Miraculous Birth of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

THE BLISSFUL BIRTH OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD ﷺ

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was born on Monday, twelfth of Rabi Ul Awwal to Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Abdul Mutallib (peace be upon him), and Hazrat Amina bint Wahab (peace be upon her).

The night Prophet ﷺ was born is the most sacred and blessed nights of all times.

Hazrat Imaam Qastalani (Rahmatullah Alaih) narrates that Laylat ul-Milad is better than the Laylat al-Qadr. He gives three reasons for this:

1. In the night Milad, the blissful birth of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ blossomed in this world, whereas, the night Qadr was granted to Prophet ﷺ. Whoever is gifted an elevated status is better than the gift he is presented with. Thus, the night of the birth of Prophet ﷺ is better than the night of Qadr.

2. In Laylat al-Qadr, the angels descend to this world, but in the Laylat ul-Milad, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ descended to this world. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is more honorable than the angels. Thus, the night in which Prophet Muhammad ﷺ descended to this world is better than the night in which angels descend to this world.

3. In the night of Qadr, the mercy and the bounties are bestowed upon the ummah of Prophet ﷺ only, whereas, in the night of Milad, the mercy and favors are bestowed upon the entire existence in the universe.

Truly, Laylat ul-Milad is a joyous night. It is more honorable than Eid ul-Fitr, and Eid ul-Adha. If we hadn't had the night of Milad (the birth Prophet Muhammad ﷺ), we would' not have had the night of Shab e Baraat, Shab e Qadr, and Hajj. In Maktoobaate e Rabbani-Imaam Mujaddid Alf e Saani, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi(Rahmatullah Alaih) narrates that Prophet ﷺ 'said: 'O Beloved! If I (Allah) hadn't intended to create you, I wouldn't have created the beautiful moon, good and bad, and everything'. 'O Beloved! If it wasn't for your presence, I wouldn't have created the earth and the sky and the heaven'. 'O Beloved! If I hadn't created you, I wouldn't have declared My Lordship'.

Once, Hazrat Musa(alaihis salaam) presented himself in the court of Allah Ta'ala and asked: 'O Allah! I am your interlocutor. Have you created anyone more splendid and honorable than me?' Allah Ta'ala replied: 'yes! He is my beloved, son of Hazrat Amina(Radi Allaahu Anha), Muhammadur-Rasoolu-llah ﷺ. If it wasn't for Muhammad ﷺ and his ummati, I wouldn't have created the Paradise, Hell, sun, angels, Prophets or anything. O'Musa! I would not have even created you. Be steadfast on tauheed and in the love for Muhammad ﷺ'. '

Hazrat Ibn Abbas narrates that Allah Ta'ala addressed Hazrat Isa(alaihis salaam) and said: 'If it was not for Muhammad ﷺ, I would not have created Hazrat Adam(alaihis salaam)'.

In another narration, Allah Ta'ala addressed Hazrat Adam(alaihis salaam) and said: 'If it was not for him (Prophet ﷺ), I would not have created you, nor I would have created anyone'. 'O Adam! My beloved is a descendant of yours, but is more splendid and honorable than you, because you were created because of him'.

The world was created for the birth of Muhammad ﷺ. Allah Ta'ala takes oath of the morning when Prophet ﷺ was born.

Allah Ta'ala states in The Holy Quran:

'By the dawn'

(Surah Al-Fajr. verse 01)

The morning of the blessed birth of the holy Prophet ﷺ on which the sun of Makkah (Mecca) shone on the sky of Prophethood through the blessings of which infidelity turned to night and the sun of faith appeared on the horizon.

'Indeed I swear by this city (Mecca)'

'As (O Beloved Prophet) you dwell in this city'

'And by your father and his progeny'

(Surah Al-Balad. verse 01,02,03)

'O beloved, by your life, verily they are wondering about in their intoxication'

(Surah Al-Hijr. verse 72)

The life of Prophet ﷺ is the most beloved to Allah Ta'ala because He has not sworn on anyone's life besides that of our beloved Prophet ﷺ. The infidels are outwardly in their senses and are searching blindly in wilderness.

'And by they saying of the Messenger: 'O my Lord, these are the people who do not believe'.'

(Surah Al-Zukhraf. verse 88)

Allah Ta'ala loves every action of His beloved Prophet ﷺ. Therefore; He has taken oath on his city, his time, his age and his speech.

Allah Ta'ala has taken an oath of the dawn in which the beloved Prophet ﷺ was born. On this morning, the angels were ordered by Allah Ta'ala to decorate the paradise, and put out the hellfire, and were invited to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Allah Ta'ala asked the angels to recite durood and salutations (salaam) on the arrival of His beloved ﷺ.

Allah Ta'ala states in The Holy Quran:

'Undoubtedly Allah and His Angels send blessings on the Prophet of Allah (the communicator of the hidden news). O you who believe send blessings upon and salute him fully well in abundance'

(Surah Al-Ahzab. verse 56)

Recitation of durood is superior to all orders because in no other command has Allah Ta'ala included Himself. The descending of mercy of Allah Ta'ala upon Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is not dependent on our prayers. When nothing was in existence at that time, too, Allah Ta'ala was bestowing His mercy and bounty upon Prophet ﷺ. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is eternally the living Prophet, and is therefore listening to everybody's' durood and salaam (salutations) and giving reply thereto; it is forbidden to send greetings to him who cannot hear; for example, who is in salaah or sleeping.

Allah Ta'ala ordered the angels to raise one flag in east, one in west and one on the rooftop of the Kabah at the time of the birth of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Wahabi, Nawab Siddiq Hassan Khan Bopali writes that Hazrat Amina(Radi Allaahu Anha) said that she saw three flags; one in the west, one in the east and one on the rooftop of the Kabah. And Deobandi pioneer, Molvi Ashraf Ali Thanwi, in his book Nashrut-teeb, and Allama Imaam Qastalaani in Mawahibul Ladunya state that a lot of other books mention the three flags.

