✿ “O Āminah, Name This Child Muḥammad ﷺ”
Authored by: Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Anwar Zāhid (حفظه الله)
Narration:
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq narrates that someone had said to Āminah (the mother of the Prophet ﷺ):
“A sign of his coming will be the appearance of a light with him, which will illuminate the castles of Busra located in the land of Syria.
When this child is born, name him Muḥammad ﷺ, and indeed, his name in the Tawrāt is Aḥmad, because the people of the earth will praise him.
This is also his name in the Injīl – Aḥmad – for the people of the heavens and the earth will glorify him.
And his name in the Qur’ān is Muḥammad ﷺ, so I have named him with that very name.”
In reference to this incident, Saʿīd al-Fat poetically expresses:
اجے شکم مادر چ ہے سن پیغیبر
کئی واری ستیاں ہویاں خواب اندر
مائی آمنہ نوں بتایا گیا سی
قدرتوں سبق ایہہ پڑھایا گیا سی
تیرے بچے جیسا کروڑیں نہ لکھیں
توں اس لڑکے کا ناں ”محمد“ ای رکھیں
Translation (poetic rendering not required per instruction, hence retained as-is)
✿ Ḥadīth Authentication:
Chain of narration: Weak (Ḍaʿīf)
✦ Referenced in: Dalā’il al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī (1/83)
✦ Also cited by:
➤ Ibn Kathīr in Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah (p. 206)
➤ Ibn ʿAsākir in Tārīkh Dimashq (2/82)
➤ Ibn al-Athīr in al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh (1/157)
➤ Ibn Kathīr in al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah (2/323)
All of these narrations trace back to Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq without a complete chain. In one of the chains, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār is also present, who is considered weak (ḍaʿīf).
✔ This is not a ḥadīth, nor is it a statement of any Companion. Rather, it is the statement of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, who was born 133 years after the Prophet ﷺ, and he reports it without any intermediary (mursal).
✿ Important Note:
There is no authentic narration clearly identifying who exactly named the Prophet ﷺ – whether it was Āminah or ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. However, this is not a point of concern, because regardless of who named him, the Prophet ﷺ himself affirmed this name, and Allah ﷻ confirmed it.
➤ The name Muḥammad ﷺ is mentioned four times in the Qur’ān.
