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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Fourteen Luminaries of Islam The First Infallible Hadhrat Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah, the Holy Prophet of Islam Over fourteen hundred years ago, a baby was born in Mecca on the 17th of Rabi‘ al-Awwal (April 25, 570 CE). His father, ‘Abd Allah, died on the way back from Sham (Syria) in Yathrib (Medina), unable to meet his newly born son, Muhammad. ‘Abd Allah's wife, Amina, was the daughter of Wahb b. ‘Abd Manaf.

Based on a custom among the dignitaries of Mecca, Amina left his beloved son, Muhammad, with a wet nurse called Halima, to be reared on the vast expanse of the desert away from the corruptions of town. The affectionate, pure-hearted Halima got highly attached to this lovely child whose presence in her tribe brought a source of blessing and abundance. Not for a single moment was she neglectful of taking care of him.

Nobody knew that this orphan child, whom the other wet nurses had refused to look after, would one day become the Prophet of Mercy; his sublime name would be uttered by millions of Muslims throughout the world and from top of minarets, and become an honor to the world and its people. When Muhammad was five, Halima took him back to Mecca as per his mother's insisting demand. Two years later, when Amina went to Medina to visit her parents and her husband's tomb, she took her beloved son with her.

One month later, Amina and her son returned to Mecca, but on the way back she died at a place called Abwa’, and Muhammad who was now six years old, lost his mother too and his pure heart and delicate soul deeply felt the agonies of being orphaned. Thereupon, a woman named Umm Ayman took this orphan boy, the withered newly-blown flower, back to Mecca with her.

It was God's will that the boy be parted from his parents at the outset of his life having to taste the bitter and heart-rending sufferings of this world and be severely tested in the crucible of hardship so that in future he would be able to commiserate with the sufferings of mankind, and comprehend the way the underprivileged feel.

Since then, he was reared and looked after by his grandfather ‘Abd al-Muttalib who treated, with deep kindness, his noble grandson whose forehead was radiant with greatness. Two years later, on the demise of ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Muhammad was deprived of his grandfather as his guardian. ‘Abd al-Muttalib's great concern at the last moments of his life was about his grandson.