Re: In praise of God-The Prophet’s Birthday by Hamza Yusuf
The Prophet of Islam was born in the city of Mecca, Arabia, into a poor but noble branch of an aristocratic clan known as Koreish, a people who despised treachery, lies and stupidity, while honoring bravery in battle, generosity in partying, and cleverness in poetry.
Some families, were so ashamed of their baby girls, that they would bury them alive instead of suffering the possible indignity of future dishonor. The religion of the Arabs at the time was a hodge-podge of superstition, divination and idolatry. To them, man’s life ended with his death and his afterlife was based on his military exploits might be immortalized by a poet’s tongue.
The Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him was born into ‘this’ world on April 9th, 570, Christian era in the lunar month of Rabi’a al-awwal. His father, Abdallah died during his mother’s pregnancy. And for the first four years he was raised in the relative purity of the desert by a Bedouin woman named Halimah. After which he returned to his mother, Aminah. But in his seventh year, his mother died leaving him in the care of his grandfather.
At the age of twenty-five, he was employed as a commercial agent by Lady Khadijah, a successful widow from his own clan. She soon recognized his honesty and good nature and proposed marriage. Although fifteen years younger than she was, he accepted her proposal, and fathered six of his seven children with her.
At the age of forty, it had become his custom to escape the idolatry of Meccan society by seeking solitude in a cave on the mountain known as the “the mountain of Light.” In the solitary confines of his small cave a voice pierced his consciousness declaring: Recite!
http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=72
Quran: iqra bismi rabbika / the clinging cell