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With respect to the lineage of Prophet Muhammad [pbuh], there are
three versions: The first was authenticated by biographers and genealogists and states
that Muhammad’s genealogy has been traced to ‘Adnan. The second is subject to
controversies and doubt, and traces his lineage beyond ‘Adnan back to Abraham. The
third version, with some parts definitely incorrect, traces his lineage beyond Abraham
back to Adam [AWS].
After this rapid review, now ample details are believed to be
necessary.
The first part: Muhammad bin ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib
(who was called Shaiba) bin Hashim, (named ‘Amr) bin ‘Abd Munaf (called
Al-Mugheera) bin Qusai (also called Zaid) bin Kilab bin Murra bin Ka‘b bin Lo’i
bin Ghalib bin Fahr (who was called Quraish and whose tribe was called after him) bin
Malik bin An-Nadr (so called Qais) bin Kinana bin Khuzaiman bin Mudrikah (who was called
‘Amir) bin Elias bin Mudar bin Nizar bin Ma‘ad bin ‘Adnan. [Ibn Hisham 1/1,2; Talqeeh Fuhoom Ahl Al-Athar, p. 5-6;
Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen 2/11-14,52]
The second part: ‘Adnan bin Add bin Humaisi‘ bin Salaman
bin Aws bin Buz bin Qamwal bin Obai bin ‘Awwam bin Nashid bin Haza bin Bildas bin
Yadlaf bin Tabikh bin Jahim bin Nahish bin Makhi bin Aid bin ‘Abqar bin ‘Ubaid
bin Ad-Da‘a bin Hamdan bin Sanbir bin Yathrabi bin Yahzin bin Yalhan bin Ar‘awi
bin Aid bin Deshan bin Aisar bin Afnad bin Aiham bin Muksar bin Nahith bin Zarih bin Sami
bin Mazzi bin ‘Awda bin Aram bin Qaidar bin Ishmael son of Abraham [AWS]. [Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen 2/14-17]
The third part: beyond Abraham [AWS] , Ibn Tarih (Azar) bin Nahur
bin Saru‘ bin Ra‘u bin Falikh bin Abir bin Shalikh bin Arfakhshad bin Sam bin
Noah [AWS] , bin Lamik bin Mutwashlack bin Akhnukh [who was said to be Prophet Idris
(Enoch) [AWS]] bin Yarid bin Mahla’il bin Qainan bin Anusha bin Shith bin Adam
[AWS].
[Ibn Hisham 1/2-4; Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen 2/18; Khulasat As-Siyar
p.6]
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The family of Prophet Muhammad [pbuh] is called the Hashimite family
after his grandfather Hashim bin ‘Abd Munaf. Let us now speak a little about Hashim
and his descendants:
- 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 [pbuh] 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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