Aminah

Aminah bint Wahb (Arabic: آمِنَة بْنَت وَهْب, ʾĀminahʾ ibnat Wahb, c. 550–576 CE), was a woman of the clan of Banu Najjar, and the mother of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[2]

For other people with this name, see Amina (given name). For other uses, see Amina (disambiguation).
Aminah bint Wahb
آمِنَة بِنْتُ وَهْب
Born
Aminah bint Wahb

550 C.E.
Medina, Hejaz, Arabia (present-day KSA)
Died576 C.E. (Age 26)
Medina, Hejaz (present-day KSA)
Resting placeMedina
Known forMother of Muhammad[1]
SpouseAbdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib (m. 568–570)
ChildrenMuhammad
Parents
  • Wahb (father)
  • Barrah (mother)
Relatives
Cousin:

Daughter(s)-in-law:

Granddaughter(s):

Grandson(s):
FamilyBanu Najjar)

Early life and marriage

Aminah was born to Wahb ibn Abd Manaf and Barrah bint 'Abd al-'Uzzā ibn 'Uthmān ibn 'Abd al-Dār in Mecca. Her tribe, Quraysh, claimed descent from Ibrahim (Abraham), through his son Isma'il (Ishmael). Her ancestor Zuhrah was the elder brother of Qusayy ibn Kilab, who was an ancestor of Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib, and was the first Qurayshi custodian of the Kaaba. Abd al-Muttalib proposed the marriage of Abdullah, his youngest son, to Aminah. Some sources state that Aminah's father accepted the match, while others say that it was Aminah's uncle Wuhaib, who was serving as her guardian.[3][4] The two were married soon after.[4] Abdullah spent much of Aminah's pregnancy away from home as part of a merchant caravan, and died of disease before the birth of his son.[4][5]

Birth of Muhammad and later years
See also: Mawlid and Muhammad in Mecca
Makkah Al Mukarramah Library (21°25′30″N 39°49′48″E) is believed to stand on the spot where Aminah gave birth to Muhammad, so it is also known as Bayt al-Mawlid

Two months after Abdullah's death, on April 21st 570 CE, Muhammad was born. As was tradition among all the great families at the time, Aminah sent Muhammad to live with a milk mother in the desert as a baby. The belief was that in the desert, one would learn self-discipline, nobility, and freedom. During this time, Muhammad was nursed by Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb, a poor Bedouin woman from the tribe of Banu Sa'ad, a branch of the Hawāzin.[6][7]

When Muhammad was five years old, he was reunited with Aminah. About a year later, Aminah took Muhammad to visit her relatives in Yathrib (later Medina). While in Yathrib, Aminah fell ill. She died around the year 576,[8][9] and was buried in Medina.[10] Her grave was destroyed in 1998.[11][12] The young Muhammad was taken in first by his paternal grandfather Abd al-Muttalib in 577, and later by his paternal uncle Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib.[4]

Fate in the afterlife
The alleged grave of Aminah bint Wahb in Al-Abwa'. It was destroyed in 1998.

Islamic scholars have long been divided over the religious beliefs of Muhammad's parents and their fate in the afterlife.[13] One transmission by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah states that Allah (God) refused to forgive Aminah for her kufr (disbelief). Another transmission in Musnad al-Bazzar states that Muhammad's parents was brought back to life and accepted Islam, then returned to the Barzakh.[14]: 11  Some Ash'ari and Shafi'i scholars argued that neither would be punished in the afterlife, as they were Ahl al-fatrah, or "People of the interval" between the prophetic messages of 'Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad.[15] The concept of Ahl al-fatrah is not universally accepted among Islamic scholars, and there is debate concerning the extent of salvation available for active practitioners of Shirk (Polytheism),[16] though the majority of scholars have come to agree with it, and disregard the ahadith (narrations) stating that Muhammad's parents were condemned to hell.[13]

While a work attributed to Abu Hanifah, an early Sunni scholar, stated that both Aminah and Abdullah died upon their innate nature (Mata 'ala al-fitrah),[17] some later authors of mawlid texts related a tradition in which Aminah and Abdullah were temporarily revived and embraced Islam. Scholars like Ibn Taymiyyah stated that this was a lie, though Al-Qurtubi stated that the concept did not disagree with Islamic theology.[15] According to Ali al-Qari, the preferred view is that both the parents of Muhammad were Muslims.[14]: 28  According to Al-Suyuti, Isma'il Haqqi, and other Islamic scholars, all of the narrations indicating that the parents of Muhammad were not forgiven were later abrogated when they were brought to life and accepted Islam.[14]: 24  Shia Muslims believe that all of Muhammad's ancestors, Aminah included, were monotheists, and therefore entitled to Paradise. A Shia tradition states that Allah forbade the fires of Hell from touching either of Muhammad's parents.[18]

See also

Further reading
  • Mohamad Jebara, Muhammad the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2021) ISBN 978-1250239648.

References
  2. Muhammad the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait, page 38
  3. Muhammad Shibli Numani; M. Tayyib Bakhsh Badāyūnī (1979). Life of the Prophet. Kazi Publications. pp. 148–150.
  4. Ibn Ishaq (1955). Ibn Hisham (ed.). Life of Muhammad. Translated by Alfred Guillaume. Oxford University Press. pp. 68–79.
  5. Ibn Sa'd/Haq pp. 107–108.
  6. Muhammad the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait, page 27-32
  7. "Muhammad: Prophet of Islam". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  8. Muhammad the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait, page 41-44
  9. Peters, F. E. (1994). Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. Albany, New York, the U.S.A.: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-1876-6.
  10. Muhammad the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait, page 44-45
  11. Daniel Howden (18 April 2006). "Shame of the House of Saud: Shadows over Mecca". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2016-07-27. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  12. Ondrej Beranek; Pavel Tupek (2009). "From Visiting Graves to Their Destruction: The Question of Ziyara through the Eyes of Salafis" (Crown Paper). Waltham, Massachusetts, the U.S.A.: Brandeis University. OCLC 457230835.
  13. Brown, Jonathan A.C. (2015). Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy. Oneworld Publications. pp. 188-189.
  14. Mufti Muhammad Khan Qadri, The Parents of the Prophet Muhammad were Muslims, Suffah Foundation, pp. 11–28
  15. Holmes Katz, Marion (2007). The Birth of The Prophet Muhammad: Devotional Piety in Sunni Islam. Routledge. p. 126-128. ISBN 978-1-1359-8394-9.
  16. Rida, Rashid. "2:62". Tafsir al-Manar. pp. 278–281. Archived from the original on 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  17. Dr. `Inayatullah Iblagh al-Afghanistani, Refuting the Claim that Imam Abu Hanifa was of the opinion that the Prophet’s Parents were Kafirs, Masud
  18. Rubin, Uri (1975). "Pre-Existence and Light—Aspects of the Concept of Nur Muhammad". Israel Oriental Studies. 5: 75–88.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.