Sons of our beloved Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ
Question
It is mentioned in Khuṭubāt Sīrah Ṭayyibah (p. 51) by Mufti Muḥammad Salmān Manṣūrpūrī (b. 1386/1967 – ) that the Prophet ﷺ had three sons from Khadījah (may Allah be pleased with her): Qāsim, Ṭayyib and Ṭāhir. Is this correct?
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
Answer
There are four views regarding this:
- The Prophet ﷺ had four sons from Khadījah (may Allah be pleased with her): Qāsim, Ṭāhir, Ṭayyib and ʿAbd Allah (al-Istīʿāb, 1: 50; 4: 1818; Usd al-Gābah, 7: 80).
- The Prophet ﷺ had three sons from Khadījah (may Allah be pleased with her): Qāsim, Ṭayyib and Ṭāhir. ʿAbd Allah is another name for Ṭayyib. This is the view of Imam Ibn Isḥāq (d. 150/767-8), a view that is also held by Imam Ibn Ḥishām (d. 218/833) in his Sīrah (1: 190), Imam Abū Saʿd ʿAbd al-Malik Nīshāpūrī (d. 406-7/1015-6) in Sharaf al-Muṣṭafā (2: 52) and others.
- The Prophet ﷺ had two sons from Khadījah (may Allah be pleased with her): Qāsim and ʿAbd Allah. Ṭayyib and Ṭāhir are other names of ʿAbd Allah. Thus, the second son of the Prophet ﷺ after Qāsim is ʿAbd Allah. This is the preferred view as mentioned by Imam Muṣʿab ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Zubayrī (d. 236/851), Imam ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Jurjānī (d. 366/976), Imam Dāraquṭnī (d. 385/995), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (d. 463/1071) in al-Istīʿāb (4: 1819), Imam Ibn Hubayrah al-Wazīr (d. 560/1165) in al-Ifṣāḥ (7: 148), Imam Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) in Talqīḥ Fuhūm Ahl al-Athar (p. 32), Imam Nawawī (d. 676/1277) in Tahdhīb al-Asmāʾ wa al-Lugāt (1: 26), Ḥāfiẓ Mizzī (d. 742/1341) in Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (1: 191), Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751/1350) in Zād al-Maʿād (1: 101), Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1014/1605) in his Majmūʿ Rasāʾil (1: 213) and others. In fact, this is narrated from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68/687-8) (may Allah be pleased with him) as transmitted by Imam Ibn Saʿd in al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā (1: 106), Imam Ibn ʿAsākir (d. 571/1176) in Tārīkh Dimashq (3: 125) and others.
- The Prophet ﷺ had one son from Khadījah (may Allah be pleased with her): Qāsim (al-Istīʿāb, 4: 1818; Usd al-Gābah, 7: 80).
Thus, according to the preferred view, the Prophet ﷺ had two sons from Khadījah (may Allah be pleased with her). Both, along with his third son Ibrāhīm (may Allah be pleased with him) whose mother is Māriyah al-Qibṭiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her), passed away in the lifetime of our beloved Prophet ﷺ.
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
29 Rabīʿ al-Thānī 1438 / 27 January 2017
Approved by: Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Sahib
