Muhammad (p.b.u.h) was born in such a family on Friday, the 17th Rabi'-ul-Awwal, 1st year of 'Amul-Fil (corresponding to 570 C.E.) to bring the Message of God to the world. In Sunni circles, 12th Rabi'-ul-Awwal is more famous. Thus, the prayer of Ibrahim while constructing the Ka'bah was granted:

Lord! And raise a Messenger from among them who shall recite to them Thine verses, and teach them the Book and the wisdom, and purify them, indeed Thou art the Mighty, the Wise (Qur'an, 2:129).

And the tidings of Christ came true:-
O Children of Israel! Surely, I am the messenger of Allah to you, verifying that which is before me of the Torah and giving the good news of a Messenger who will come after me whose name will be Ahmed. (Qur'an, 61:6)

'Abdullah, father of the Prophet, died a few month before (or two months after) his birth, and his grandfather 'Abdul¬Muttalib took over the care and upbringing of the child. After a few months, according to the age-long custom of the Arabs, the child was entrusted to a bedouin woman Halimah by name, of the tribe of Bani-Sa'd, for his upbringing.

When he was only six years old, he lost his mother as well; so, the doubly-orphaned child was brought up by 'Abdul-Muttalib with the most tender care. It was the will of God that the Prophet to-be should undergo all the sufferings, pains and privations incidental to human life in order that he might learn to bear them with becoming fortitude and raise his stature in human perfection. Not two years had passed before 'Abdul-Muttalib also expired.

'Abdul-Muttalib died at the age of 82, leaving the care and custody of the orphaned Muhammad (p.b.u.h) to Abu Talib. Abu Talib and his wife, Fatimah Bint Asad, loved Muhammad more than their own children. As the Holy Prophet himself said, Fatima Bint Asad was his "mother" who kept her own children waiting while she fed the Holy Prophet, kept her own children cold while she gave him warm clothes. Abu Talib always kept the child with him day and night.

Abu Talib had succeeded 'Abdul-Muttalib in Siqayah and Rifadah and was an active participant in the trade caravans. When Muhammad (p.b.u.h) was 12 years old, Abu Talib bade farewell to his family to go to Syria. Muhammad (p.b.u.h) clung to him and cried. Abu Talib was so moved that he took the child with him.

When the caravan reached Busra in Syria they, as usual, stayed near the monastery of a monk, Buhayra. It is not possible to give here the full account of that visit. Suffice it to say that the monk, seeing some of the signs, which he knew from the old books, was convinced that the orphan child was the last Prophet-to-be. To make sure, he started a conversation with him, and at one point said: "I give you oath of Lat and Uzza to tell me..."

The child cried out: "Don't take the names of Lat and Uzza before me! I hate them!" Buhayra was now convinced. He advised Abu Talib not to proceed to Damascus "because if the Jews found out what I have seen, I am afraid they will try to harm him. For sure, this child is to have a great eminence."

Abu Talib, acting on this advice, sold all his merchandise for cheaper prices then and there, returning at once to Mecca.

حدثنا علي بن أحمد بن موسى - رضي الله عنه - قال: حدثنا محمد بن يعقوب، عن الحسن بن محمد، عن محمد بن يحيى الفارسي، عن أبي حنيفة محمد بن يحيى، عن الوليد بن أبان، عن محمد بن عبد الله بن مسكان، عن أبيه، قال: قال أبو عبد الله عليه السلام: إن فاطمة بنت أسد - رحمها الله - جاءت إلى أبي طالب تبشره بمولد النبي صلى الله عليه وآله فقال لها أبو طالب: اصبري لي سبتا آتيك بمثله إلا النبوة فقال: السبت ثلاثون سنة وكان بين رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله و أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام ثلاثون سنة.

