Individuals Named Muḥammad Before the Birth of the Prophet ﷺAuthor: Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Anwar Zāhid ḥafiẓahullāh
❖ Common Perception vs. Reality
It is a widespread belief that no one bore the name Muḥammad before the Prophet ﷺ. However, this notion is incorrect.
According to al-Suhaylī in al-Rawḍ al-Unuf, three individuals were named Muḥammad prior to the Prophet ﷺ:
① Muḥammad ibn Sufyān ibn Mujāshi‘
② Muḥammad ibn Ḥimrān ibn Rabī‘ah ibn Mālik al-Juʿfī
③ Muḥammad ibn Aḥyathah ibn al-Jalāḥ
❖ List by Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar رحمه الله
In Fatḥ al-Bārī, the commentary of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Vol. 2, Page 557, Maktabah Shāmilah), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar mentions approximately 12 individuals who were named Muḥammad before the birth of the Prophet ﷺ:
① Muḥammad al-Fuqaymī
② Muḥammad ibn Aḥyathah ibn al-Jalāḥ
③ Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Mughfal
④ Muḥammad ibn Khūlī al-Hamdānī
⑤ Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥudayj ibn Ḥuwaiṣ
⑥ Muḥammad ibn Sufyān ibn Ḥujāshiʿ al-Tamīmī
⑦ Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn ʿAmr ibn Rabī‘ah al-Tamīmī
⑧ Muḥammad al-Usaydī
⑨ Muḥammad ibn ʿUqbah ibn Aḥyathah
⑩ Muḥammad ibn al-Barrāʾ al-Bakrī
⑪ Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥumayd al-Azdī
⑫ Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Rabī‘ah al-Tamīmī
⑬ Muḥammad ibn Ḥarmāz ibn Mālik al-Yaʿmarī
⑭ Muḥammad ibn Usāmah ibn Mālik ibn Ḥabīb al-ʿAnbarī
⑮ Muḥammad ibn Khuzaʿī ibn ʿAlqamah ibn Ḥarābah al-Sulamī
⑯ Muḥammad ibn Ḥimrān ibn Rabī‘ah ibn Mālik al-Juʿfī
