The Prophet's Children

There is a difference of opinion regarding the children of the Prophet. It is unanimously agreed that he had six children: two sons, Al-Qasim and Ibrahim, and four daughters, Zainab, Ruqiah, UmmKalthum and Fatimah. But according to some reports, he had two other sons, Tahir and Tayyab, and according to another report, he had a son named Abdullah, who died in infancy, and his surnames were Tahir and Tayyab. There is no dispute about the girls but there is a great difference of opinion about the number of boys.

 

Khadijah, his first wife, bore all his children, except Ibrahim, who was born to Maria Qibtia, a slave-girl he received as a gift from the King of Egypt. All the male children died in their childhood. The Prophet's two sons born to Khadijah, Qasim and Abdullah died during their childhood years in Makkah. His four daughters from Khadijah - Zainab, Ruqayyah, Umm Khulthum and Fatima - survived their mother. They were deeply loved by the Prophet. The Prophet who took a keen interest in their Islamic education assured their pious upbringing as devout Muslims.

 

However, all reports agree that Qasim was from Khadijah and Ibrahim from Maria Qibtia.

 

IBRAHIM

 

Ibrahim: Ibrahim was the youngest child of the Prophet. He was born in Medinah in the 8th year of the Hijrah to Maria Qibtia. When the Prophet was given the good news of the birth of his son by Abu Rafi, he gave him one slave. The child was given to foster-parents who lived in the neighborhood of Medinah. The Prophet often visited their house to see his son. who died in their house. There are different opinions regarding his age: some say he was 15 months old when he died; some ay 2'h months and others say one year ten months. According to A'isha, Ibrahim lived for 17 or 18 months. He was buried in Jannat al-Baqi.2

 

AL-QASIM

 

Al-Qasim was the eldest son of the Prophet and was born about eleven years before his prophethood. It was from him that the Prophet got the name Abu. Qasim. According to Ibn Sa'd he lived to the age of two. Ibn Faris says that he reached the age when a child can distinguish things. However. he died before his father's prophet-hood.

 

According to reports, he was the first child of the Prophet and also the first to die. The Prophet loved him very much and liked to be called Abu Qasim. His companions therefore called him by that name.

 

ZAINAB

 

The reports are unanimous that Zainab was his eldest daughter and was born after Qasim about ten years before his prophet-hood, when the Prophet was thirty years old. As was Khadijah's wish, the Prophet married Zainab to her first cousin, Abul Aas, an honest and truthful Makkan trader. Despite pressure from Makkah's anti-Islamic pagan rulers, he refused to divorce Zainab..

 

Zainab came to Medinah and left her husband in disbelief at Makkah. He was again made a prisoner-of-war a couple of times but Zainab gave him protection. After some years, he folded up his business in Makkah, embraced Islam and lived with Zainab in Madina. In the Battle of Badr, her husband Abul As was made a prisoner-of-war. She sent some money for his release which contained a necklace which had been a gift of Khadijah. When Abul As was released, the Prophet got a promise from him that he would send Zainab back to Medinah, which he did. But when she was on her way to Medinah Habar ibn Aswad threw her down from the camel with his spear. She was pregnant and as a result of this fall lost her child. The Prophet loved their children, especially their intelligent daughter, Imamah. Zainab died in her early twenties. Zainab lived only for a short while and died in 8 A.H. The Prophet offered her funeral prayer.

 

Zainab left two children, one son named Ali and one daughter, Umamah. The Prophet loved Umamah immensely. In a famous report, it is narrated that once the Prophet was saying prayers and was holding Umamah on his shoulder. When he went to raku he put her down and when he got up from prostration he again put her up on his shoulder. Once someone sent a few things as a gift to the Prophet, including one gold necklace. Umamah was playing in one corner. The Prophet said that he would give it to the most loved member of his family. The wives of the Prophet thought that that honour would go to A'isha but he called Umamah and put the necklace on her neck. After the death of Fatimah, her husband, Ali, married Umamah on the will of his wife.

 

RUQAYYAH

 

Ruqiah was the second daughter of the Prophet and was born three years after the birth of Zainab. She was married to Utbah ibn Abu Lahab before the prophethood. After the prophethood, Abu Lahab asked his son, Utbah and Utaibah who was married to the Prophet's third daughter UmmKalthum, to divorce their wives. Both divorced the daughters of the Prophet.

 

The Prophet married Ruqayyah to a pious Makkan businessman, Uthman bin Affan, who was related to him and was among the early converts to Islam in Makkah. Because of pagan persecution, they joined the group of Muslim emigrants who went to Abyssinia for refuge. Then the Prophet gave Ruqiah in marriage to Uthman. Both Uthman and Ruqiah first migrated to Abyssinia and then to Medinah. She gave birth to a son m Abyssinia but he died when he was only six years old

 

When the Prophet migrated to Madina, they returned to Arabia and joined him in the propagation of Islam. At the time of the Battle of Badr, Ruqayyah fell ill in Madina and died in her early twenties. She died on the day Zaid ibn Harithah returned to Medinah and gave the good news of the victory of Badr. The Prophet could not participate in her funeral because of the Battle of Badr. The Prophet was profoundly grieved by Ruqayyah's death.

