CAUSE OF DELIGHT AND VICTORY FOR MECCANS
Al-Sakhāwī said: The signs that appeared during and after the Prophetﷺ’s birth are numerous, not to mention the signs that appeared in Islam after he was tasked with the Prophetic mission. These signs are well known to the Umma, and a group of scholars, namely Abū Nu’aym and al-Suhayli, have expended efforts in collecting these signs. These signs and portents not only took place before he was tasked with the Prophetic mission; indeed, there were many that unfolded even before his birth.
Al-Sakhāwī said: It is recorded that the year preceding the Prophet
ﷺ’s birth was an insufferable year of drought and difficulty for the Quraysh. But during the time [his mother carried him in her womb], the earth became green with pasturage and the trees were laden with fruits, and the Meccans called that year the “Year of Victory and Delight.” Delegations came out to celebrate and ‘Abd al-Muttalib-who was at the time the leader of the Quraysh and the other Arab tribes-would go out daily uncovered and circumambulate the Ancient House [the Ka’ba] and proclaim, “O assembly of Quraysh! I am looking at the similitude of person whose appearance is like a piece of complete light, and I tire not at looking at him; yet you, O Quraysh, deny seeing him, either out of your own envy or out of resentment”. Ibn ‘Abbas (Radiyallahu Anhu) reported: “On that night, every single beast belonging to the Quraysh spoke and said, “By the Lord of the Ka’ba, Mohammadﷺ has now been carried (in his mother’s womb]! He is the leader of the world entire and the lamp of its inhabitants!”” After this, there no longer remained any soothsayers among the
Quraysh or any of the Arab tribes that performed the pilgrimage. The knowledge of divination and soothsaying was removed from them and every king in the world at the time fell into ignominy and was mute, unable to speak for the entire day. The wild beasts of the east delivered the good news to the wild beasts of the west, and the sea creatures spread the good news to each other. A call was proclaimed in the heavens and the earth: “Receive glad tidings! The time has arrived for Abū al-Qāsim Muhammad to appear on the earth with blessings and providence!”
He ﷺ remained in his mother’s womb for nine months and not once during that time did she ever complain of pain, flatulence or any other effects that affect most pregnant women.
THE DESCRIPTION OF PROPHET’Sﷺ BIRTH
Al-Bayhaqi reported in Dalā’il al-Nubuwwa, as did al-Tabarani and Abu Nu’aym, from the route of Muhammad b. Abi Suwayd al-Thaqafi, from ‘Uthman b. Abi al-‘As who said, “Fatima b. Abd Allah al-Thaqafiya-one of the female Companions-narrated to me that she was in Amina’s company the night the latter was going through labour. She said, ‘I looked at the stars coming close and drawing near. Startled, I said, “They are going to fall upon me!” However, when she [Amina] gave birth a light came from her that lit up the entire house and its environs.'”
Ibn Sa’d said, “Al-Haytham b. Khārija informed us via Yahya b. Hamza from al-Awzăi from Hassan b. ‘Atiya: ‘When the Prophetﷺ was born he fell upon his palms and knees with his gaze cast upward to the heavens.” This is a strong mursal report. In another mursal report, this one from Ishaq b. Abi Talha, it mentions that Amina said, “I delivered him and he was clean; he was not born as a sakhl is born [i.e., a newborn who is beloved to his parents]. He was not covered by any impurity; he was sitting on the ground with his hands.”
Abū al-Hasan b. al-Bishran narrated from Ibn al-Sam via Abū al-Hasan b. al-Bara’ who said, “Amina said, ‘When I delivered him, he came out sitting on his knees and looking toward the heavens, then he took a portion of the earth and went into prostration. As he was doing that, a utensil fell over upon him, but I saw that it was split, and there he was, sucking his thumb, from which milk was flowing.”