68. We were told by Ali bin Ahmad bin Musa, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: We were told by Muhammed bin Ya’qoub, from Hasan bin Muhammed, from Muhammed bin Yahya al-Farisi, from Abuu Hanifa, Muhammed bin Yahya, from Waleed bin Aban, from Muhammed bin Abdullah bin Maskan, from his father, that he said: Abu Abdillah, peace be upon him, said: Indeed, Fatima bint Asad, may Allah grant her mercy, came to Abu Talib, giving him glad tidings about the birth of the Prophet, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, and so Abu Talib said to her: Be patient for me with a Saturday , and I will bring to you the same as he, except for Prophethood. He said: A Saturday is thirty years. There was between the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, and the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, thirty years.

Ref: Mani Al Akhbar, H794
Al-Amali by Shaykh Saduq, H443
Al-Amali by Shaykh Saduq, H947

1ـ الْحُسَيْنُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يَحْيَى الْفَارِسِيِّ عَنْ أَبِي حَنِيفَةَ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يَحْيَى عَنِ الْوَلِيدِ بْنِ أَبَانٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الله بْنِ مُسْكَانَ عَنْ أَبِيهِ قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) إِنَّ فَاطِمَةَ بِنْتَ أَسَدٍ جَاءَتْ إِلَى أَبِي طَالِبٍ لِتُبَشِّرَهُ بِمَوْلِدِ النَّبِي (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) فَقَالَ أَبُو طَالِبٍ اصْبِرِي سَبْتاً أُبَشِّرْكِ بِمِثْلِهِ إِلا النُّبُوَّةَ وَقَالَ السَّبْتُ ثَلاثُونَ سَنَةً وَكانَ بَيْنَ رَسُولِ الله (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) وَأَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) ثَلاثُونَ سَنَةً.

1. Al-Husayn ibn Muhammad has narrated from Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Farisiy from abu Hanifa Muhammad ibn Yahya from al-Walid ibn Aban from Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallah ibn Muskan from who has said the following. “Abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.) has said, ‘Once Fatima, daughter of Asad came to abu Talib with the glad news of the birth of the Holy Prophet (s.a). Abu Talib said, “Wait for a sabt then I will give a similar glad news except prophet-hood.” The Imam (a.s.) said, “A sabt is thirty years. Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (a.s.) was born thirty years after the birth of the Holy Prophet (s.a).”
Al-Kāfi - Volume 1 Book 4, Chapter #113

The primary sources for the sira of the greatest of Allah's creation's, Muhammad(pbuh) are many - here is a quick list:

1. Muḥammad b. Isḥāq (85-151/767) *– born in Medina. The Sīrah of Ibn Isḥāq we have today is just remaining fragments of what was the original work (which is now lost). His main sources were the scholars of Medina, then Kufa, and then Baghdad. Broke the anti-Ali and Bani Hashim Umayyad dominance and we find reports with the mention of ‘Alī and others (although seems some impact remained, he does not mention the event of Ghadīr).

Ibn Hishām’s Sīrah is simply the Sīrah of Ibn Isḥāq, which was transmitted to his student al-Bakkā’ī, and then given to Ibn Hishām. The latter edited it, annotated it and revised it. This is called Sīrah of Ibn Hishām.

Later historians like Tabari, Ya’qubi, Mas’udī etc. relied on it.

2. Aban b. ‘Uthmān al-Aḥmar (2nd century AH)* – from Imam Sadiq’s companions, from Aṣḥāb al-Ijmā‘ a Basri who resided in Kufa (Najashi says he was Kufan who would live in both cities). His reports are seen in Tārīkh Ya‘qūbī and also many Shī’a works of ḥadīth and later historical works. Using this, his history book has also been reconstructed and published.

3. Muḥammad b. ‘Umar al-Wāqidī (130 – 207)* - he was a judge for Ma’mūn Rashīd, and is known for his book Kitab al-Tarikh wa al-Maghazi. He wrote many books and this is the only one that survives, and portions of it in other later books (Tarikh Tabari, Tarikh Dimashq, Sharh Ibn Abi al-Ḥadīd and al-Iṣābah of Ibn Ḥajar al-Asqalānī).

Ahl al-Sunnah today have a lot of problems with him because he had Shī’ī tendencies, and some say he was doing dissimulation.

