Seerah- notes of 3rd, 4th and 5th lessons- teacher Yumna

In The Name Of Allah
Dated: October 4, 2013
Sirrat of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH)


The Lesson's main points:
1- The circumstances of the prophet's (PBUH) birth.
(Pages 71-74)

2-The year of elephant.


In spite of his noble lineage,however,Muhammed(PBUH) did not have great wealth. It was this lack of wealth combined with his nobility which enabled him to acquire the best traits of all classes of people. The sons of noble families are led by their wealth to become haughty.

Abdul Muttalib was the chief of Mecca. However, this chiefdom which he inherited ended with him and wasn't passed on to his descendents.

There is a very important and beautiful meaning around that. Some scholars said as if there are some people in the prophet's life who have roles to be done and they are here in our world just to carry on this role. For example, his family was very known and had the control of Mecca till his uncle Abou Tallib the one who raised him after the death of his grand father, Abdul Muttalib. As if the honor of the family is only given to this family from its beginning to let Abou Tallib help his nephew in the beginning of Islam. Abdullah and Aminah, the prophet's parents their lives ended just after being born and his mother died while he (PBUH) was a child, as if they were in life to be the reason of the prophet's birth and to left for him an honorable memory of their kindness and honor. While the example of the one we will meet after that who is Waraqa Ibn Nawfal, the one who told the prophet that the angel he saw in cave of Hirra in Ramadan is Jibril, and he comes from Allah to tell him that he is a prophet. This man's story is very strange. He pursued every detail in his life to reach the true religion and he was Christian. He tried to know who is the last prophet that Jesus the Christ (PBUH) told about? , and while his searching, he found the prophet (PBUH) and after three days of his explanation of what happened with him, Waraqa died. As if his role is only to know the prophet and told him about Jibril.

Abdul Muttalib received the news of his grandson's birth with joy. May be it compensated him for his son who had died in the prime of his life and so he turned his affection from the past to the newcomer and showed pride and concern in him. It was amazing that he should inspire to name his grandson Muhammad (PBUH), a name probably inspired by a noble angel! The Arabs heard this name for the first time and they asked the grandfather why he did not choose the name of one of his ancestors.

He replied "I wanted Allah to praise him in the heavens and mankind to praise him on earth". This wish was a perception of the future , for no one of Allah's creation is so deserving of the sentiments of thanks and praise for what he accomplished as much as the Arab Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH)

Abu Hurariah narrated that the prophet (PBUH) said:
"Do you not wonder at how Allah diverts from me the curses and the abuses of Quriash? They abuse Mudhammam and I am Muhammad "(PBUH)

However, the harsh reality still remained in spite of the loving grandfather's attention.Muhammed (PBUH) was an orphan, born after his father had left this world. If we supposed that for his son? Could he have trained him to become a Prophet? Of course not: the father is only one of a number of factors which determine the future of a child. Even if prophethood could be acquired through effort, his father's being alive would not make it more achievable so what about when it is in fact a selection   [made by Allah (PBUH)]?

Abdullah passed away, leaving his son an orphan. Neverthless, this orphan was being prepared from the first moment for a noble task. Father and grandfather, relatives and friends, heavens and earth were nothing but means which Allah utilized to accomplish His decree and to shower His bounty on the one whom He himself fashioned.

But there is a very important event that happened in the year of the prophet's birth but before it. That's the event of the elephant.

  Abrahah, who came from Abyssinia-a country in Africa-conquered Yemen and was made vice-regent there. Later, he noticed that at certain time of the year large numbers of people would travel from all over Yemen and the rest of Arabia to Mecca. He asked the reason for this and was told that they were going on pilgrimage to the Kabbah. Abrahah hated the idea of Mecca being more important than his own country, so he decided to build a church of colored marble, with doors of gold and Ornaments of silver, and ordered the people to visit it instead of the Kabbah. But no one obeyed him.


