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Is it proven that when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was born, he rested on his arms, raising his head to heaven?

Question: 247681

Is it proven that when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was born, he rested on his arms, raising his head to heaven?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

It was narrated
by ‘Abd ar-Razzaaq in al-Musannaf (9718) from Ma‘mar, from az-Zuhri, that
the mother of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
When he was born, he rested on his arms, raising his head to heaven.

This is mursal,
although the isnaad is saheeh.

It was narrated
by Ibn Hibbaan (6335) and Abu Ya‘la (7163) via Muhammad ibn Ishaaq, from
Jahm ibn Abi Jahm, from ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far (may Allah be pleased with
him), from Haleemah bint al-Haarith as-Sa‘diyyah… And he mentioned the story
of the breastfeeding of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him), in which it says that the mother of the Messenger of Allah (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) said:

… Then I gave
birth to him, and he did not come out as other infants come out; he came out
placing his hands on the ground, raising his head to heaven.

Shaykh Shu‘ayb
al-Arna‘oot said in his commentary on Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan:

In its isnaad
there is an interruption between ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far – who is the son of
Abu Taalib – and Haleemah.

Jahm ibn Abi
Jahm was mentioned by the author in ath-Thiqaat (4/113), where he
said: He narrates from ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far and from al-Miswar ibn
Makhramah, who was the freed slave of al-Haarith ibn Haatib al-Qurashi.
Muhammad ibn Ishaaq, ‘Abdullah al-‘Umari and al-Waleed ibn ‘Abdillah ibn
Jamee‘ narrated from him. Al-Bukhaari (2/229) and Ibn Abi Haatim (2/521)
both mentioned him, but they did not say anything about him, good or bad.

No report is
known from Haleemah except this hadith, and there is no proof that she saw
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) after his mission
began. End quote.

It was narrated
by al-Aajurri in ash-Sharee‘ah (964), al-Bayhaqi in ad-Dalaa’il
(1/132) and Ibn ‘Asaakir in at-Taareekh (3/91) that Muhammad ibn
Ishaaq said: Ibn Abi Jahm told me: someone who heard ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far
ibn Abi Taalib told me that he said: I was told, from Haleemah bint
al-Haarith, the foster-mother of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him)… and he narrated this report.

This is a da‘eef
(weak) isnaad. Jahm ibn Abi Jahm is unknown. Adh-Dhahabi mentioned him in
al-Mizaan (1/426) and said: He is not known; he narrated the report from
Haleemah as-Sa‘diyyah. End quote.

He did not hear
this story directly from ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far, because he said: someone who
heard ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far ibn Abi Taalib told me that he said.

And ‘Abdullah
ibn Ja‘far did not hear it from Haleemah as-Sa‘diyyah, because he said: I
was told, from Haleemah bint al-Haarith.

But this last
problem is minor, because ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far was a Sahaabi, but he was one
of the younger Sahaabah.

It was narrated
by Ibn Sa‘d in at-Tabaqaat (1/81, 120) via his shaykh al-Waaqidi, via
various isnaads, but al-Waaqidi is dubious. He was regarded as a liar by
Imam Ahmad and others. Abu Dawood said: I do not write down his hadith and I
do not narrate from him; I have no doubt that he made up hadith. Bandaar
said: I have not seen anyone who tells more lies than him.

Ishaaq ibn
Raahawayh said: In my view, he is one of those who fabricate hadith.

See: Tahdheeb
at-Tahdheeb (9/323-326).

So what he
narrates is of no value.

The hadith was
classed as da‘eef by Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him), who
said in his commentary on al-Booti’s Fiqh as-Seerah:

This story was
not narrated via any isnaad which may be taken as evidence. The most
well-known of its versions is that which was narrated by Muhammad ibn Ishaaq
from Jahm ibn Abi Jahm from ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far from Haleemah bint
al-Haarith as-Sa‘diyyah.

It was narrated
by Abu Ya‘la (1/128) and from him by Ibn Hibbaan in Mawaarid (1094)
and by Abu Nu‘aym in Dalaa’il an-Nubuwwah (1/47) from Ibn Ishaaq.