Hazrat Amina(Radi Allaahu Anha) has said that Hazrat A'sia(Radi Allaahu Anha) and Hazrat Mariam(Radi Allahu Anha) came to her, talked to her and helped her at the time of the birth of Prophet ﷺ.

It is stated in Shawaid e Nabuwah Shareef that Hazrat Abdul Mutallib(Radi Allaahu Anhu) (grandfather of Prophet ﷺ) said that at the time of the birth of Prophet ﷺ, he was doing Tawaaf of the Kabah. He saw the Kabah bowing towards the Makam e Ibrahim(alaihis salaam), which is towards the house of Hazrat Amina(Radi Allaahu Anha).

Note: This article section is an abridged English translation of Urdu sermon delivered by his eminence, Peer Syed Imroz Dean Saifi, Hanfi, Maturidi of Masjid Anwaar e Madina, Surrey BC Canada. If there is an inaccurate translation, please pardon it and not let it be a means to negatively reflect on the honoured presenter.

Miraculous Birth of the Messenger of Allahﷺ

The birth of Prophet Muhammed (saw) has been the greatest blessing and favour to our Ummah and a mercy to all the worlds. His birth was an exceptionally important event and Allah (swt) sent several miraculous signs to the world, many of which have never been experienced before.

‘Indeed Allah conferred a great favour on the believers when he sent among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting unto them His verses, and purifying them, and instructing them (in) the Book (Quran) and Al-Hikmah, (the wisdom and the Sunnah of the Prophet (saw)), while before that they had been in manifest error’.

(Qur’an, 3:164)

SubhanAllah, here are just a few of the amazing miracles that preceded the blessed birth of the Prophet (saw).

1. A light that shone like never before

Before his birth, the Prophet’s (saw) mother, Aaminah, was conscious of a light within her when she was pregnant with him, which one day shone from her so intensely that she could see the castles and palaces of Syria. (Ibn Ishaq)

2. The Persian Fire was extinguished

Pre-Islam, the Persians worshipped fire and kept a fire burning continuously for a thousand years. Imam Baihaqi narrated from Hani’ I-Makhzumi that as soon as the Prophet (saw) was born, this fire went out. This was a sign of the truthful call of the Prophet (saw) to his followers, to worship Allah (swt) alone.

3. The Throne Arch of Chosroes shuddered

The throne arch is referred to as the Aywan and indicates the political shift caused by the Prophet’s (saw) birth. The Arch (Aywan) of the Palace of Kisra (Chosroes), the ancient emperor of Persia, trembled when the Prophet (saw) was born. [Baihaqi]

4. Fourteen royal balconies collapsed

The Palace of Kisra, mentioned in Baihaqi’s narration, had fourteen balconies which all collapsed when the Prophet (saw) was born. This was a sign that Persian rule would only last for fourteen more Persian kings. The fourteenth (and last) Persian king ruled from the time of the Prophet (saw)’s birth, until the Muslims completely destroyed the whole of Persian Empire under Umar Bin Khattab (ra) and Uthman Bin Affan (ra). [Baihaqi]

5. Lake Sa’wah ran dry

The lake of Sa’wah is located in Qum and Hamadan in modern day Iraq. It was known as a city of evil doers but on the night of the birth of the Prophet (saw), the lake, which was vast enough for ships to sail through, dried up entirely. [Baihaqi]. This was a seen as a sign of Allah’s (saw) power and a reminder to the people of Sa’wah to follow the path of righteousness.

6. Idols fell flat

The birth of the Prophet (saw) signalled the end of idol worshipping in the lands of Arabia. When the Prophet (saw) was born, a total of 360 idols fell in and around the Holy Ka’bah. One of those idols was called Hubal, which resembled a human figure and was believed to control acts of divination.

Several people witnessed the falling of the idols, including Abdul-Mutallib, the grandfather of the Prophet (saw). The idols remained on the floor for a full twenty-four hours and any effort to pick them up and erect them throughout the world was unsuccessful.

Abdul Mutallib (ra) took his grandchild to the Ka’bah and named him Muhammad (saw), three days after the idols fell. As soon as the child was taken to the Ka’bah for the naming ceremony, the four corners of the walls of the Ka’bah spoke and declared:

“There is none worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is the Seal of Prophethood.”

7. The throne of Iblis collapsed

Iblis had a god-complex and observed that the throne of Allah (swt) is upon water as is mentioned in the following Qur’anic passage:

When he was banished from Paradise, Iblis established his throne upon water on planet earth, but this collapsed at the time of the birth of the Prophet (saw).

8. The devils were attacked with shooting stars

The devilish Jinn would ascend to the lower sky and attempt to listen to the conversations of the angels positioned at the Ka’bah, with the intention of hearing about people’s Qadr (divine decree).

‘And we have sought [to reach] heaven but found it filled with powerful guards and burning flames. And we used to sit there in positions for hearing, but whoever listens now will find a burning flame lying in wait for him’.

[The Noble Qur’an, 72:8 & 9]

At the time of the Prophet’s (saw) birth, they were stricken with falling stars and barred from accessing this knowledge and chased away instead by flames and comets. Among the signs is that Iblis, the forefather of the devils, was blocked from the news of the sky so he rang out a very loud scream.

The beauty of Islam allows us to continue drawing divine links from the Prophet’s (saw) birth to events which took place centuries before it. The miraculous signs of His birth are a reminder that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is indeed the Seal of the Prophets (Khatam an-Nabiyyin), that he was sent down as a mercy to mankind.