Muhammad ( the Man )

[Johnny B]

The world has come to know Muhammad(pbuh) the Islamic prophet , but few ( few somalis ) know about or discuss the whole profile as often as they ideally should.

Muhammad did not declare his prophethood before he turned fourty,so how was his ( and his parents ) life before he declared prophethood.?

What outlook on life ( religion if any) did he and his parents adhere to and why?

 

 

 

 

ps...

no disrespect whatsoever, just pure curiosity.

[Nur]

Very good question JB.

 

The life of Prophet Muhammad SAWS is well documented in a special branch of Islamic studies known as the Seerah, or The Biography of Prophet Muhammad SAWS.

 

Muslim scholars have documented his life from birth,( The Year of the Elephant ), his early childhood in which he lost his father before birth and mother at age six, and his grandfather at 10, his subsequent upbringing by his uncle Abu Talib, his early youth and shepherd life, his earning of the nickname "The Trustworthy", his marriage to his 15 years senior first wife Khadijah at age 25, his trading and caravan trips as his wife's employee, up until his meditation seclusions at Ghaar Xiraa and the encounter with Angel Gabriel at age 40.

 

It was Khadijah, the Prophet's wife who took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, a Christian who prophesied what Muhammad has seen saying: "Its the Namoos, The signs of the prophethood of Moses, May Peace be upon him. If I live long enough to see the day when your people will expel you, I would be your supporter"

 

 

Please follow the most detailed account of Prophet Muhammad from this site:

 

http://www.rasoulallah.net/index_english.asp

 

 

Nur

[Johnny B]

Thanks Sheikh Nur,it was very interesting read.

 

Though i've come across another version where Muhammad(bpuh) had an earlier encounter with "Gabriel" the Angel as a young child, Gabriel visited him, ripping his chest open, removing his heart, extracting a blood clot from it, and returning him to normalcy, the aspect that interests me for the moment is his(and his family's) outlook on life before becoming The prophet of Islam.

 

thanks in advance.

[ElPunto]

^Hearts are thawing in Sweden miyaa?

[Nur]

JB Saaxib

 

You write:

 

the aspect that interests me for the moment is his(and his family's) outlook on life before becoming The prophet of Islam.

 

Its indeed interesting to many researchers like you. InshAllah, I will try to compile the best I can get for you inshAllah.

 

To get a good picture of his family's influence in his development and character, try to read on the part of the site that talks about the Pre-Islamic Mecca, His lineage of the Qureish Tribe(Descendants of Abraham through Ishmael) who were the custodians of the Holy Kaba shrine in Mecca. Noteworthy in your research is his immediate family members such as his Grandpa, Abdul Muttalib, who was the custodian of the Kaaba Shrine during the Abyssinian invasion with their African Elephants.

 

Nur

[LayZie G.]

Johnny, legend has it that the story of our Prophet started with the union of both his loving parents, Abdullah and Amina. The story is that when abdullah was to wed Amina, he was not too keen on marrying her, who was betrothed to him, instead, he fancied his neighbour, a young, angelic woman, who he wanted to lay with, but she had refused to grand him his request on a number of occasions. At this time, Abdullah married Amina, but on the night that our would be Prophet was to be conceived, Abdullah was on his way to be with Amina, his loving wife, the mother of our courageous and iconic Prophet. On the way home, he had encountered the beauty who once before refused him and this time, she was waiting and invited him in, instead, abdullah politely declined and walked away. It was said by witnesses that this angelic beauty had seen an alluminated light over Abdullah, which is why she finally invited him but he was not willing.

 

Later on, the angelic beauty found out that Abdullah was to have a son with his beautiful wife, because Amina was with child, our soon to be Prophet.

 

It was said by the witnesses that she confided in someone that the night she had offered herself to Abdullah, a light was shinning over Abdullah and hence she had a feeling that it was the spirit that had made her extend the invitation.

 

Another story about our Prophet is one about his birth and the follow up of Amina's passing away.

 

Obviously, Sheikh Nur has stated the usual spiel about the Prophet but the said story is that, during and after the birth of our illustrious Prophet, the practice was that young children were to be nursed away away from the company of their mothers, for Amina could not bring up the Prophet of her own, so his grandfather, the great Abdul Muttalib had put word for a nursing wanted AD, word spread but this time, Amina passed away and he now was indeed of proper care for his infant grandchild, someone that will nurse him to boyhood. It was a Pre-Islamic practice in Mecca for boys without a father to be the sole responsibility of a male figure, instead in the company of his loving mother/wife.

 

The Prophet's would be nurse, whose family travelled far from drought heard that a young, infant son was in need of care, and his grandfather was looking for someone to take him away from the busy, urban life of Mecca and into the country, where he would be brought up properly, as any, influential young boys from the Quraysh tribes were long brought up in the same manner.

 

So, the would be nursed heard that many have passed the offer, for these was not much money in raising an orphan, therefore, she too would pass the offer but something compelled her to accept the offer.

 

During her passage into Mecca, she had been having difficulty nursing her young infant son but soon after retrieving back to the country, on their way to their home, with her family and the young Muhammad tucked on her belly, she was able to feed both him and her young infant child with abundance milk but before that, she was having difficulty.

 

The other story is that, one day, while Muhammad was with this said family of the nurse and he was able to walk, as he was playing with the son of the nurse, he had encountered a higher authority, a visit of sort, not known if it was indeed angel Gabriel but the child who witnessed this incident was the very same son of the nurse, who said the same thing you wrote above, he was visited, his chest was opened, ,removing his heart, extracting something and later on, he was back to himself.

 

There are many versions of the organs extracted or how it was extracted but one thing is known and that is, this is when his life took shape. It was the single defining moment of Prophet's early life.

 

As for the story of Amina, his mother, it was said that when she was nursing young Muhammad and she saw in her window the lights of Damascus, it shined through her window and ofcourse the experience of Abdullah and the beauty.

 

It is quite possible that these are legends or it had happened but these events were all recorded from witnesses that the angelic beauty confided in, as well as Amina sharing her experience and finally, the nurse, whose land was drought free after agreeing to care for Muhammad and was able to take care of her family because of her selfless act and accept a young orphan boy, whose parents were deceased and who has been rejected by many women. Something compelled her and for this, she relayed the experience to others, who had told to others and it became a legend of sort.

 

After everything is said, you have to understand that there is very little known of the Prophet's early life, which is why historians have relied heavily on folklore content.