet Muhammad
On a Monday, on 12 Rabiulawal, Prophet Muhammad was born. It translates to 28 August 570 CE. As his father was not alive when Muhammad was born, he was raised by his grandfather and mother.
Death of Amina - Mother of Prophet Muhammad
When Prophet Muhammad was 6 years old, his mother Amina had a desire to see his husband's grave. As a result, Amina departed for Medina. Like her husband, Amina also fell ill en-route. 23 miles from Huzaifa is a village called Abwa where the grave of Amina is present. Prophet Muhammad turned orphan at the age of 6.
Death of Abd Al-Muttalib - Grandfather of Muhammad
Prophet Muhammad's grandfather Abd Al-Muttalib died when Muhammad was 8 years old.
Marriage of Prophet Muhammad to Khadija
Prophet Muhammad married Khadija who had widowed twice before. She was a rich lady and had inherited a lot of wealth from her two previous marriages. Prophet Muhammad was aged 25 years, 2 months and 10 days whereas Khadija was aged 40 years.
Children of Prophet Muhammad
Prophet Muhammad had 7 children, 3 boys and 4 girls. All the 3 sons of Prophet Muhammad died in front of his eyes. They were named Qasim, Tayyab and Tahir.
Religious Nature of Prophet Muhammad
Due to his earnings from previous births, Prophet Muhammad had a religious mindset. As a result he used to worship while sitting in a cave.
Prophet Muhammad's first encounter with Angel Jibril (Gabriel) in the cave of Hira
When Prophet Muhammad turned 40, he was once doing his worship whilst in a cave, an angel appeared before him. He presented a piece of cloth to Muhammad and asked him to read. Prophet Muhammad said, "I cannot read". Prophet Muhammad felt as if his neck was being strangulated. The angel again said, "Read". Prophet Muhammad again said, "I cannot read". The angel again strangulated Muhammad's neck and then asked him to recite a verse. Prophet Muhammad memorised it, recited it and the angel disappeared.
The episode got Muhammad extremely frightened and perplexed. He feared for his life. He was trembling in fear. While Muhammad was trying to come to senses, a voice came from above and Muhammad looked upwards. The same angel was in the sky. The angel said, Muhammad, you are a messenger of God and I am Jibril (Gabriel). On witnessing this, Muhammad's fear got worse and he developed gooseflesh all over his body. Wherever Muhammad looked, he could see the same angel. Muhammad continued to tremble. The angel then disappeared and Muhammad returned home to Khadija. He asked Khadija to give him a blanket as he was shivering in fear. Witnessing this Khadija got fearful. Muhammad then narrated the whole incident to Khadija and expressed his fear of life.
On hearing the whole account, Khadija said to Muhammad that the same angel had appeared before Moses. You too are going to be a messenger.
Prophet Muhammad's second encounter with Jibril (Gabriel)
When angel Jibril appeared for the second time in front of Muhammad, he got equally frightened and started trembling in fear. Angel Jibril then gave a verse of Quran to Muhammad. This is how the Quran started to be revealed on Prophet Muhammad.
Angel Jibril also explained the procedure of doing vaju and namaaz to Muhammad during one the meetings.
How did Prophet Muhammad start his Prayer
From Hadith - Sahih Muslim 770
Aisha reported: When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would stand for prayer at night, he would begin by saying, “O Allah, the Lord of Gabriel, Michael, and Israfel, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen, you judge between your servants in that over which they differ. Guide me, by your will, in what they differ over regarding the truth. Verily, you guide whomever you will to the straight path.”
Ref: Sahih Muslim
Israfel is arabic for Raphael.
Prophet Mohammad - Life History
Biography Prophet Muhammad (Sallahu Alaihi Vasallam)
- Author - Muhammad Inayatullah Subhani,
- From the original book – Muhammad e (Arabi),
- Translator - Naseem Ghazi Falahi,
- Publisher - Publication work has been done by the order of Islami Sahitya Trust Publication No.81. Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, D-307, Dawat Nagar, Abul Fazl Enclave Jamia Nagar, New Delhi - 1110025,
(The following episode has been taken from the book of the above author and publication.)
Mr. Hashim's son was Shauba. He only was later called Abdul Muttalib. When Muttalib brought his nephew Shauba to his village, people thought that Muttalib had brought some slave. Hence Mr. Shouba came to be known more by the alias Mr. Abdul Muttalib. Mr. Abdul Muttalib had ten sons. For some reason, Abdul Muttalib vowed to sacrifice one of his ten sons for the sake of Allah.