 

UMM KALTHUM

 

UmmKalthum was the third daughter of the Prophet. She was first married to Utaibah ibn Abu Lahab from Makkah .but he divorced her on the advice of his father. When Ruqiah died in the year of the Battle of Badr she was married to Uthman. She died in her late teens in the 9th year of the Hijrah. The Prophet offered her funeral prayer. Her death at so young an age caused grief and distress to the Prophet. She had no children. Some reports say that she gave birth to two sons but that they died in infancy.

 

FATIMA

 

FATIMA, the Prophet's youngest daughter who inherited his good features, was the apple of his eye. Her devotion to her father and her faith in Islam were indisputable. A paragon of virtue, piety and kindness, she helped the Prophet in propagating Islam and in the service of the Islamic State. She sent food to the People of the Bench in the Prophet's Mosque. The Prophet married her to his dearest first cousin, Ali bin Abi Talib.

 

Fatimah was the youngest daughter of the Prophet and very much loved by him. According to Abu Bakr Ali expressed his desire to marry Fatimah, the Prophet agreed. The Prophet loved both Ali and Fatimah and therefore always tried to maintain pleasant relations between the two.

 

After Khadijah, it was the young Ali who embraced Islam. He was the Prophet's lifelong Companion and trusted aide. Ali's prowess and valor in the battlefield had won for him the epithet of "the Lion of God". His statesmanship, his sense of justice and fair play and his pious character made him famous all over Arabia. Fatima was extremely intelligent, dutiful, hard working and pious. She ran her home without any domestic help or a large source of income. The Prophet had taught her the virtue of contentment and frugal living. She was a perfect wife to Ali, much to the fulfillment of the Prophet. She fed the poor and cared for the orphans. The women of the Muslim community in Madina loved her for her beneficence and generosity.

 

It was the habit of the Prophet that he stood up whenever Fatimah came to him. He took her hand and kissed her forehead and made her sit at his place. And when the Prophet went to her house, she stood up and went forward to hold the Prophet's hand and made him sit in her place. It is narrated that the Prophet said, "Fatimah is a part of me; whoever hurts her, hurts me and whoever holds malice against her, holds malice against me. Once the Prophet asked Ali and Fatimah to sit down on the floor with him and tried to please them.

 

A'isha reported that the Prophet was outside the house wearing a woollen blanket. Hassan came along, and he took him under his garment, then came Ali and Fatimah and he took them under his garment as well and recited this verse:

 

"And Allah onlywishes to remove all abomination from you, you members of the family (of the Prophet) and to make you pure and spotless." [Qur'aan 33:33 ]

 

He also said about these four: "I will declare war against him who declares war against them and I will make peace with him who makes peace with them.

 

Fatimah had five children, Hasan, Husain, Muhsin, UmmKalthum and Zainab. Muhsin died in childhood. Fatimah died six months after the death of the Prophet in the 11th year of the Hijrah. She was 29 years old when she died. There are many reports about her age but according to Zarqani the first report of 29 years is the most authentic.

 

The Prophet lavished his paternal affection on Fatima and Ali and their adorable children, Hasan and Husain. As toddlers, he often fondled them in his lap; as they grew up in years he taught them the Islamic way of life. They prayed with him in the mosque and learnt of God and His glorious works. The prophet's death on the 11th year after the Hijra (632 A.D.) broke her heart and she died within months of this tragedy. Fatima was the embodiment of all the godly virtues of head and heart, which the Islamic concept of womanhood envisions. She was devoted to her father right from the early days of his Prophetic mission till the last breath of his life in Madina when he whispered into her ears that amongst the living members of his family she would be the first to join him in the Life Hereafter. How truthful indeed was the Prophet, because within six months after his demise, Fatima was with him in the Heaven.

 

CHILDREN OF THE PROPHET

 

Qasim

 

Year of birth: 11 years before Prophethood

 

Year of death: 9 years before Prophethood

 

Age (years) : 2

 

Zainab

 

Year of birth: 10 years before Prophethood

 

Year of death: 8 A.H.

 

Age (years) :31

 

Ruqiah

 

Year of birth: 7 years before Prophethood

 

Year of death:2 A.H.

 

Age (years) :22

 

Umm Kalthum

 

Year of birth: 6 years before Prophethood

 

Year of death:9 A.H.

 

Age (years) :28

 

Fatimah

 

Year of birth: 5 years before Prophethood

 

Year of death:11 A.H.

 

Age (years) :29

 

Ibrahim

 

Year of birth: 8 A.H.

 

Year of death:10 A.H.

 

Age (years) :1 1/2