Title: The month of Prophethood has dawned
Part 03
Hazrat Ibn Abbas says: When the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came into this world, his umbilical cord had been cut. {The umbilical cord is cut by the midwife after the baby is born.}
He was born circumcised. Abdul Muttalib was very surprised and happy to see this. He used to say, "My son will be of extraordinary beauty." {Al-Hidayah}
Before his birth, the people of Mecca were suffering from drought and famine. But as the time for his arrival in the world approached, the rains began, and the drought ended. The trees became green and laden with fruits. Greenery began to appear on the earth. At the time of his birth, he was bent over on his hands. His head was towards the sky. The words of one tradition are that he was bent over on his knees. This means that he was in a state of prostration. {Tabaqat}
His fist was clenched and his index finger was raised, as we raise it in prayer. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) says:
"When my mother gave birth to me, a light emerged from her. With that light, the palaces of Syria were illuminated." (Tabaqat)
Sayyidah Amina, the mother of the Prophet (PBUH), says: "In the light of the light that appeared at the time of the birth of Muhammad (PBUH), I could even see the necks of camels walking in my vision."
Allama Sahli (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote that when he was born, he praised Allah. In one narration, these words have been mentioned: "Allah is the Greatest, and praise be to Allah, the Most High.
"Allah is the greatest, Allah is the most praised, and I glorify Allah morning and evening."
What day were you born? Everyone agrees that it was a Monday. You came into the world at dawn.
There are many opinions regarding the date of birth. According to one tradition, he was born on 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal. Another tradition is that he was born on 8 Rabi-ul-Awwal, another tradition that he was born on 2 Rabi-ul-Awwal. There are many other traditions in this regard. Most historians believe that he was born on 8 Rabi-ul-Awwal. When the date was calculated according to the calendar method, it came out to be 9 Rabi-ul-Awwal. This means that no one knows the exact truth about this. Everyone agrees that the month was Rabi' al-Awwal and the day was Monday. It is also said that he received prophethood on Monday. He migrated to Medina on Monday and died on Monday. You were born in the year of the elephant. That is, in the year of the elephant. This year is called the year of the elephant because, it is said that Abraha invaded Mecca with elephants. You were born a few days after this event. The story goes like this: Abraha was the Christian ruler of Yemen. During the days of Hajj, he saw people going to perform Hajj to the House of Allah.
He asked his people: "Where are these people going?"
He was told: "They are going to Mecca to perform Hajj to the House of Allah."
He asked: "What is the House of Allah made of?"
He was told: "It is made of stones."
He asked: "What is its clothing?"
It was said, "The striped cloth that comes from our house is used to make his clothes." Abraha was a Christian. After hearing all this, he said, "By Christ! I will build a better house for you." Thus he built a house with red, white, yellow and black stones. He decorated it with gold and silver. He placed many doors in it. He put gold leaf in it. He set gems in its middle. A large ruby was installed in this house. Curtains were hung and arrangements were made to burn incense there. Its walls were covered with so much musk that they became black in color. Even the gems were not visible.
Then he said to the people: You no longer need to go to Mecca to perform Hajj to the House of Allah, I have built the House of Allah for you here, now you circumambulate it." So, some tribes continued to perform Hajj for many years. They continued to observe I'tikaf in it. The Hajj pilgrims also continued to perform their rituals here. An Arab person, Nufail Khashmi could not bear it. He kept grumbling in his heart against this artificial Kaaba. Finally, he decided in his heart that he would leave this building of Abraha dirty. Then one night he secretly threw a lot of dirt into it. When Abraha found out, he became very angry and said: "An Arab has done this to his Kaaba, I will demolish it, I will break every stone of it."
He wrote these details to Syria and Abyssinia and requested them to send his elephant. The elephant's name was Mahmud. It was so big that no elephant of such size had ever been seen on earth. When the elephant reached him, he took his army and headed towards Mecca. When this army reached the vicinity of Mecca, Abraha ordered the army to plunder the animals of these people. On his order, the soldiers captured the animals. Among them were the camels of Abdul Muttalib.
Nufail was also present in this army with Abraha and he was a friend of Abdul Muttalib. Abdul Muttalib met him. They talked about the camels. Nufail said to Abraha: "The chief of the Quraysh, Abdul Muttalib, wants to meet. This man is the chief of all Arabia." He enjoys honor and greatness. He has great influence among the people. He gives people good horses, gives them gifts, and feeds them. This was like an introduction to Abdul Muttalib. Abraha called him to meet him. Abraha asked him, "Tell me what you want?"
He replied: "I want my camels back." "Abraha was very surprised to hear what he said. He said: "I was told that you are the chief of the Arabs, a man of great honor and dignity, but it seems that I have been misrepresented. Because I thought that you would talk to me about the House of Allah, which I have come to demolish and with which all your honor is associated. But you did not talk about it at all and sat down with your camels crying. What is this talk?"
Hearing this, Abdul Muttalib said, "Give me back my camels and do whatever you want with the Kaaba, because this house has a Lord. He will protect it himself. I don't need to worry about it."
"After hearing them, Abraha ordered: "Their camels should be returned to them. When they got their camels back, they put leather on their shoulders. They marked them. They dedicated them for sacrifice and left them in the sanctuary so that if anyone caught them, the Lord of the sanctuary would be angry with him." Then Abdul Muttalib climbed the Chara mountain. He had some friends with him. He requested Allah: "O Allah! A person protects his property, so protect your property." From here, Abraha moved forward with his army. He himself was in the midst of the army riding on an elephant. In such a situation, his elephant refused to move forward. It sat on the ground. The elephant handlers tried to lift it, but it did not rise. They hit it on the head with a stick.
The elephant touched the elephant but it did not stand up. After thinking for a while, they turned it towards Yemen and it immediately started walking in that direction. It was then turned towards Mecca and then stopped. The elephant keepers repeated this experiment. Finally, Abraha ordered that the elephant be given wine to drink so that it would not lose consciousness while drunk and we could move it towards Mecca. So the wine was given to it, but it also had no effect on it.
