Born in the Year of the Elephant

The account of the elephant, al-Fīl, described in the previous chapter, forms the backdrop: the Prophet (peace be upon him) was born in ʿĀm al-Fīl, the Year of the Elephant — he was born in the year in which Allah (swt) destroyed the army of Abrahah. There are many stories mentioned referring to the birth of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and miracles that happened, and other books can be consulted to study these stories. They are not included here, since the standard followed is to keep to what is authentically narrated, and these stories are usually weak.

When his mother Āminah was pregnant, ʿAbdullāh, his father, was on a journey to al-Shām, but he ended up dying close to Madīnah, and he was buried there. So he died before the birth of Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was born, and his mother saw a light coming out of her, and this light was reaching towards al-Shām, and that was interpreted as the light of the message of Muhammad (peace be upon him) reaching to the world.