The Birth of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
Muslim History Series | Article 1
In 570 CE, in the arid valleys of Makkah, a child was born who would go on to change the course of human history forever. His name was Muhammad ibn Abdullah, peace be upon him. This event didn’t just mark the birth of a man, it was the beginning of the final message to mankind. To understand the rise of Muslim civilization, we must begin where it all started: with the Prophet himself.
The Year of the Elephant
The Prophet was born in what is famously known as Am al-Fil — The Year of the Elephant — around 570 CE. (Some scholars place this event in 569 or 571 CE due to calendar differences, but 570 remains the most widely accepted date.) This wasn’t just a calendar marker. It was the year Allah displayed His power openly defending His Sacred House from destruction without a single sword raised in its defense.
According to the Qur’an, authentic seerah sources, and early Islamic historians, this was the year when Abraha al-Habashi, the Abyssinian Christian governor of Yemen, launched a campaign to demolish the Ka‘bah. His motive? To redirect the pilgrimage from Makkah to his grand cathedral in San‘a’, hoping to elevate Yemen’s spiritual and political standing. With him, he brought a massive army including war elephants, which were terrifying to the Arabs and rare in the region.
The Qur’an recounts this divine intervention in Surah Al-Fil:
"Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant?
Did He not make their plan into misguidance?
And He sent against them birds in flocks,
Striking them with stones of hard clay,
And He made them like eaten straw."
— Qur’an 105:1–5,
But this wasn't just symbolic. It was a real, historical event recorded in the earliest biographies of the Prophet (s.a.w), such as Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, Ibn Hisham's recension, and Al-Tabari’s Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk. These sources go into detail about what actually happened.
The Elephants Stop at the Ka‘bah
As Abraha’s army approached Makkah, the Quraysh did not fight. Instead, the leader of the clan at the time, ‘Abd al-Muttalib (the Prophet’s grandfather), entrusted the protection of the Ka‘bah to Allah. He reportedly told Abraha:
“I am the master of the camels, and the House has its own Master who will protect it.”
Though ‘Abd al-Muttalib clearly invoked Allah as the Master of the Ka‘bah, scholars differ on whether he was a pure monotheist or followed the prevailing customs of his people. The Quraysh believed in Allah as the Supreme Creator but associated partners with Him through idol worship. A practice that became deeply embedded in pre-Islamic Arabia. There is no clear evidence that ‘Abd al-Muttalib personally worshipped idols, but he lived within that system. Allah knows best his true belief but his statement that “the House has its own Master” reveals a recognition that divine power, not human effort, would protect the Ka‘bah.
As the army reached the valley near Makkah, the lead elephant named Mahmud refused to move forward. Whenever they turned him away from the Ka‘bah, he moved. But whenever they faced him toward it, he knelt and would not rise. They beat him, tried different routes, and even provoked him but the animal would not take a single step toward the Sacred House.
Although Abraha’s army included multiple elephants, Mahmud was the lead and most significant. The soldiers stood in confusion and then, the skies began to darken.
The Birds of Divine Punishment
Suddenly, flocks of small birds appeared which is known in Arabic as tayran ababil, coming from the direction of the sea. These birds, described by early sources as birds unfamiliar to the Arabs, carried small stones of baked clay (hijarah min sijjil) in their beaks and claws.
As they flew over Abraha’s army, they began dropping the stones and every stone hit with unerring precision. Historical narrations (like those of Ibn Kathir and al-Tabari) report the stones pierced through the skulls of men and elephants, exiting through their bodies and instantly killing or burning them. The army scattered in terror, but it was too late. Many were left dead on the ground, and some survivors fled back to Yemen, afflicted with festering wounds. Abraha himself returned diseased, and his body began to fall apart until he died in agony.
According to Tafsir Ibn Kathir, the birds may have resembled swallows or starlings, and the stones they dropped were said to burn through the flesh like disease.