4. Muhammad b. Sa‘d (168-230)* and his Kitāb aṭ-ṭabaqāt al-kabīr. He was a Basran student and scribe of Waqidi, lived in Baghdad. First 2 volumes contains sīrah of the Prophet, followed by his companions lives etc.

5. Aḥmad b. Abī Ya‘qūb al-Ya‘qūbī* (d. 284/898 or 292) – perhaps the first historian who wrote a comprehensive world history (pre-Islamic Arabia and Prophet Muhammad until 259 AH). He also had sympathy towards the Ahl al-Bayt.

In the Prophetic section, he has put in a lot of effort to avoid Israiliyyat and superstitious narrations. He mentions his methodology and says he has done this intentionally and avoided putting reports that are detested and ugly.

He has also mentioned many reports that earlier historians may have omitted due to political atmosphere. There are a lot of details about Umayyad and Abbasid politics.

6. Ṭabarī (224-310 / 839-923)* and his famous Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī. He is very prominent, he even had his own Fiqhi school of thought, he was a polymath. His Tārīkh is also two parts: before and after Islam (translated and published in 40 volumes in English).

He made use of many sources. For the sīrah specifically he used: Maghāzi of ‘Urwah, Abān b. ‘Uthmān b. ‘Affan a little, Zuhrī, Mūsa b. ‘Uqbah, Sharḥbīl b. Sa‘d, ‘Āṣim b. ‘Umar, Ibn Isḥāq, Zubayr b. Bukkār.

Tabari’s book was so impactful that most later historians did not add much to it, except some minor details in works of Ibn Athīr, Ibn Kathīr and Ibn Khaldūn. Ibn Athīr says I took Tabari’s book which is relied upon by all and he calls him the Imam al-Mutqin Ḥaqqan. Other two say the same thing.

7. ‘Alī b. Ḥusayn al-Mas‘ūdī (282-345)* wrote his Murūj al-Dhahab. He lived in Baghdad and travelled extensively to many parts of the world. Some say he was a Mu‘tazalī, some say he was a Shāfi’ī, while others say he was very clearly a Shī’a Imāmī. Began writing Meadows of Gold (4 volumes in Arabic) in 332 AH and finished it in 336 in Egypt (under caliphate of Muṭī’allah al-‘Abbāṣī).

He mentions source names in his introduction (like Ya‘qūbī) and omits the chains, but some places he does mention chains as well. He himself says I am trying to be unbiased as possible, I am not writing on behalf of defending any specific school of thought.

We read in Al Amali by Sheikh Seduq, Majlis 48, Hadith 2, pg. 211 -212:-


Abu Jafar Muhammad b. Ali b. al-Husayn b. Musa b. Babuwayh al-Qummi (ra) narrated to us. He said: Ali b. Ahmad b. Abdullah b. Ahmad b. Abi Abdillah al-Barqi narrated to us:-

> *My father narrated to me from his grandfather Ahmad b. Abi Abdillah from Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Abi Nasr al-Bazanti from Aban b. Uthman from Abi Abdillah al-Sadiq (as). He said: Iblis (la) would pass the seven heavens. When Isa (as) was born, he was blocked off from three heavens, and he would instead penetrate four heavens. When the Messenger of Allah (s) was born, he was blocked off from all seven, and the devils were thrown into the stars [of this lower heaven]. Quraysh said: “This is the Hour that we would hear the people of the scriptures mention.” Amr b. Umayya, who was of the most rebuked persons of Jahiliyya, said: “Look to these stars by which one can be guided and know the timings of winter and summer. If they were thrown into, then that would lead to the destruction of everything. But, if they remain, and they were thrown elsewhere, then it is a new Order.” On the morning of the birth of the Prophet (s), all the idols had fallen on their faces. That night, an earthquake shook the Iwan of Khosrow, and fourteen balconies fell from it. Siwa oasis receded, and the valley of Samawah was flooded. The fire of Persia was extinguished, and that had not happened for one thousand years. The Zoroastrian Mobed saw a dream that night of camels leading Arabian horses across the Tigris into their country, cutting the ring of King Khosrow from the middle. That night, a light dispersed from the direction of the Hijaz, going eastward. There was not a bed of a king from the kings except that it was flipped. The kings were silenced and could not speak that day. The knowledge of priests was removed, the magic of sorcerers was invalided; and no soothsayer remained in Arabia*

We read in Bihar Al-Anwar Volume 15 pg 24:-

Jabir bin Abdullah said: I said to the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him and his family: What is the first thing that Allah created? So he said: The light of your Prophet O Jabir, Allah created it then Allah created from it all the good.