It was also
narrated from him by al-Bayhaqi in Dalaa’il an-Nubuwwah (1/108),
except that he said: Jahm ibn Abi Jahm – the freed slave of a woman from
Banu Tameem who was married to al-Haarith ibn Haatib; it was also said that
he was the freed slave of al-Haarith ibn Haatib – told us: someone who heard
‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far ibn Abi Taalib told us that he said: I was told, from
Haleemah bint al-Haarith.

I say: This is a
da‘eef isnaad; there are two problems with it:

Firstly: there
is some problem with the isnaad, as is quite clear. In the first report, Ibn
Ishaaq narrates it by saying ‘an (from) with regard to all of its narrators.
In the second report, it is narrated with a clear statement of it having
been told from one narrator to another, even though al-Jahm says that he did
not hear it directly from ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far, and he says that ‘Abdullah
ibn Ja‘far did not hear it directly from Haleemah.

In the first
report, there is an interruption between Ibn Ishaaq and al-Jahm, because Ibn
Ishaaq is known for tadlees (saying ‘an (from) to give the impression that
it was heard directly from one narrator to another). In the second report
there is an interruption in two places in the isnaad.

Thus you may
learn that al-Haafiz was mistaken in his book al-Isaabah, where he
said (4/266): Ibn Hibbaan stated in his Saheeh that it was stated
that Haleemah told ‘Abdullah, because there is no basis for this idea
according to Ibn Hibbaan or anyone else whom we have mentioned.

It is very
unlikely that ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far could have met Haleemah, the wet-nurse of
the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), because
when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) died, ‘Abdullah
was ten years old; even though no one mentioned when Haleemah died, one
would expect her to have died before the Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him). And Allah knows best.

Regardless of
whether the first or second report is more sound, in both cases there is an
interruption in the isnaad.

The other
problem with the hadith is that its main narrator, Jahm ibn Abi’l-Jahm, is
unknown. Adh-Dhahabi said in al-Mizaan: The story of Haleemah
as-Sa‘diyyah is not known to be his.

As for Ibn
Hibbaan, he mentioned him in ath-Thiqaat (1/31), according to his
method of verifying unknown narrators.

According to Abu
Nu‘aym, the story has two other isnaads, both of which are connected to
al-Waaqidi, who was a liar. One of the isnaads is from his shaykh, Moosa ibn
Shayba, who is layyin al-hadith (not strong in hadith), as al-Haafiz said in
at-Taqreeb. The other is from ‘Abd as-Samad ibn Muhammad as-Sa‘di,
from his father, from his grandfather, who said: Someone who used to tend
the sheep of Haleemah told me… These narrators are unknown.

End quote from
Difaa‘ ‘an al-Hadith an-Nabawi (39).

He also said in
his commentary on Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan (9/128):

… Ibn Ishaaq
stated in Seerat Ibn Hishaam (1/172) that the report was told from
one narrator to another, but he was not sure. He said: From ‘Abdullah ibn
Ja‘far ibn Abi Taalib, or from someone who narrated from him…

So we cannot be
sure that the isnaad is complete, especially since this Jahm is unknown and
no one regarded him as trustworthy except Ibn Hibbaan (4/113). Adh-Dhahabi
said in al-Mizaan and elsewhere: He is not known. End quote.

See: al-Mataalib
al-‘Aaliyah by Ibn Hajar, and the comment of the commentators
(17/180-182).

This hadith,
with its isnaads, is well known to the scholars of Seerah (the Prophet’s
biography), as Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This hadith
was narrated via other isnaads, and it is one of the well-known hadiths that
were mentioned by the scholars of Seerah and Maghaazi (reports of military
campaigns).

End quote from
al-Bidaayah wa’n-Nihaayah (2/275).

Perhaps because
it is well-known, adh-Dhahabi classed it as qawiy (strong) and said
concerning this hadith of Ibn Ishaaq that is mentioned above:

This is a hadith
with a jayyid (good) isnaad.

End quote from
Tareekh al-Islam (1/48).

And Allah knows
best.

Source

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