Abrahah became angry and decided to destroy the Kabbah. He
prepared a large army led by an elephant and set off towards Mecca. When the Meccans heard that he was coming they became very frightened. Abrahah’s army was huge and they could not fight it. But how could they let him destroy the Holy Kabbah? They went to ask the advice of their leader, ’Abd al-Muttalib. When Abrahah arrived outside Mecca, ’Abd al-Muttalib went to meet him. Abrahah said, ’What do you want?’
Abrahah had taken Abd al-Muttalib’s camels, which he had found grazing as he entered Mecca, so .Abd al-Muttalib replied, ’I want my camels back.’ Abrahah was very surprised and said,

’I have come to destroy your Holy Kabbah, the holy place of your fathers, and you ask me about some camels?’ ’Abd al-Muttalib replied calmly, .The camels belong to me; the
Kabbah belongs to Allah and He will protect it.’ Then he left Abrahah and went back to Quraysh and ordered them to leave Mecca and wait for their enemies in the mountains.


In the morning Abrahah prepared to enter the town. He put armor on his elephant and drew up his troops for battle. He intended to destroy the Kabbah and then return to Yemen. At that moment, however, the elephant knelt down and refused to get up, no matter how much the soldiers tried to get it to move by beating it. But when they turned its face in the direction of Yemen it immediately got up and started off. In fact, it did the same in any other direction, but as soon as they pointed it towards Mecca it knelt down again. Suddenly, flocks of birds appeared from over the sea. Each bird carried three stones as small as peas and they dropped them on Abrahah and his
army. The soldiers suddenly fell ill. Even Abrahah was hit by the by the stones and fled in fear with the rest of his army back to Yemen, where he later died. On seeing their enemy flee the Arabs came down from the mountains to the Kabbah and gave thanks to Allah.



In The Name Of Allah
Dated,October 11, 2013
                                              Sirrat of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH)


Main Points:
1-The prophet's early childhood in the desert with Halimah El Sadyah    (additional information)
2- The prophet's chest opening (p 74-78)

Aminah, although saddened by the loss of her husband, felt especially   and strong as she awaited the birth of her baby. During this time she dreamt of many things. On one occasion it was as if a great light were shining out of her, and on another she heard a voice telling her that she would have a boy and that his name would be Muhammad. She never forgot that voice but she told no one about it.

On Monday, the twelfth day of Rabi al-Awwal in the Year of the
Elephant, Aminah gave birth to a son. Allah sends many signs when
one of His chosen Prophets is born and on that twelfth day of Rabi al-
Awwal in the year 570 A.D, many such signs were seen. Some were seen
by Jewish scholars who had read in their scriptures of a coming Prophet.
One of these learned men in Yathrib, for instance, saw a brilliant new star
he had never seen before as he studied the heavens that night. He called
the people around him and, pointing the star out to them, told them a
Prophet must have been born. That same night another Jew was passing
by the meeting place of the leaders of Quraysh in Mecca. He asked them
if a baby boy had just been born and told them that if it were true, this
would be the Prophet of the Arab nation.


Like many other women in Mecca, Aminah decided to send her son away
from the city for his early years to the desert where it was more healthy.
Women from the desert used to come to Mecca to collect the new babies
and they would then keep them until they developed into strong children,
for which they were well paid by the parents.



Among the women who traveled to Mecca to fetch a new baby at the
time Aminah’s son was born, was a Bedouin woman called Halimah.
With her was her husband and baby son. They had always been very poor
but this year things were harder than ever because there had been famine.
The donkey that earned Halimah on the journey was so weak from hunger
that he often stumbled. Halimah’s own baby son cried all the time because his mother could not feed him properly. Even their she-camel did not give them one drop of milk. Halimah did not know what to do. She thought to herself, ’How can I possibly feed another baby when I haven’t got enough milk even for my own son?’


