Life Before Prophethood

Hashim: Great grand father of the Prophet (SAW) and was the person who started the tradition of going to two trade trips to Syria in the year.

Abdul-Muttalib: Grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who witnessed to major events in Arab history. First the Year of the Elephants and the Digging of the ZamZam

Year of the Elephants

Digging of the Zamzam: ‘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.

Abdullah: 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.

The Prophet's father died before his birth. His mother, Amina, said, "When he was born, there was a light that issued
out of my pudendum and lit the palaces of Syria."

As was the Arab tradition, H. Muhammad (SAW) was sent to live with a Bedouin wet nurse. Her story is narrated as the follows:

It was a year of drought and famine and we had nothing to eat. I rode on a brown she-ass. We also had with us an old she-camel. By Allâh we could not get even a drop of milk. We could not have a wink of sleep during the night for the child kept crying on account of hunger. There was not enough milk in my breast and even the she-camel had nothing to feed him. We used to constantly pray for rain and immediate relief. At length we reached Makkah looking for children to suckle. Not even a single woman amongst us accepted the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) offered to her. As soon as they were told that he was an orphan, they refused him. We had fixed our eyes on the reward that we would get from the child’s father. An orphan! What are his grandfather and mother likely to do? So we spurned him because of that. Every woman who came with me got a suckling and when we were about to depart, I said to my husband: “By Allâh, I do not like to go back along
with the other women without any baby. I should go to that orphan and I must take him.” He said, “There is no harm in doing so and perhaps Allâh might bless us through him.” So I went and took him because there was simply no other alternative left for me but to take him. When I lifted him in my arms and returned to my place I put him on my breast and to my great surprise, I found enough milk in it. He drank to his heart’s content, and so did his foster brother and then both of them went to sleep although my baby had not been able to sleep the previous night. My husband then went to the she-camel to milk it and, to his astonishment, he found plenty of milk in it. He milked it and we drank to our fill, and enjoyed a sound sleep during the night. The next morning, my husband said: “By Allâh Haleemah, you must understand that you have been able to get a blessed child.” And I replied: “By the grace of Allâh, I hope so.”

At the age five or six H. Muhammad returned to his mother after the incident with with Angel Jibrael (RA) opened his chest.

It so happened that H. Amina decided to visit her late husband in Madinah with H. Muhamm,ad. On the way back, H. Amina passed away in the curt if Abwa on the road between Makkah and Madinah.

H. Abu Muttalib then took the place of a caretaker for the orphaned boy for two years until he too passed away when H. Muhammad (SAW) was 8 years old.

H. Abu-Talib, his uncle, then took on the care of the boy for the next 40 years. In his time taking care of H. Muhammad Abu-Talib witnessed several events that can be described as miracles and great acts of wisdom and charector from H. Muhammad. These included:

Drought: There was a drought in Makkah one year so Quraish said to "O Abu Talib, the valley has become leafless and the children hungry, let us go and pray for rain-fall."

Abu Talib went to Al-Ka‘bah with H. Muhammad (SAW). The Quraish saw a black cloud over his head to provide shade from the harsh sun. Abu Talib and P. Muhammad (SAW) stood by the wall of Al-Ka‘bah and prayed for rain.

Immediately clouds from all directions gathered and rain fell heavily and caused the flow of springs and growth of plants in the town and the country.

Bahira, The Monk: When the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) was twelve years old, he went with his u ncle Abu Talib on a business journey to Syria. When they reached Busra (which was a part of Syria, in the vicinity of Howran under the Roman domain) they met a monk called Bahira (his real name was Georges), who showed great kindness, and entertained them lavishly. He had never been in the habit of receiving or entertaining them before. He readily enough recognized the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and said while taking his hand: “This is the master of all humans. Allâh will send him with a Message which will be a mercy to all beings.” Abu Talib asked: “How do you know that?” He replied: “When you appeared from the direction of ‘Aqabah, all stones and trees prostrated themselves, which they never do except for a Prophet. I can recognize him also by the seal of Prophethood which is below his shoulder, like an apple. We have got to learn this from our books.” He also asked Abu Talib to send the boy back to Makkah and not to take him to Syria for fear of the Jews. Abu Talib obeyed and sent him back to Makkah with some of his men servants.

Sacrilegious Wars: At the age of 15 years old, H. Muhammad witnissed the sacriligious wars. The war was between Banu Kanina and Quraish. During this war, all of the set rules were disregarded. As the war progressed a merchant from the Zubaid clan came to Makkah and sold some goods to Al-As bin Wail. However, Wail decided to not pay for the goods that he had purchased. When the merchant turned to the Quraish for justice, they paid no attention. Frusterated he resorted to going on a mountain top and announced, at the top of his voice, the injustices he had suffered at the hands of the Quraish and wondered how Makkans could be nobility without caring for the pilgrims and abiding by their own laws. Zubair bin Abdul-Muttalib heard of him and made inquiries.

Al-Fudoul Confederacy: As an answer to the man who proclaimed the injustice of Quraish, people felt that they needed a treaty to maintain peace. The treaty called for suppression of violence, injustice, and vindicating the rights of the weak and destitute.

After the reciept of Prophethood, Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) said that "[Al-Fudoul] was more appealing to me then herds of cattle. Even now in the period Islam I would repond positively to attending such a meeting if I were invited"

Early Works: Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) was a shepard at a young age, as were all those prophets. As a shepard, P. Muhammad (SAW), was prepared for the position of prophethood by teaching him patience, kindness to those smaller and weaker than him, responsibility to those who had entrusted him, guiding those around him, giving him the feeling of fullfilment in a lowly position, and providing him with time to meditate

Merchant: At the age of 25 years old, H. Muhammad (SAW) went to Syria as a merchant for a widow, Khadijah. As a tradesman he was very honest and trustworthy. This trait caused him to be trusted by customers and thus, he became a successful merchant.

