Life of Muhammad — Page 5
sa 5 to satisfy sexual desires. The children born of such unions were also treated as slaves. Women-slaves who became mothers remained slaves. In terms of civilization and social advance the Arabs were a very backward people. Kindness and consideration to one another were unknown. Woman had the worst status possible. Still the Arabs possessed some virtues. Individual bravery, for instance, sometimes reached a very high level. It was among such people that the Holy Prophet sa of Islam was born. His father ‘ Abdull a h had died before his birth. Accordingly, he and his mother A mina had to be looked after by the grandfather, ‘ Abdul Mu tt alib. The child Muhammad sa was suckled by a countrywoman who lived in a place near Ta ’ if. It was a custom in Arabia in those days to hand over children to women in the country, whose duty was to bring up the children, to train their speech and to give them a good start in bodily health. When the Prophet sa was in his first year * , his mother died while travelling from Medina to Mecca and had to be buried en route. The child was brought to Mecca by a woman-servant and handed over to the grandfather. When he was in his eighth year, his grandfather also died, after which Ab u Ta lib, his uncle, became his guardian, this being the wish expressed in a will by the grandfather. The Prophet sa had two or three opportunities to travel out of Arabia. One of these occurred when at the age of twelve he went in the company of Ab u Ta lib to Syria. It seems that this journey took him only to the south-eastern towns of * A: In Bi ha rul-Anw a r Im a m B a qir narrates on the authority of W a qid i that A minah, the mother of the Holy Prophet sa , died when he was four months old, thus, he was an orphan when he was only four months old. ( Bi ha rul- Anw a ril-J a mi‘at i li-Durari Akhb a ril-A ’immatil -A t h a r, B a bu Mansh a ’ih i wa Ra da ‘ih i wa m a z ahara min I‘j a zih i ‘inda dh a lika il a Nubuwwatih i by Sheikh Muhammad B a qir Majlis i , vol. 15, p. 194; published by Al-Am i rah Beirut, First edition 2008. ) B: However, according to Ibni Hish a m, Hadrat A minah, the mother of the Holy Prophet sa , died when he was six years old. ( S i ratun-Nabawiyyah by Ibni Hish a m, B a bu Waf a ti A minata wa Ha li Ras u lill a hi ma‘a Jaddih i ‘Abdil Mu tt alib ba‘dah a , p. 134, published by D a rul-Kutubil- ‘Ilmiyyah Beirut, Lebanon, First edition 2001. )