Al-Sakhāwī said: After Amina (RA) gave birth to him, she sent a message to his grandfather informing him that she bore a son the night before and requesting that he come to see him. When he arrived to see him, she informed him about what she saw during her delivery, whereupon he took him, stood up, and supplicated to Allah, thanking Him for His gift. In his supplication he said:
All praise belongs to Allah who gave me
This young boy of pure pedigree
A leader over the other children from the cradle
I seek refuge [in Allah] for him at the House of pillars [the Ka’ba]
THE SACRED FIRE OF THE ZOROASTRIANS WAS EXTINGUISHED
On the day of the Prophetﷺ’s birth, and for the first time in one thousand years, the sacred fire worshipped by the Zoroastrians was extinguished. They would offer devotions to this fire and keep it lit constantly, day and night, but on the night of the Prophetﷺ’s birth none of them were able to keep it lit, despite their attempts. Mübadhan, who was their chief judge, dreamt that he saw sturdy camels leading a cavalry of Arabian horses from those directions, crossing the Tigris River and spreading out into their lands.
THE DEVILS WERE ASSAILED WITH FLAMING METEORS
During the night of the Prophetﷺ’s birth the devils were assailed with flaming meteors, but before that night, the devils would take up positions for hearing in every direction. It is also reported that Satan was veiled from the heavens on that night; although perhaps it was he who sat in positions for hearing and mentioned cryptically. Baqi b. Mukhlid, the author of a Musnad collection mentioned in his exegesis, as we also narrated from Mujahid, that he, i.e., Satan, was caused to decay four times:
- when he was cursed,
- when he was forced to descend [to the earth],
- when the Prophetﷺ was born (and in one wording, “when he was tasked with the Prophetic mission”) and
- when Sura al-Fatiha of the Qur’an was revealed.
THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK GAVE GLAD TIDINGS
Al-Khatib [al-Baghdadi) has a narration from Muhammad from ‘Abd Allah b. Amr b. Uthmia from his mother Fatima b. al-Husayn b. ‘Ali from her father al- Husayn b. Ali: “On the night in which the Prophetﷺ was born, a rabbi in Mecca proclaimed, ‘Tonight in this city of yours a Prophet is being born; he is described as one who will revere Müsä and Härün(AS) but fight against their nation [the Children of Israel), If he is not born among you then give good news to the people of Taif or Jerusalem.’ That night the Prophetﷺ was born and so the rabbi came out and went to his [the Prophetﷺ’s] living quarters, saying, ‘I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Müsä is true and that Muhammad is true! Thereafter, the rabbi went missing and no one could find him.”
Abū Nu’aym reported in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa from the route of Shu’ayb from his father, from his grandfather who said, “There was a monk in Zahran named ‘Ayşa…” At the end of this hadith it states, “On the night of the Prophetﷺ’s birth he informed ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abd al-Muttalib that he [the Prophetﷺ Muhammad] is the Prophetﷺ of this Umma.” The hadith went on to describe the Prophetﷺ’s other qualities.
One of the signs with which the People of the Book recognized the Prophet ﷺ was the prophetic seal between his shoulder blades. They would inquire about it and request to see it. It is even reported that Heraclius sent a man to look at the Prophetic seal and report back to him his findings. One of these portents was reported by al-Häkim in al-Ikitl, Abū Sa’id al-Naysäbūri in Sharaf al-Mustafa, Abu Nu’aym in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, al-Bayhaqi in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, Qadi Iyad] the author of al-Shifā, and reported by Ibn al-Sakan and others in Ma’rifa al-Şahāba from the hadith of Makhzam b. Häni, from his father who reported that one hundred and fifty years before [the Prophetﷺ’s birth] “the Arches of Kisrā split asunder.” In other words, his Arch shook so loudly that its sound could be heard and it split apart from the top.
The Shaykh of our Shaykhs, Ibn al-Jazarī, said, “This split remains till this day. A group of people saw it in Midian and informed us. They say that fourteen loges fell from the uppermost part of the arch…”
Reference Book :- The Celebration of Mawlid al-Nabi ﷺ according to Imams and Hadith scholars by Shaykh ul Islam Dr. Tahir ul Qadri