At last they reached Mecca. All the other women of the tribe to which
Halimah belonged, the Bani Sa’d, found a child to take back with them,
but not Halimah. The only baby left was Muhammad (pbuh). Usually the
father paid the wet-nurse but Mohammed.s father was dead. So no one
wanted to take him, even though he was from one of the noblest families
of Quraysh. Halimah did not want to take him either, but she did not want
to be the only woman to go back to her tribe without a baby to bring up.
She asked her husband whether she should take Muhammad (pbuh) or
not. He advised her to do so, adding, ’Perhaps Allah will bless us because
of him.’ They started on the return journey and as soon as Halimah began
to feed Muhammad (pbuh) her milk suddenly increased and she had
enough for him as well as her baby son. When they were back home,
everything began to change.


The land became green, and the date trees, one of their main sources
of food, gave lots of fruit. Even the sheep and their old she-camel began
to give plenty of milk .Halimah and her husband knew that this good  fortune had come because they had the new baby, Muhammad (pbuh), whom they had come to love as if he were their own son.
When Muhammad (pbuh) was two years old, Halimah took him back
to his mother. She pleaded with Aminah, however, to let her keep him for a little longer, and to her great joy the mother agreed. During his time
with Halimah’s family in the desert, Muhammad (pbuh) played with her
children and together they would take the sheep out to graze. At other
times, however, Halimah would often find him sitting alone. It is said that
on one occasion, two angels came to Muhammad (pbuh) and washed his
heart with snow. In this way Allah made his heart pure for He intended
Muhammad (pbuh) to be greater than any man ever born and to become
the Seal of the Prophets.


In the Name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful 
.Did We not expand thy breast for thee And eased thee of thy burden
Which weighed down thy back; And exalted thy fame? So truly with
hardship comes ease, Truly with hardship comes ease. So when thou art
relieved, still toil And strive to please thy Lord. (Qur’an 94.1-8)

Anas reports:"Jibril came to Muhammed (PBUH) while he was playing with other boys. Jibril held him, threw him down, opened his chest, took out his heart and removed a lump from it.
He said:" This is Satan's portion of you"
Then he washed him in a basin made of gold with the water of Zamzam. Then he sealed his chest and returned him to where he was.

This is a controversial point. If evil were the secretions of gland in the body and could be prevented by stopping the secretions, or if good were a substance which could be poured into heart as fuel into an aeroplane to make it fly, then we can say that the literal sense of the words can be taken. Evil and good are beyond the physical, however, and in fact it is obvious that they have more to do with the spiritual side of people.

There is another hadith that tells the same meaning. Abdullh Ibn Massud reports that prophet said :" There is nobody at all has not been assigned a companion from Jinn and companion from Angels. They Asked" And you too, Messenger of Allah?"
He (PBUH) said:" And me too, but Allah has helped me and he has submitted. Now he orders me to only good things."

Perhaps the significance of Hadith that tells the incident of prophet's opening chest is that they highlight the care with which Allah nurtured His prophet and made him from childhood free from the defects of human nature and worldly temptations.

There is one thing that can be extracted from these Hadiths : that the Allah does not leave an outstanding human being as Muhammed(PBUH) to be a target to subtle whisperings so if there are waves of evil that filling the atmosphere and if the heart quick absorb them so the hearts of prophets of Allah will not receive any human evil.



In The Name Of Allah
Dated, October 25, 2013
                                              Sirrat of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)


Main Points:
1-The prophet's childhood as an orphan.
2-The prophet's life of toil.(page 83-84)

