35 English Seerah entries
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
This section follows the account of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth, his early nursing among Banu Sa‘d, and his return to his mother across printed pages 158–167. The page-by-page English translation distinguishes the transmitted account from the editor’s notes and marks source-text truncation.
Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted and arranged by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said: Al-Muttalib ibn Abdullah ibn Qays ibn Makhrama narrated to me from his father, from his grandfather Qays ibn Makhrama, who said: “The Messenger of Allah and I were born in the Year of the Elephant; we were peers in age.”
Ibn Ishaq, reporting from Qays ibn Makhrama
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said: Salih ibn Ibrahim ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf narrated to me, from Yahya ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa‘d ibn Zurarah al-Ansari. Yahya said: A man from my people narrated to me from Hassan ibn Thabit. Hassan said: “By Allah, I was a young boy of seven or eight, able to remember all that I heard, when I heard a Jewish man calling from atop one of Yathrib’s fortresses: ‘O community of Jews!’ When they gathered around him, they asked, ‘Woe to you! What is the matter?’ He said, ‘Tonight the star under which Ahmad was born has risen.’” Ibn Ishaq later asked Sa‘id ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Hassan how old Hassan was when the Messenger arrived in Medina. He replied that Hassan was sixty and the Messenger was fifty-three; Hassan had therefore been seven when he heard the announcement.
Ibn Ishaq, reporting from Hassan ibn Thabit
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said: When his mother gave birth to him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, she sent word to his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib: “A boy has been born to you. Come and see him.” He came and looked at him, and she told him what she had seen during her pregnancy, what she had been told about the child, and what she had been instructed to name him.
Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
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After Aminah told Abd al-Muttalib that a boy had been born to him, he came and saw the child. It is related that he took him into the Ka‘bah, prayed there and thanked Allah for what He had granted him, then returned him to his mother. He then sought nursing women for the Messenger of Allah. Ibn Hisham comments on the wording used in the report for seeking infants to be nursed.
Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said that a woman from Banu Sa‘d ibn Bakr, named Halimah bint Abi Dhu’ayb, was chosen to nurse the Messenger of Allah. Abu Dhu’ayb was Abdullah ibn al-Harith ibn Shajnah ibn Jabir ibn Rizam ibn Nasirah ibn Fusayyah ibn Nasr ibn Sa‘d ibn Bakr ibn Hawazin ibn Mansur ibn ‘Ikrimah ibn Khasafah ibn Qays ibn ‘Aylan. The editor records variant readings in some names in the genealogical chain.
Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
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The report names the man who nursed the Messenger of Allah alongside Halimah as al-Harith ibn Abd al-‘Uzza ibn Rifa‘ah ibn Mallan ibn Nasirah ibn Fusayyah ibn Nasr ibn Sa‘d ibn Bakr ibn Hawazin. Ibn Hisham adds that he was also said to be Hilal ibn Nasirah.
Ibn Ishaq, with Ibn Hisham’s editorial note
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said that the Messenger’s foster siblings were Abdullah ibn al-Harith, Unaysah bint al-Harith, and Hudhafah bint al-Harith, known as al-Shayma’. The name al-Shayma’ became so commonly used that she was known among her people by it. They were the children of Halimah bint Abi Dhu’ayb and her husband, Abdullah ibn al-Harith. The source also reports that al-Shayma’ used to care for the Messenger when he was with her family.
Ibn Ishaq, with notes cited by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
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Halimah said: “Every woman among us to whom the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was offered declined him when she was told that he was an orphan. We hoped for generous payment from the child’s father, and we would say, ‘An orphan! What can his mother and grandfather do for us?’ So we were reluctant to take him. Every woman who came with me took a nursing infant except me. When we were ready to depart, I said to my husband, ‘By Allah, I dislike returning among my companions without taking an infant. I will go to that orphan and take him.’ He said, ‘You may do so; perhaps Allah will place blessing for us in him.’” Halimah continued: “I went to him and took him, having found no one else. When I laid him in my lap, both my breasts flowed with milk; he drank until satisfied, and his foster brother drank with him. They slept, though before that our child’s crying kept us awake. My husband found our old she-camel full of milk; we both drank until satisfied and spent an excellent night. In the morning he said, ‘By Allah, Halimah, you have taken a blessed soul.’ I said, ‘By Allah, I hope so.’ We set out, and my she-ass, carrying him, outpaced the caravan so that the others could not keep up with her.”