The Qur’anic phrase “like eaten straw” (ka-‘asfin ma’kul) paints a picture of the soldiers’ remains shredded and useless, like crops chewed and spit out by animals.
A Sign to the Quraysh and to the World
This miracle had a massive impact on the people of Makkah. They had witnessed with their own eyes that Allah had protected His House without any human defense. The Quraysh took great pride in this, not only as custodians of the Ka‘bah, but as a people clearly favored by divine protection.
It’s no coincidence that just months later, the child who would carry the final revelation, Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah (s.a.w) was born in this very city.
The Year of the Elephant was not just a failed attack. It was a declaration to mankind that Allah is the true Guardian of His house, and no force on earth can stand against His will.
His Noble Lineage
Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born into the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe, one of the most respected families in Arabia, known for their leadership and nobility. His father was Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, and his mother was Aminah bint Wahb. Abdullah died before Muhammad was born. This left him an orphan in the womb.
The Prophet's lineage traces back to Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him) through his son Ismail (Ishmael). As noted in Sahih Muslim and in the genealogical accounts recorded by Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Sa‘d, this ancestry was preserved and honored among the Arabs.
Birthplace: Makkah
The Prophet was born in Makkah, a commercial and religious center of the Arabian Peninsula, home to the Ka‘bah, which had become a hub for idol worship. Makkah was governed by tribal systems, with a deep-rooted culture of tribal honor, poetry, and lineage but also moral decay, infanticide, exploitation, and idolatry. It was a society in need of reform.
His Name: Muhammad (s.a.w)
He was named Muhammad, meaning "the praised one." According to Ibn Hisham and Ibn Kathir, this name was unusual and not common among the Arabs at the time. His grandfather, ‘Abd al-Muttalib, reportedly chose the name with the hope that his grandson would be praised both on Earth and in the heavens. This name is mentioned in the Qur’an multiple times (e.g., Qur’an 3:144, 33:40, 47:2, 48:29).
"Muhammad is not but a messenger; messengers have passed on before him..."
(Qur’an 3:144)
Early Orphanhood
After his father’s death before birth, Muhammad (peace be upon him) lost his mother Aminah at the age of 6, during a trip to Yathrib (later Madinah). He was then cared for by his grandfather ‘Abd al-Muttalib, who died two years later, after which Abu Talib, the Prophet’s uncle, took custody and raised him with great love and protection.
This sequence of loss built a man deeply familiar with grief and detachment from worldly dependence, shaping him for the divine mission ahead.
Witnesses to the Signs
Multiple early signs about his future are mentioned in traditional sources. A well-known narration in Musnad Ahmad (Hadith 17163) and others state that Bahira, a Christian monk in Syria, recognized signs of prophethood in the young Muhammad during a trade journey with Abu Talib. While the isnad (chain of narration) is debated and not classified as Sahih, the consistency across early seerah sources such as Ibn Ishaq reflects the aura of destiny surrounding the Prophet from a young age.
Historical Accuracy Note
While some details surrounding his birth such as the exact date, whether Rabi‘ al-Awwal 12th or otherwise are debated among scholars, the consensus on the birth year as 570 CE, and major events like the Year of the Elephant, the orphanhood, and the noble lineage, are well-documented in primary sources like Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Ibn Kathir, al-Tabari, and authentic hadith collections.
Why It Matters
This is not just a historical moment.
It is the beginning of mercy.
A child born without a father, in a lost and corrupted society, who would later become the best of creation known as rahmatan lil-alamin (mercy to the worlds).
To understand Muslim history, we must start with the man who redefined it all. This was the first ripple. Everything that followed from the Qur’an to the caliphates, to golden-age scholars, to modern awakenings, began with this single moment in 570 CE.
Sources:
Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah
Ibn Hisham, Seerah (Recension of Ibn Ishaq)
Al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk
Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya
Sahih Muslim, Book of Virtues
Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Revelation
Qur’an: Surahs 3:144, 33:40, 47:2, 48:29, 105:1–5
Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17163
Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqat al-Kubra