Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 5to satisfy sexual desires. The children born of suchunions were also treated as slaves. Women-slaves whobecame mothers remained slaves. In terms of civilizationand social advance the Arabs were a very backwardpeople. Kindness and consideration to one another wereunknown. Woman had the worst status possible. Stillthe Arabs possessed some virtues. Individual bravery,for instance, sometimes reached a very high level.It was among such people that the Holy Prophet sa ofIslam was born. His father ‘Abdullah had died before hisbirth. Accordingly, he and his mother Amina had to belooked after by the grandfather, ‘Abdul Muttalib. Thechild Muhammad sa was suckled by a countrywomanwho lived in a place near Ta’if. It was a custom in Arabiain those days to hand over children to women in thecountry, whose duty was to bring up the children, totrain their speech and to give them a good start in bodilyhealth. When the Prophet sa was in his first year * , hismother died while travelling from Medina to Mecca andhad to be buried en route. The child was brought toMecca by a woman-servant and handed over to thegrandfather. When he was in his eighth year, hisgrandfather also died, after which Abu Talib, his uncle,became his guardian, this being the wish expressed in awill by the grandfather. The Prophet sa had two or threeopportunities to travel out of Arabia. One of theseoccurred when at the age of twelve he went in thecompany of Abu Talib to Syria. It seems that thisjourney took him only to the south-eastern towns of* A: In Biharul-Anwar Imam Baqir narrates on the authority of Waqidi thatAminah, the mother of the Holy Prophet sa , died when he was four monthsold, thus, he was an orphan when he was only four months old. (Biharul-Anwaril-Jami‘ati li-Durari Akhbaril-A’immatil-Athar, Babu Mansha’ihi waRada‘ihi wa ma zahara min I‘jazihi ‘inda dhalika ila Nubuwwatihi bySheikh Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, vol.15, p.194; published by Al-AmirahBeirut, First edition 2008.)B: However, according to Ibni Hisham, Hadrat Aminah, the mother of theHoly Prophet sa , died when he was six years old. (Siratun-Nabawiyyah byIbni Hisham, Babu Wafati Aminata wa Hali Rasulillahi ma‘a Jaddihi ‘AbdilMuttalib ba‘daha, p.134, published by Darul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah Beirut,Lebanon, First edition 2001.)