We read in In Miraat Al Uqool by Allamah Majlisi Vol 5 pg. 175:

Abu Talib did not last in a single year, and tribulations befell the Messenger of Allah, may Allah be with him, leading to the demise of Khadijah and Abu Talib. Khadijah was a true supporter of Islam. The Messenger of Allah lived with her. Abu Abdullah ibn Manda mentioned in the book of knowledge that Khadijah's death occurred three days after the death of Abu Talib. Al-Waqidi claimed that they left the She'b (the locality where the Prophet lived) three years before the migration, and in that year, Khadijah and Abu Talib passed away. There were thirty-five nights between their deaths. The end.

Al-Kazroni said in Al-Muntaqaa: Abu Talib passed away in the tenth year of Prophethood at the age of eighty-something. In the same year, Khadijah died a few days after Abu Talib. She was sixty-five and was buried in Hajun. The Prophet went to her grave, and at that time, there was no funeral prayer and prayer for the dead. It is narrated from Abdullah ibn Tha'labah, who said: When Abu Talib and Khadijah passed away, with one month and five orphan children between them, people gathered around the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, to express their condolences. He confined himself to his house and rarely left. What Al-Kulayni (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned about this contradicts these dates, and Allah knows best.

It is said that "Shina" means to hate and despise. "Al-Muqam" with a "Damma" (U) means to establish. The reference to "the village" is Makkah. The verse in Surah An-Nisa is as follows: "And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, 'Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?' The commentators explained 'the city' as Makkah, and Allah honored it for us.

we read in Al-Khisal, H878:
7-68 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله قال: حدثني أحمد ابن محمد بن عيسى، عن موسى بن القاسم البجلي، عن علي بن جعفر قال: جاء رجل إلى أخي موسى بن جعفر عليهما السلام فقال له: جعلت فداك إني اريد الخروج فادع لى فقال: ومتى تخرج؟ قال: يوم الاثنين؟ فقال له: ولم تخرج يوم الاثنين؟ قال: أطلب فيه البركة لان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله ولد يوم الاثنين، فقال: كذبوا ولد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله يوم الجمعة، وما من يوم أعظم شوما من يوم الاثنين، يوم مات فيه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وانقطع فيه وحي السماء، وظلمنا فيه حقنا، ألا أدلك على يوم سهل لين ألان الله لداود عليه السلام فيه الحديد؟ فقال الرجل: بلى جعلت فداك، فقال: اخرج يوم الثلثاء

7-68 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Sa’ed ibn Abdullah quoted Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Isa, on the authority of Musa ibn al-Qasim al-Bajaly, on the authority of Ali ibn Ja’far (as): “A man had gone to see my brother Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kadhim (as) and said, ‘May I be your ransom! I have planned to go on a trip. Please pray for me.’ The Imam (as) said, ‘On which day are you planning to go?’ The man said, ‘On Monday.’ The Imam (as) said, ‘Why do you go on Monday?’ The man said, ‘I go on that day to seek blessings since that is the Prophet’s birthday.’ The Imam (as) said, ‘No, they lie. The Prophet’s (sw) birthday is on a Friday. No day is more wicked than Monday. It was on that day the Prophet (sw) perished and heavenly revelations ceased to descend. It was on that day that they usurped our rights by force. Do you want me to guide you to an easy day on which God softened iron for David (as)?’ The man said, ‘May I be your ransom! Yes.’ The Imam (as) said, ‘Go on a Tuesday.’”