     Muhammad (pbuh) returned to live with his mother in Mecca when he was about three years old. Three years later Aminah decided to take her son to visit his uncles in Yathrib. She told her maid, Barakah, to prepare everything they would need for the long journey, and then they joined one of the caravans going there. They stayed in Yathrib a month and Muhammad (pbuh) enjoyed the visit with his cousins. The climate there was very pleasant. On their way back to Mecca, however, Aminah became ill and died. She was buried in the village at al-Abwa not far from Yathrib. Muhammad (pbuh) returned sadly to Mecca with his mother’s maid. He was six years old when he had lost both his father and mother. He was then adopted by his grandfather,Abd al-Muttalib, who loved him dearly and kept him by his side at all times. It was the custom of ’Abd al-Muttalib to sit on a blanket near the Ka.bah. There he was always surrounded by people who had come to speak to him. No one was allowed to sit on the blanket with him, however, except his grandson Muhammad (pbuh), which shows how close they were to each other. Many times ’Abd al-Muttalib was heard to say: ’This boy will be very important one day.’

     Two years later ’Abd al-Muttalib became ill and Muhammad (pbuh)
stayed by him constantly. ’Abd al-Muttalib told his son, Abu Talib, to
adopt Muhammad (pbuh) after his death, which he did. Abu Talib had
many children of his own, but Muhammad (pbuh) immediately became
part of his family and the favorite child. The time came for Quraysh to
prepare a caravan to go to Syria. Abu Talib was going with them and he
took Muhammad (pbuh) along. It was Mohammed's first journey to the
north. After days of travel, the caravan arrived at a place near Syria where
the Romans used to come to trade with the Arabs. Near this marketplace
lived a monk called Bahira.. His cell had been used by generations of
monks before him and contained ancient manuscripts.
   
      Bahira’ saw the caravan in the distance and was amazed to see that
over it was a large white cloud. It was the only cloud in a clear blue sky
and it appeared to be shading one of the travelers. The monk was even
more surprised to see that the cloud seemed to follow the caravan but
disappeared when the person it was shading sat down under a tree.
Bahira. knew from the scriptures that a prophet was expected to come
after Jesus and it had been his wish to see this prophet before he died.
Realizing that what he had just seen was a miracle, he began to think that
his wish might, after all, come true.

       The monk sent an invitation to the Meccans to come and eat with him.The Arabs were surprised because they often passed by and Bahira. had never invited them before. When the group was all together for the meal, the monk said, ’Is this everyone?. ’No’, someone said, ’a boy was left watching the camels.’ Bahira. insisted that the boy should join them. The boy was Muhammad (pbuh). When he arrived Bahira. said nothing, but watched him all through the meal. He noticed many things about his
appearance which fitted the description in the old manuscripts. Later on
he took him aside and asked Muhammad (pbuh) many questions. He soon
found out how he felt about the idols in the Ka’bah. When Bahira tried to
make him swear by them, as the Arabs used to do, Muhammad (pbuh)
said, ’There is nothing in this world that I hate more’. They talked together about Allah and about Mohammed's life and family. What was said made Bahira certain that this was indeed the Prophet who would follow Jesus.Then the monk went to Abu Talib and asked him how he was related to Muhammad (pbuh). Abu Talib told him that Muhammad (pbuh) was his son.He said "His father shouldn't be alive!". Abou Talib then said," In fact he is son of my brother who died when the child's mother was still pregnant with him." The monk said :" Now you have spoken the truth. Take him back to your country and be careful of the Jews over him."


       There are many stories told about Mohammed's youth. Some tell of how he used to take the family’s sheep to graze and was always kind to them. While they grazed he would sit thinking about the mysteries of nature. Unlike those around him he never worshipped the idols and never swore by them.He also wondered why people were always struggling for power and money, and this saddened him and made him feel lonely, but he kept his feelings to himself. He was a quiet, thoughtful boy, and rarely played with other boys of his age. On one occasion, however, Muhammad (pbuh) went with some of the boys to a wedding in Mecca. When he reached the house he heard the sounds of music and dancing but just as he was about to enter he suddenly felt tired and, sitting down, fell asleep. He didn’t wake up until late the next morning and thus missed the
celebrations. In this way Allah prevented him from doing anything
foolish for He was keeping Muhammad (pbuh) for something much more
important.




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