A Timeline of the Life of the Prophet a
in Makkan Period by His Age
By M. Faisal Ansari
Date of Birth
The 12th of Rabi ul Awwal is regarded as the birth date
of the Master of both worlds, Muhammad a, though
many scholars of Islam, and the famous astronomer
Mahmood Pasha (1815-1885) are of the opinion that the
Prophet a was born at dawn on Monday April 20, 571
A.D., which corresponds to the 9th of Rabi ul Awwal in
the Year of the Elephant (Am ul Feel) (Qassas al-Quran).
As Arabs often set their calendric dates by famous happenings,
the year the Prophet a was born is known as
the Year of the Elephant since the army of Abraha, the
viceroy of Yemen for the Abyssinian king, advanced toward
Makka to raze the Ka‘ba in this year. The destruction
of the army by the Ababil birds took place 50 days
before the birth of the Prophet a.
Name selection
His grandfather Abdul Muttalib had named our Prophet
a Muhammad while his mother, Amina, chose Ahmad.
It is interesting to know that Isa e had also given glad
tiding of the last Prophet a using the name Ahmad in
his prophecy as stated in Surat al-Saff. Although both
names come from the same root word Ha Mi Da, the
fine difference appear when the root word changes its
form to Ahmad which means “the one who praises the
most” and to Muhammad which means “the one who is
praised the most.” Both these names are mentioned in
the Quran.
Born as an orphan
The Prophet a was born an orphan as stated in Surat
al-Doha. There is no disagreement among the historians
that the Prophet’s a father died during the pregnancy
of Amina.
Foster care and early childhood
Beside his mother Amina, three women are reported to
have nursed the Prophet a: Umm Aymen, Thuwayba
and Halima Sa‘diyya.
Umm Aymen was a slave girl of Abdullah, the father of
the Prophet a. She was from Abyssinia and took care
of the Prophet a from his birth until his death. The
Prophet a freed her after his marriage to Khadija j.
Thuwayba was a freed slave girl of Abu Lahab, the
paternal uncle of the Prophet a. She nursed him until
he was eight days old.
As was custom in Arab society, children were sent to
the villages to be trained in the rural way of life and
to hone their language skills. Halima Sa‘diyya was a
wet nurse from a neighboring village with whom the
Prophet a was sent to live. Halima j cared for her like
her own children Abdullah, Shayma and Unaysa. Both
daughters of Halima would also help their mother in
taking care of the Prophet a.
Opening of the chest at age 4
The majority of scholars are of the opinion that the
incident of shaqq al-sadr (opening of the chest) in which
his heart was removed, washed with Zamzam and put
back in its place by Jibril e, took place four times.
First, when he was 4 years old and in care of Halima
(Fat-h al-Bari: 481/13).
The second time was when he was 10 years old and
under the care of his uncle Abu Talib (Fat-h al-Bari:
481/13); the third time was when he received the first
revelation in the cave of Hira when he was 40 years old
(Musnad Abi Dawud al-Tiyalasi, p. 215); the last time
was when he ascended to the heavens during Mi‘raj
when he was 52 years old.
Mother dies
When he was six, Prophet a returned to Makka to
his mother. Amina decided to make a trip to Yathrib,
which later became the Blessed City of the Prophet a
or Madinat al-Nabi. Upon returning from Yathrib, Amina
passed away due to an unknown illness at the place
known as Abwa. He returned to Makka to be under the
care of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib.
Grandfather dies
Abdul Muttalib doted on his young grandson. When
20 May – June 2021 | AL-MADINAH