met a monk. Four of these Makkis decided to stop for a while to talk
with the monk.
In those days monks lived in places where there were very few people
so that they could have quite to worship Allah. They also were people
who read books and knew many stories. Only a few Makkis knew about
reading. All they knew about was trade and enjoying themselves. They
knew they would hear interesting and entertaining stories from the
monk.
After talking for a while the monk asked the men, " where are you from ?"
They answered, " we arefrom Makka.",
The monk then told them, " Allah will send a prophet to Makka soon."
The four men continued on their journey thinking about the things the
monk had said. Each of them wished that the new prophet would be his
own son.
Abdulmuttalib was asleep in Kaaba. He had a strange dream. He saw a
tree growing until it reached the sky. The treehad branches that
spread to the East and the West. It appeared that a very bright light
was shining on the tree. Abdulmutalib saw the Arabs and the non-Arabs
bow to the tree. The treecontinued growing larger, higher, and
brighter. Then he saw some people from Quraysh holding to the branches
of the tree, while other Qurayshis tried to chop down the tree. A very
handsome youth stopped them from chopping down the tree. Abdulmuttalib
saw himself put his handout to grab the tree, but he could not reach
it. He woke up from his sleep frightened.
Abdulmuttalib sat thinking of the dream and what it meant, but he
could not find an explanation for it. The next morning he went tothe
priestess of the Quraysh to ask her to explain the dream. The Arabs
always asked the priest or priestess for theexplanation of dreams.
When the priestess saw Abdulmuttalib, she saw sign of worry on his
face, so she asked, "why do you look so worried:"
Abdulmuttalib answered, " I had a dream that frightened me." Then he
told her all about the dream.
When he finished, she said, "if your dream evercomes true, then one of
your sons will control the East and the West. Allthe people will
follow him."
Abdulmuttalib was pleased with what the priestess had told him. Later
when he met his son Abu Talib he told him about the dream and what
priestess had said. Then he said to his son, Abu Talib, " I hope you
are the one the priestess meant in her explanation."
But the intended one was not Abu Talib. The one the priestess mean was
the yet unborn grandson of Abdulmuttalib. Abdulmuttalib had grandson
named Abdullah who was married to Amina, daughter of Wahb. Amina was
expecting a baby. Before the baby was born, Abdullah had gone on a
trading trip. He became ill on the trip and had died. Abdullah never
saw his son.
During her pregnancy, Amina felt no pain or discomfort. She had always
heard women complaining about the hardships of pregnancy, but she felt
very well. During these months Amina had many dreams. One night in a
dream she saw a light coming out of her. The light was shining on
castles of Syria.
Another night she heard a voice in her dream. The voice said, "Amina,
you are carrying the greatest man in the world. When you give birth,
give him the name, Muhammad and tell no one about this dream."
Amina woke up and looked around but therewas no one in the room. She
tried to go to sleep again but she was still thinking about what
shehad heard in the dream.
It was time for Amina's baby to be born. She gave birth to a
beautiful,clean baby boy. Since the boy's father had died months
earlier, Amina sent the news to her son's grandfather, Abdulmuttalib.
Abdulmuttalib was sitting in the Kaaba when the news came. Hewas
delighted. He went to Amina and carried theboy happily to the Kaaba.
When he broughtthe baby back to her, he said, " I have named
himQuthm."
Abdulmuttalib had a boynamed Quthm but he had died when he was nine
years old. That made Abdulmuttalib very sad. So when Aminagave birth
to a boy, Abdulmuttalib wanted toname him after the deadboy.
Amina had to tell him, " Iwas ordered in a dream to call him
Muhammad." Abdulmuttalib picked upthe baby, kissed him andsaid, " I
hope that my grandson, Muhammad, will be a great man."
On the seventh day after Mohammed's birth, Abdulmuttalib ordered
animals to be slaughtered and asked the people of Makka to come to a
feast. After everyone had eaten, Abdulmuttalib brought out his
grandson, Muhammad, to show thepeople. Everyone said that he was such
a beautiful baby. The people also felt sad for the baby because he
wasan orphan. His father had died before seeing him.
One of the men asked Abdulmuttalib, " What did you name him?"
Abdulmuttalib answered, " I have named Muhammad."
Another man asked in surprise, "why did you name him Muhammad? No one
in your family or people was ever named Muhammad."
Abdulmuttalib did not want to reveal that Amina was asked in a dream
to name him Muhammad, so he said, "I wanted Allah to praise him in
Heaven and I wanted people to praise him on Earth."
When the visitors left, not one of them realizedthat this orphan baby
was the one chosen to lead them from darknessto light. They did not
know he was the answerto Ibrahim's prayer the day Ibrahim was ordered
to build the Kaaba:
"Our Lord, send unto them a messenger from among themselves to show
them your signs, toteach them the Qur'an and wisdom, and to purify
them. You are All-Mighty and All-Wise." (The Qur'an Al-Baqara 128)
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