Marriage: Khadijah was a wealthy widow who offered men money to become merchants for her. When she heard of the honesty and profitability of the Prophet (SAW) she hired him to trade for him. She send Maisarah to keep accounts on the journey. On their return, Khadijah found that her trade had returned with more profits and blessing than she was used to. After traveling to Syria with the Prophet and observing his behavior, Maisarah told Khadijah about his good manners, deep thought, sincerity, and faith. Although Khadijah had recieved many proposals from men at better social and economic footing than Muhammad (SAW), Khadijah decided that she would like to marry him.

Khadijah explained her wishes to her friend Nafisa, who went to the Prophet (SAW) and said, "Muhammad you are now a young man, do you think of marriage?" When Muhammad replied in the affirmative but with reluctance replied that he was unsure who would marry a poor lad like himself, Nafisa casually threw out the name of Khadijah. Muhammad seemed interested but afraid of rejection. Nafisa let him know that there was nothing to lose. H. Muhammad then proposed to Khadijah and gave her 20 camels as dowry. At this time, narrations relate that Khadijah was either 27 or 40.

The marriage of Khadijah and Muhammad was one of love, companionship, and comfort. It would be Khadijah who would comfort him after the first revelation, support him in times of harsh tribulations, and care for him in times of need. Khadijah would also bear him all his children except Ibrahim. Their children's names were Al-Qasim, Zainab, Ruqaiyah, Umm Kulthum, Fatimah, and Abdullah (Abdullah had two nick names Taiyib and Tahir).

Kaa'bah Resolution: When H. Muhammad reached the age of 35, the Makkans decided that the Kaa'bah needed to be rebuilt since it had crack and a flood had weakened its walls. The Quraish realized that the money to build the Kaa'bah must be from Halal sources.

In rebuilding the Kaa'bah, they divided the work equally between all members of the Quraish. All work was harmonious until the question of the placement of the Black Stone came up. The tribes were nearly about to break out in strife when one of the oldest chiefs among the tribes proposed that who ever entered the Kaa'bah first in the morning would decide the placement of the stone."

The first man to enter the Kaa'bah was H. Muhammad (SAW) for his early morning meditation. The people were very happy because the Al-Ameen or the trustworthy had come. They would all be content with his decision.

H. Muhammad resolved the dispute by asking that the stone be placed in the center of cloth and a representative from each tribe carry the stone to its location. When the stone reached its place, H. Muhammad laid the stone in its proper position.

Unfortunately, the Kaa'bah was never finished, as the Quraish ran our of Halal money. So the Kaa'bah was now a cube and the area of Ash-Shadherwan was left out.

Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was, in his youth, a combination of the best social attributes. He was an exemplary man of weighty mind and faultless insight. He was favoured with
intelligence, originality of thought and accurate choice of the means leading to accurate goals. His long silence helped favourably in his habit of meditation and deep investigation into the truth. His vivid mind and pure nature were helpfully instrumental in assimilating and comprehending ways of life and people, individual and community-wise. He shunned superstitious practices but took an active part in constructive and useful dealings, otherwise, he would have recourse to his selfconsecrated solitude. He kept himself aloof from drinking wine, eating meat slaughtered on stone altars, or attending idolatrous festivals. He held the idols in extreme aversion and most abhorrence. He could never tolerate someone swearing by Al-Lat and Al-‘Uzza. Allâh’s providence, no doubts, detached him from all abominable or evil practices. Even when he tried to obey his instinct to enjoy some life pleasures or follow some irrespectable traditions, Allâh’s providence intervened to curb any lapse in this course. Ibn Al-Atheer reported Muhammad (Peace be upon him) as saying: “I have never tried to do what my people do except for two times. Every time Allâh intervened and checked me from doing so and I never did that again. Once I told my fellow-shepherd to take care of my sheep when we were in the upper part of Makkah. I wanted to go down to Makkah and entertain myself as the young men did. I went down to the first house of Makkah where I heard music. I entered and asked: ‘What is this?’ Someone answered: ‘It is a wedding party.’ I sat down and listened but soon went into deep sleep. I was awakened by the heat of the sun. I went back to my
fellow-shepherd and told him of what had happened to me. I have never tried it again.”
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Jabir bin ‘Abdullah that he said: “While the people were rebuilding Al-Ka‘bah, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) went with ‘Abbas to carry some stones. ‘Abbas said: ‘Put your loincloth round your neck to protect you from the stones.’ (As he did that) the Prophet (Peace be upon him) fell to the ground and his eyes turned skyward. Later on he woke up and shouted: ‘My loincloth... my loincloth.’ He wrapped himself in his loincloth.” In another report: “His loins were never seen afterwards.”
The authorities agree in ascribing to the youth of Muhammad (Peace be upon him) modesty of deportment, virtuous behaviour and graceful manners. He proved himself to be the ideal of manhood, and to possess a spotless character. He was the most obliging to his compatriots, the most honest in his talk and the mildest in temper. He was the most gentle-hearted, chaste, hospitable and always impressed people by his piety-inspiring countenance. He was the most truthful and the best to keep covenant. His fellow-citizens, by common consent, gave him the title of Al-‘Ameen (trustworthy). The Mother of believers, Khadijah (May Allah be pleased with her) once said: He unites uterine relations, he helps the poor and the needy, he entertains the guests and
endures hardships in the path of truthfulness.