Halimah al-Sa‘diyyah, as reported by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said: Thawr ibn Yazid narrated to me, from a learned man—whom I believe to have been Khalid ibn Ma‘dan al-Kila‘i—that a group of the Messenger of Allah’s Companions said to him, “Messenger of Allah, tell us about yourself.” He replied: “Yes. I am the supplication of my father Abraham and the glad tidings of my brother Jesus. When my mother carried me, she saw a light emerge from her that illuminated for her the palaces of Syria. I was nursed among Banu Sa‘d ibn Bakr. While I was with a foster brother behind our homes, tending our small livestock, two men in white garments came to me carrying a golden basin filled with snow. They took me and opened my abdomen. They brought out my heart and opened it, removed a black clot and cast it away, then washed my heart and abdomen with that snow until they had purified them. One of them said to the other, ‘Weigh him against ten of his community.’ He weighed me against them, and I outweighed them. He then said, ‘Weigh him against a hundred,’ and then, ‘Weigh him against a thousand.’ Each time I outweighed them. Then he said, ‘Leave him.’”
Ibn Ishaq, reporting from Thawr ibn Yazid
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said that the Messenger of Allah used to say: “Every prophet tended sheep.” He was asked, “And you, Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “And I.”
Ibn Ishaq, reporting the Prophet’s statement
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said that the Messenger of Allah used to tell his Companions: “I am the most eloquent Arab among you; I am Qurayshi, and I was nursed among Banu Sa‘d ibn Bakr.”
Ibn Ishaq, reporting the Prophet’s statement
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Ibn Ishaq recounts that Aminah died when the Messenger of Allah was six years old, while returning with him from a visit to her maternal relatives in al-Abwa. Ibn Hisham explains the family connection to Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar. The account then describes Abd al-Muttalib’s special affection for his grandson.
Ibn Ishaq, with Ibn Hisham’s editorial note
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said that Aminah bint Wahb died when the Messenger of Allah was six years old. Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hazm narrated that she died at al-Abwa’, between Makkah and Medina, while returning with him from a visit to her maternal relatives among Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar. A note says that her grave is also said to be in the ravine of Abu Dharr in Makkah.
Ibn Ishaq, with a report from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Hisham explains that Salma bint Amr al-Najjariyyah, the mother of Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, was from Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar. This was the maternal family connection Ibn Ishaq referred to for the Messenger of Allah.
Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
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Ibn Ishaq said that Abd al-Muttalib had a rug spread for him in the shade of the Ka‘bah, while his sons sat around it and did not sit on it out of respect. The Messenger of Allah, still a sturdy young boy, would come and sit there. When his uncles tried to move him, Abd al-Muttalib said, “Leave my son. By Allah, he has a great destiny.” He seated him beside himself, rubbed his back, and took pleasure in watching him.
Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Ibn Ishaq reports Abd al-Muttalib’s death when the Messenger of Allah was eight, then records elegies by his daughters and other poets, along with Ibn Hisham’s lexical and textual notes. The translation preserves each poem as a separate indexed branch.
Ibn Ishaq, with Ibn Hisham’s editorial notes
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Ibn Ishaq reports that Abd al-Muttalib died when the Messenger of Allah was eight years old and that, before his death, he asked his six daughters to mourn him aloud. Ibn Hisham notes that scholars of poetry did not recognize the verses, but records them because they were transmitted by Muhammad ibn Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib.
