The month
of Rabi’-Ul-Awwal is considered to be amongst the most special and
significant months, because mankind was blessed with the birth of our
beloved Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). Regarding this special event Allah Most
High has stated in the Holy Quran “We have sent him (Muhammad saw) as a
source of mercy for the A’alimeen (humans, jinns and all else that
exists),” (Surah 21.Al- Anbiya: Verse 107).
Prophet
Muhammad (ﷺ), the master of the prophets was born in the holy city of
Mecca on Monday morning, the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th of
Rabi’-Ul-Awwal according to different reports. Ibn Sa’d reports that
Prophet Muhammad’s (ﷺ) mother, Aamina, stated regarding the birth of her
son “When He (ﷺ) was born, there was a light that issued out of my
pudendum and lit the palaces of Syria.” (Mukhtasar Seerat-ul-Rasool)
As
is mentioned above Allah Most High has stated in the Glorious Qur’an:
“We have sent him (Muhammad) as a source of mercy for the A’alimeen.”
Not only was Rasulullah (ﷺ) a source of numerous blessings after
receiving the task of prophethood, but from his birth up to his death
and until the day of judgment billions of people have and will continue
to benefit from his blessings.
A clear example of this is when Halimah, the daughter of Abu Dhu’ayb who was accompanied by her husband Harith and a new born son of their own, decided to undertake a journey from a small village situated south east of Mecca to the actual city of Meccah Mukarramah. This was in order to acquire a nursling. She narrates :
“It
was a year of drought, and we had nothing left. I set forth on a gray
she camel of mine, and we had an old she camel with us which could not
even yield one drop of milk. We were kept awake all night by our son who
was crying due to hunger, for I didn’t have enough in my breast to feed
him; and that she camel of mine was so weak and emaciated I often keep
the others (Tribe of Bani Sa’d Ibn Bakr) waiting.”
Once
everyone began looking for nurslings, Rasulullah’s (ﷺ) mother Aamina
offered her son first to one and then to another until finally she had
tried them all and they had all refused. “That” said Halimah, “was
because we hoped for some compensation from the child’s father.” “An
orphan” we said, “what will his mother and grandfather be able to do for
us?” Not that they would have wanted direct payment for their service,
since it was considered dishonorable for a woman to take a fee for
suckling a child. The recompense they hoped for, though less direct was
of a far wider scope. For example, creation connections and links with
people from the city.
On
the other side, though the foster-parents were not expected to be rich,
they must not be too poverty-stricken, and it was evident that Halimah
and her husband were poorer than any other of their companions. Whenever
the choice lay between her and another, the other was preferred and
chosen; and it was not long before every one of the Bani Sa’d women
except Halimah had been entrusted with a baby. Only the poorest nurse
was without a nursling; and only the poorest nursling was without a
nurse.
“When
we decided to leave Mecca,” said Halimah, “I told my husband: ‘I hate
to return in the company of my friends without having taken a baby to
suckle. I shall go to that orphan and take him.’ ‘As you wish’ he said.
‘it may be, that God will bless us through him.’ So, I went back and
took him, for no reason except that I could find no baby but him. I
carried him back to where our mounts were stationed, and no sooner did I
put him in my bosom, my breasts overflowed with milk. He drank his
fill, and with him his foster-brother drank likewise, his fill. Then
they both slept; and my husband went to that old she camel of ours, and
amazingly her udders were full. He milked her and drank of her milk and I
drank with him until we could drink no more and our hunger was
satisfied.
We
spent the best of nights, and in the morning my husband said to me: ‘by
God, Halimah, it is a blessed creature that you have taken.’ ‘That is
indeed my hope,’ I said. Then we set out, and I rode my camel and
carried him with me on her back. She outraced the whole troop, nor could
any of their camels keep pace with her. ‘Wow!’ They said to me, ‘Wait
for us! Isn’t that the same camel you came on?’ ‘Yes, by God,’ I said,
‘She is the very same.’ ‘Some amazing thing has happened to her,’ they
said.
We
reached our tents in the Ban i Sa’d, and I know of no place on God’s
Earth more barren than that. But after we brought him to live with us,
my flock would come home to me and would be full of milk. We milked them
and drank and when others had no milk; our neighbors would say to their
shepherds. ‘Go graze your flocks where he has grazed his’, meaning my
shepherd. But still their flocks came home hungry, yielding no milk,
while mine came well fed, with plenty of milk; and we ceased not to
enjoy this increase and this bounty from God until the baby’s two years
passed.
During
the pre-Islamic days of Arabia, everyone including the Romans and
Persians were in the midst of ignorance and darkness. They were amongst
the most uncivilized people the world had seen. Not only were they
indulged in evils and vices such as adultery, fornication, incest, rape,
stealing and murder they went to the extent of burying their baby
daughters alive! Allah Most High has stated in the Holy Quran “And when
the news of the birth of a female child is brought to any of them, his
face becomes dark, and he is filled with inward grief! He hides himself
from the people because of the evil of that whereof he has been
informed. Shall he keep her with dishonor or bury her in the Earth?
Certainly, their decisions are evil.” (Surah 16. An-Nahl: verse 58-59)
Nevertheless,
the Holy Prophet (ﷺ) was sent to this world with the light of
monotheism, eradicating all ignorant and uncivilized customs, rituals,
practices and beliefs. Allah Most High has stated in the glorious Quran
“Indeed Allah conferred a great favor on the believers when he sent
among them a Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ) from among themselves, reciting unto
them His verses, (The Quran) and purifying them, (from sins by their
following him) and instructing them (in) the Book (Quran) and Al-Hikmah,
(the wisdom and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ) before that they had been
in manifest error,” (Surah 3. Al-Imran: Verse 164).
No comments:
Post a Comment