The name Muhammad ﷺ

والصَّلَاةُ والسَّلاَمُ عَلَى سَيّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ أَشْرَفِ اْلمُرْسَلِيْنَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ الطَّيّبِيْنَ الطَّاهِرِيْن

Aminah narrated that she did not feel the weight of her pregnancy like other women do. During her pregnancy, Aminah saw a vision (while she was in a state between awake and sleep). In this vision someone said to her, ”Do you know with whom you are pregnant? You are pregnant with the Master of this Nation and its Prophet.”

Aminah had an easy delivery. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was born on a Monday, on the 12th day of the 3rd lslamic month of Rabi^uni l-Awwal¹. This was about fifty (50) days after the attack on Makkah speared by the elephants of Abrahah.

It was narrated that the Prophet’s umbilical cord was already cut when he was born. Hence, no one had to do that cutting. Also, it is said that the Prophet was born already circumcised.

Aminah sent a message to ^Abdu l-Muttalib to tell him of the birth of his grandson and to ask him to come. ^Abdu l-Muttalib came. Aminah told him about the wonderful visions that she had while pregnant with the baby, and how easy the birth was.

^Abdul-Muttalib was very pleased and took the blessed baby to the Ka^bah. He went inside of the Ka^bah with the baby and thanked God for the birth of this special grandson. ^Abdu l-Muttalib gave the baby the name Muhammad, meaning, ’the one praised by many for his numerous good attributes.’

At the time, Muhammad was not a common name among the Arabs. Before the naming of our prophet, only seven children had recently been named Muhammad. At that time, the Arabs were hearing that shortly a prophet would be born, named Muhammad. Those people hoped that their son would be that prophet. Yet the name Ahmad, another name of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, was never given to any one before our Prophet. Both names, Muhammad ﷺ and Ahmad, were cited in the book of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, the 'Injil.

The Persian Empire

Islamic historians narrated that when the Prophet was born, fourteen balconies of the Persian King’s biggest palace fell down. Also, the fire that the Persians worshipped went out, even though it had not gone out for one thousand years. The Persian King (Kisra) saw a dream about which he felt very uncomfortable. He gathered his advisors and consulted with them about his dream. He told them that in his dream he saw camels guiding horses. These animals crossed the Tigris River, and from there they spread throughout his kingdom.

While Kisra was telling his advisors this dream, they got the news that the fire they worshipped had gone out. Then Kisra got more disturbed. His religious leader told him, ”l saw the same dream this past night. I interpret it as follows: The Arabs will leave their land and take over the rulership of Persia. Those Arabs will rule our empire. This will take place after fourteen Persian kings rule, equal to the number of balconies that fell from the palace.”

Kisra thought to himself, ”It will be a long time before fourteen kings pass. I will not care about this now.” Kisra was wrong.

After the birth of the Prophet, ten Kisras succeeded one another in just four years. After those four years, four more Kisras reigned for a period of about eighty (80) years. The Persian Empire then totally fell to the Muslims, under the rulership of Caliph ^Uthman, about twenty (20) years after the death of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . Ever since then and until today, that area has been a Muslim area.

When baby Muhammad ﷺ was born, the news of his birth spread among the sons of ^Abdul-Muttalib that they had a new nephew. One of the sons of ^Abdul-Muttalib was known by the name ”Abu Lahab.” Abu Lahab received the news of his new nephew from a slave woman he owned, named Thuwaybah. 'Abu Lahab was so happy that he set Thuwaybah free that Monday². Later, however, when Muhammad ﷺ became a prophet, that same uncle became one of his worst blasphemous enemies.

^[1] The twelve months of the Islamic, lunar calendar are al-Muharram, Safar, Rabi^uni l-‘Awwal, Rabi^unil-‘Akhir, Jumada l-‘Ula, Jumadal-‘Akhirah, Rajab, Sha^ban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhul-Qa^dah, and Dhul-Hijjah. Each month commences (and hence another terminates) depending on the sighting of the hilal (new moon) after the sunset of the 29th day of each month, and hence each month is either twenty-nine or thirty days.
^[2] Warning: In al-Bukhariyy, it is narrated that al-^Abbas saw in the dream that his brother Abu Lahab told him that he was in Hellfire and the torture was reduced for him every Monday because he had set Thuwaybah free when she gave him the good news of the birth of Muhammad ﷺ. This is a dream. Hence, it cannot be used as a basis for rules. Using this narration as if it is a fact contradicts the verses in the Qur’an (al-Baqarah, 162; Al ^Imran, 88; Fatir, 36), which state explicitly that the torture in Hellfire is never reduced for the blasphemers. Lastly, the degree of authenticity of this narration is not strong enough to qualify as a proof for a ruling.