Children of Prophet Muhammad (s)

Priority: c, Quality: c
From wikishia
Name Birth and Demise
Al-Qasim d. before bi'tha
Abd Allah d. before hijra
Ruqayya • b. before hijra
• d. 2 years after hijra
Zaynab • b. 30 years after Am al-Fil
• d. 8 AH
Umm Kulthum • b. before hijra
9 AH
Ibrahim * b. 8 AH
* d. 10 AH
Fatima • b. 5 years after bi'tha
• d. 11 AH


The children of Prophet Muhammad (s), as it is famously known, include the four daughters and three sons. Six of them were from Khadija (a) and one was from Maria al-Qibtiyya. All of the Prophet's (s) children died during his life time except for Lady Fatima (a). Prophet Muhammad's (s) lineage only continued by Lady Fatima (a).

According to a number of researchers, Lady Fatima (a) was the only daughter of Prophet Muhammad (s) while the others were his step-daughters.

Mothers

Only Khadija (a) and Maria al-Qibtiyya had children from Prophet Muhammad (s). It is famously known that Khadija (a) had four daughters and two sons[1] and Maria al-Qibtiyya had only one son[2].

Children

Daughters

Prophet Muhammad (s) had four daughters whose mothers were Khadija (a)[3]:

  • Zaynab was the oldest daughter of the Prophet (s) who was born in 30 'Am al-Fil/ 600 CE.[4], when the Prophet (s) was thirty years old[5]. She passed away in 8/629-30.[6] and she was buried in al-Baqi' cemetery[7].
  • Umm Kulthum passed away in 9/630-1 and she was buried in al-Baqi' cemetery. Some researchers including al-Sayyid Ja'far Murtada al-'Amili believe these daughters were cousins of Khadija (a) which were regarded as step-daughters of Prophet Muhammad (s).

Abu l-qasim al-Kufi, shi'a scholar of 4th/10th century and, al-Sayyid Ja'far Murtada al-Amili, shi'a scholar of 15th/21st century, believe that Zaynab, Ruqayya and Umm Kulthum were not children of the Prophet (s) and Khadija; but their adopted children[10]. Al-Sayyid Ja'far Murtada al-Amili authored a work entitled Banat al-Nabi am raba'ibuh? (lit. daughters of the Prophet (s) or his adopted children?) in order to prove this issue[11].

Sons

The majority of sources stated that the Prophet (s) had three sons: Qasim, Abd Allah, and Ibrahim[12]. However, some sources stated that Tayyib and Tahir are two other sons of the Prophet (s); but other scholars has stated that Tayyib and Tahir were titles of Abd Allah. Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, also, believe that Tahir is the same person as Abd Allah[13].

All the three sons of the Prophet (s) passed away in their young ages[14]. After the demise of Abd Allah[15], or as some sources stated after the demise of Qasim[16], 'As b. Wa'il called the Prophet (s) "Abtar" (a person without a progeny or offspring) as he had no sons, which led to Revelation of Sura al-Kawthar[citation needed].

Children in age order

According to Historical sources Ibrahim, Maria's son, was the last child of the Prophet (s). But there are different reports on the ages of Khadija's (a) children. It is said they were born on one of these order:

  • Qasim, Zaynab, Abd Allah, Fatima, Ruqayya[17].
  • Zaynab, Qasim, Umm Kulthum, Fatima, Ruqayya, Abd Allah[18].
  • Qasim, Zaynab, Ruqayya, Fatima, Umm Kulthum, Abd Allah[19].
  • Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum, Fatima[20].

Ibn Hisham has mentioned the name and age order of the choldren of the prophet (s) differently: Qasim, Tayyib, Tahir, Ruqayya, Zaynab, Umm Kulthum and Fatima[21].

Notes

  1. Maqrizī, Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ, vol. 5, p. 334; Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, p. 404.
  2. Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 1, p. 107; Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, p. 404.
  3. Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, p. 404; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 1, p. 190.
  4. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb fī maʿrifat al-aṣḥāb, vol. 4, pp. 1839, 1853.
  5. Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī, Usd al-ghāba, vol. 6, p. 130.
  6. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb fī maʿrifat al-aṣḥāb, vol. 4, p. 1853.
  7. Madanī al-Barzanjī, Nazhat al-nāzirīn fī masjid sayyid al-awwalīn wa l-akharīn, pp. 312-13.
  8. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb fī maʿrifat al-aṣḥāb, vol. 3, p. 1038.
  9. Makarim Shirazi, Tafsir-i nimuna, vol. 27, p. 375; see: Tabatabai'i, al-Mizan, vol. 20, p. 370.
  10. ʿĀmilī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabīyy al-aʿẓam, vol. 2, p. 218; ʿĀmilī, Banat al-nabi am raba'ib-uh?, pp. 77-79; Kufi, al-Istighatha, vol. 1, p. 68.
  11. See: Kufi, al-Istighatha.
  12. Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, p. 404; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 1, p. 190; Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, al-Iṣāba, vol. 3, pp. 445-46.
  13. Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, p. 404.
  14. Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-nabawiyya, vol. 1, p. 190; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 1, pp. 106, 112.
  15. Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 1, pp. 138-39.
  16. Ibn Isḥāq, al-Sīyar wa al-maghāzī, p. 245.
  17. Maqrizī, Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ, vol. 5, p. 334.
  18. Maqrizī, Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ, vol. 5, p. 334.
  19. Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 5, p. 334.
  20. Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 5, p. 334.
  21. Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 1, p. 390.

References

  • Balādhurī, Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā al-. Ansāb al-ashrāf. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1417 AH.
  • Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad. Usd al-ghāba fī maʿrifat al-ṣaḥāba. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1409 AH.
  • Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. Al-Iṣāba fī tamyīz al-ṣaḥāba. Edited by ʿĀdil Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Mawjūd and ʿAlī Muḥammad Muʿawwaḍ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1415 AH.
  • Ibn Hishām, ʿAbd al-Malik. Al-Sīra al-nabawīyya. Edited by Muṣṭafā al-Saqā. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, [n.d].
  • Ibn Isḥāq, Muḥammad. Al-Sīyar wa al-maghāzī. Edited by Suhayl Zakar. Qom: Daftar-i Mutali'at-i Tarikh wa Ma'arif-i Islami, 1410 AH.
  • Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad. Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya,, 1416 AH.
  • Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Yūsuf b. ʿAbd Allāh. Al-Istīʿāb fī maʿrifat al-aṣḥāb. Edited by ʿAlī Muḥammad al-Bajāwī. Beirut: Dār al-Jīl, 1412 AH.
  • Kufi, ali b. Ahmad al-. Al-Istighatha fi bida' al-thalatha.
  • Madanī al-Barzanjī, al-Sayyid Jaʿfar b. Ismāʿil al-. Nazhat al-nāzirīn fī masjid sayyid al-awwalīn wa l-akharīn. Edited by Ahmad Sa'id b. Sulaym. 1416 AH.
  • Maqrizī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Namīsī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1420 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Khiṣāl. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1413 AH.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Iʿlām al-warā bi-aʿlām al-hudā. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt li-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, 1417 AH.
  • ʿĀmilī, al-Sayyid Jaʿfar al-Murtaḍā al-. Al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabīyy al-aʿẓam. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1426 AH.
  • ʿĀmilī, al-Sayyid Jaʿfar al-Murtaḍā al-. Banat al-nabi am raba'ib-uh?.