Which of the ten sons does the deity like for sacrifice? For this, out of the idols kept in a temple (Kaaba), ten arrows were placed in front of the idol of the elder god and the name of a son was written on each. The arrow, on which the name of the youngest son Abdullah was written, pointed towards the idol. It was believed that the deity accepted this son for sacrifice. Preparations were being made to sacrifice Mr. Abdullah (father of Prophet Muhammad). Religious people from all over the region told Abdul Muttalib not to do this. There was a lot of hue and cry. Another spirit spoke in a priest. He said that even sacrificing camels will work. This brought a sigh of relief. The same power told them about a woman in another village who was a broker of the priests of other temples, that she would decide how many camels would have to be sacrificed to Allah for Abdullah's life. The woman said that the number of camels you give to save one life, in that add another ten and put the slip of Abdullah's name and the slip of ten camels and keep checking it. Keep doing this until the slip of camels comes out. In this way, they kept increasing the number of camels by ten, then after a hundred camels, the slip of camels came out. Before that, Abdullah's slip kept coming out. Thus, he saved the life of son Abdullah by sacrificing (killing) a hundred camels. When Shri Abdullah became young, he was married to devotee Amini Devi. When Prophet Muhammad was in the womb of his mother Amini ji, his father Shri Abdullah ji died at some distant place. His grave was built there itself. When child Muhammad was six years old, Mother Amini Devi had gone to see her husband's grave. She too died on the way. Six-year-old boy Muhammad ji became an orphan. (The above description is written in the aforesaid book 'Biography of Prophet Muhammad on pages 21 to 29 and 33-34.)
When Prophet Muhammad ji turned 25, he married a forty-year-old widow named Khadija. Khadija had been widowed twice earlier. Both her ex-husbands had substantial property which was with Khadija. The third time, she married Prophet Muhammad. She belonged to an affluent family. (This description is written on pages 46, 51-52 of the aforesaid book.)
Prophet Muhammad ji got three sons and four daughters from Khadija ji. But this happy time did not last long. The apple of your eyes, the three sons 1. Qasim, 2. Tayyab 3. Tahir died in front of your (Hazrat Muhammad ji) eyes. Only four girls (Zainab, Rukayya, Umme Kulsum and Fatima) remained. (This above description is written on page 64 of the aforesaid book.)
Once, Prophet Muhammad ji was meditating in a cave outside the city in the pursuit of attainment of God. An angel named Jibreel throttled Prophet Muhammad ji and forcibly explained the knowledge of Quran Sharif. (Hazrat Muhammad ji was intimidated and given the knowledge of the Lord believed to be Formless.) Due to the fear of that Jibreel deity, Prophet Muhammad ji memorised that knowledge. In this way, the angel gave the knowledge of Quran Majeed to Muhammad Saheb ji. Prophet Muhammad ji told his wife Khadija ji, “While I was sitting in the cave, an angel came. He had a silk handkerchief in his hand. Something was written on it. The angel strangled me and said, read this. I felt as if my life was about to end. He tried to forcefully make me read by squeezing my whole body. He did this twice. He again said the third time, “Read”; I could not read because of being uneducated. This time I thought he would hurt me even more. I said, “What should I read?” Then he made me read a verse of the Quran. (This description is written from pages 67 to 75 of the aforesaid book and from pages 157 to 165.)
The Angel Jibreel cut Prophet Muhammad’s chest open, poured power into it and then sealed it, and making him sit on a mule-like animal (Buraq), took him up in the skies. There came a group of prophets, among them were Prophet Musa ji, Isa ji and Ibrahim ji etc. Prophet Muhammad ji led them in prayer.
Prophet Adam was also present there who was sometimes laughing and sometimes crying. The Angel Jibreel told Prophet Muhammad, “This is Baba Adam.” The reason for crying and laughing was that on the right side was his virtuous offspring who was happy, seeing whom Baba Adam was laughing and on the left side, the wicked offspring was suffering in hell, seeing whom he was crying.
{Here, the author has hidden some facts. He has written that Prophet Adam was laughing on facing right because there were deeds of his noble offspring on the right side. He was laughing on seeing them. On the left were the deeds of his wicked offspring. He was crying on seeing them. Please think, Readers! Were those deeds written on some wall in the heaven; whereas Baba Adam was illiterate? The reality has been written above.}
Then he went to the seventh heaven. A voice came from behind the curtain to offer fifty (namaz) prayers per day. At the behest of Prophet Musa, Prophet Muhammad returned after getting fifty prayers reduced down to only five prayers from Allah.
(Page no. 307 to 315) Prophet Muhammad ji advised Muslims against bloodshed, and to not even charge interest, and at the age of 63, after becoming severely ill, he offered prayers despite being in agony, came home and died after suffering unbearable pain the whole night.
(Page No. 319) Later there was a dispute about who would succeed him. Then Prophet Abu Bakr was elected as the Caliph.