Ibn Ishaq, with Ibn Hisham’s note
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Safiyyah mourns Abd al-Muttalib as a generous, courageous, discerning leader of noble ancestry, and laments that even great honor cannot grant a person immortality.
Safiyyah bint Abd al-Muttalib, as transmitted by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Barrah praises her father’s noble lineage, generosity, courage, sound judgment, and standing among his people.
Barrah bint Abd al-Muttalib, as transmitted by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
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‘Atikah calls on her eyes to weep for Abd al-Muttalib, remembering his generosity, resolve, fidelity, courage, and honored standing.
‘Atikah bint Abd al-Muttalib, as transmitted by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Umm Hakim mourns Abd al-Muttalib as a generous host, protector of his clan, refuge in hardship, and brave leader in battle.
Umm Hakim al-Bayda’, as transmitted by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Umaymah mourns the guardian and benefactor of his clan, who welcomed strangers and gave generously, and says she will continue grieving for him.
Umaymah bint Abd al-Muttalib, as transmitted by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Arwa praises her father’s modesty, generosity, courage, eloquence, and leadership, and mourns his death in battle and in the settlement of disputes.
Arwa bint Abd al-Muttalib, as transmitted by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Ibn Hisham gives the lineage of al-Musayyib ibn Hazn through the Banu Makhzum.
Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Hudhayfah ibn Ghanim recalls Abd al-Muttalib’s generosity and protection of Quraysh, then praises his descendants and their support for travelers, pilgrims, and their allies.
Hudhayfah ibn Ghanim, as transmitted by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Matrud ibn Ka‘b praises Banu Abd Manaf for protecting those who sought refuge, joining rich and poor, supplying food, and showing hospitality.
Matrud ibn Ka‘b al-Khuza‘i, as transmitted by Ibn Ishaq
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
After Abd al-Muttalib died, al-‘Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib took charge of Zamzam and providing water to pilgrims. The Messenger later confirmed his continued responsibility, which remained with the family of al-‘Abbas.
Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
After Abd al-Muttalib’s death, the Messenger of Allah lived with his uncle Abu Talib, whom his grandfather had entrusted with his care. Ibn Ishaq notes that Abu Talib and Abdullah were full brothers. The account then describes Abu Talib’s guardianship and begins a report about a man from Lahab who foretold something concerning the Messenger.
Ibn Ishaq, with Ibn Hisham’s editorial notes
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Ibn Ishaq says that after the Messenger’s grandfather died, Abu Talib took charge of his affairs and that the Messenger remained with him.
Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Ibn Ishaq reports that a man from Lahab, known for divination, recognized a boy brought before him as one destined for a great future. Abu Talib then took the Messenger away. The report begins on printed page 179 and continues on page 180 before the separate Bahira account.
Ibn Ishaq, with notes by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
During a journey to Syria with Abu Talib’s trading caravan, the young Messenger of Allah met the monk Bahira. The account relates Bahira’s observations, his questions to the boy, his recognition of signs described in earlier scripture, and his warning to Abu Talib to return with his nephew.
Ibn Ishaq, with Ibn Hisham’s editorial notes
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Abu Talib takes the young Messenger with his trading caravan to Syria. At Busra, the monk Bahira notices signs, invites the caravan to a meal, recognizes the boy’s description, questions him, and urges Abu Talib to protect him and return him to his homeland.
Ibn Ishaq, with Ibn Hisham’s editorial notes
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
Abu Talib hurries back to Makkah after his Syrian trade. Ibn Ishaq relates that Zareer, Tammam, and Daris, men from the People of the Book, recognized signs in the Messenger; Bahira persuaded them to leave him unharmed.
Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Ibn Hisham
Birth and Upbringing
Translated selection
The account says that Allah protected the Messenger from the impurities of the pre-Islamic age. He recalls an unseen person stopping him from carrying stones with his garment around his neck. Ibn Hisham’s note compares this report with an authenticated account associated with the rebuilding of the Ka‘bah.
Ibn Ishaq, with Ibn Hisham’s editorial note
