❖ Compilation: Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Anwar Zāhid ḥafiẓahullāh
✦ The Long Narrative Attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās (RA)
A detailed and dramatic story has been falsely attributed to ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās (RA), describing wondrous and supernatural events allegedly surrounding the pregnancy and birth of the Prophet ﷺ. Some of its key claims include:❖ On the night of conception, all animals of Quraysh began speaking, proclaiming the coming of the Prophet ﷺ as the source of security for the world and its guiding light.
❖ All soothsaying women lost contact with their jinn and their fortune-telling ceased.
❖ The thrones of all earthly kings overturned and kings became mute.
❖ Wild beasts of the East brought glad tidings to those of the West, and rivers communicated joy to each other.
❖ During the months of pregnancy, a voice would be heard proclaiming:
"Rejoice! The time of the appearance of Abū al-Qāsim ﷺ is near."
Āminah (RA), the mother of the Prophet ﷺ, is reported to have said:
❝When six months of my pregnancy had passed, I was struck in a dream and told:
‘O Āminah! The leader of the worlds is in your womb. When he is born, name him Muḥammad and keep your condition hidden.’❞
She then narrates an astonishing series of mystical events at the time of birth:
✔ A loud voice frightened her until a white rooster appeared and struck her chest with its wing, calming her.
✔ She saw and drank a white liquid, mistaken for milk, which released a radiant light.
✔ Tall, glowing women resembling ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib’s daughters appeared and consoled her.
✔ In another version, they introduced themselves as Āsiyah (wife of Pharaoh), Maryam bint ʿImrān, and other ḥūrīs of Paradise.
✔ A sheet of white silk covered the space between heaven and earth.
✔ Birds with emerald beaks and ruby wings flew into her room.
✔ Her sight extended across the East and West, where she saw three flags—one in the East, one in the West, and one on the Kaʿbah.
✔ A shining baby was born, already in sujūd (prostration), raising two fingers toward the sky.
✔ A black cloud descended, obscuring the child, while a voice declared:
"Show Muḥammad to the East and West, to the seas and the lands, so that all may know him by name and form."
✔ When the cloud lifted, he appeared wrapped in white silk over green silk, holding three keys made of white pearls.
✔ Another voice announced:
"These are the keys of victory, prophethood, and divine support."
✦ Ḥadīth Authentication:
➤ Verdict: Baseless and Fabricated (بے اصل و من گھڑت روایت)
- This story has been attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās (RA) and cited by Abū Nuʿaym in his works.
- Though the chain appears outwardly connected (muttasil), it is completely unreliable upon scrutiny.
Analysis of Narrators:
- Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Bāmalṭī –
✘ Extremely weak (بالکل ضعیف) - Abū Bakr ibn Abī Maryam –
✘ Unacceptable and not a reliable narrator (ناقابلِ حجت) - Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Anṣārī and his father ʿAmr al-Anṣārī –
✘ Unknown figures, no traceable biography in books of rijāl.
✦ Scholarly Commentary:
Shaykh Sayyid Sulaymān Nadwī comments:
❝I have reproduced this narrative only with great hesitation, because such tales have become the 'decorative fuel' of modern Mīlād gatherings.❞
❝Even if someone is not well-versed in the science of ḥadīth narrators, a person with basic knowledge of classical Arabic prose can immediately recognize from the language and style that this was fabricated in the 3rd or 4th Islamic century.❞
⚠ Conclusion:
This entire narrative is fabricated, based on unreliable narrators, and invented centuries after the Prophet’s time. Its theatrical language and exaggerated mystical elements further betray its origin in later storytelling, not authentic Islamic tradition.It must not be quoted as a valid Sīrah narration and should be avoided in religious discourse without scholarly warning.
وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ
