Seerah and history, questions and answers.
The Prophet's life, his family and Companions, the battles, and Islamic history. 45 answers, Hanafi first, with the Quran and hadith behind each one.
- How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet?Aisha herself said the marriage contract was made when she was six and she joined the Prophet's ﷺ household when she was nine. This is reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, and it is the account of the classical Sunni scholars.
- Was Aisha 9 or 19 when her marriage began?The classical Sunni position is nine, because Aisha said so herself in reports found in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. The view that she was about nineteen is a modern argument built on estimates of other people's ages, and most scholars do not accept it.
- Why did the Prophet marry Aisha?The hadith say the Prophet ﷺ was shown Aisha in a dream before the marriage, and the dreams of prophets are revelation. The marriage also joined him to Abu Bakr, his closest friend, and gave the ummah one of its greatest teachers.
- Did Aisha play with dolls?Yes. Aisha said she used to play with dolls in the Prophet's ﷺ home and her friends came to play with her. The report is in Sahih al-Bukhari. Scholars cite it as proof that dolls for young girls are allowed and that she was still young at the start of her marriage.
- Did Aisha have any children?No. Aisha never had children. She took the kunya (honorific name) Umm Abdullah after her nephew Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, with the Prophet's ﷺ permission. Khadijah was the only one of his wives to bear him children; his son Ibrahim was born to Mariyah.
- Is Aisha mentioned in the Quran?Not by name. The only woman named in the Quran is Maryam. But Surah al-Nur, verses 11 to 26, was revealed about Aisha to declare her innocent of a slander spread about her. Scholars say this is one of her greatest honours.
- How old was Prophet Muhammad when he died?He was 63. Revelation began when he was 40, he then lived 13 years in Makkah and 10 in Madinah, and he passed away in Madinah in Rabi al-Awwal 11 AH (632 CE), on a Monday.
- When was Prophet Muhammad born?He was born in Makkah on a Monday in the month of Rabi al-Awwal, in the Year of the Elephant, around 570 CE. The day of the month is not certain: the 12th is the most widely given, and other dates such as the 9th are also reported.
- Why did the Prophet have more than four wives?Allah gave the Prophet ﷺ a special permission in Surah al-Ahzab that applies only to him, while other Muslims may have up to four wives. Then Allah forbade him from marrying any more. Most of his marriages came late in life and had clear social and religious reasons.
- How old was the Prophet when he married Khadijah?He was 25. According to the best-known report Khadijah was 40, though some reports make her younger, around 28. They were married for about 25 years, until her death about three years before the Hijrah, and he took no other wife while she lived.
- Who was Fatimah in Islam?Fatimah al-Zahra was the youngest daughter of the Prophet ﷺ and Khadijah, the wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib and the mother of Hasan and Husayn. He called her a part of him and the leader of the women of Paradise.
- How did Fatimah die?Fatimah died of illness in Madinah about six months after the Prophet ﷺ, in 11 AH, while still young, and Ali buried her at night. In his last illness her father had told her she would be the first of his family to follow him.
- Why was Bilal chosen to give the adhan?When the adhan was taught in a dream to Abdullah ibn Zayd, the Prophet ﷺ told him to teach it to Bilal because Bilal had the stronger and more beautiful voice. Bilal ibn Rabah, a freed Abyssinian slave who suffered for his faith, became the first muezzin of Islam.
- Was Prophet Muhammad white or black?The Companions described his skin as azhar: a bright, radiant colour, neither stark white nor dark brown. Some called him white with a pleasant face. He was an Arab of Quraysh. Islam does not tie virtue to skin colour at all.
- What was the Prophet's hair like?His hair was wavy, neither tightly curled nor straight. It usually reached between his earlobes and his shoulders, he parted it in the middle, and at his death he had fewer than twenty white hairs in his head and beard.
- Could Prophet Muhammad read or write?No. The Quran calls him the unlettered prophet (al-nabi al-ummi), and says he did not read any scripture or write one before the Quran came. Scholars see this as part of the miracle: an unlettered man brought a book no writer could match.
- What did Angel Jibril say to the Prophet in the first revelation?In the cave of Hira, Jibril said "Read!" (Iqra). The Prophet ﷺ replied "I am not a reader." Jibril squeezed him tightly three times and then recited the first verses of Surah al-Alaq: "Read in the name of your Lord who created."
- How long has Islam been around?Muslims believe Islam, meaning submission to the One God, is the faith of every prophet from Adam onward. The final message began with Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in 610 CE, so Islam in its final form is more than 1,400 years old.
- What happened at the Battle of Mu'tah?Mu'tah was fought in Jumada al-Ula 8 AH (629 CE) in what is now Jordan, between about 3,000 Muslims and a far larger Byzantine and Ghassanid army. The three appointed commanders, Zayd, Ja'far and Abdullah ibn Rawaha, were martyred, and Khalid ibn al-Walid led a safe withdrawal.
- What does Ahzab mean, and what was the Battle of Ahzab?Ahzab means "the Confederates" or "the allied groups". The Battle of Ahzab is the same as the Battle of the Trench (Khandaq), in Shawwal 5 AH (627 CE), when Quraysh and allied tribes besieged Madinah. Surah 33 is named al-Ahzab after it.
- What was the Battle of Yamama?Yamama was the hardest battle of the Ridda wars, fought in late 11 AH or early 12 AH (632 to 633 CE) in central Arabia against the false prophet Musaylima. Khalid ibn al-Walid led the Muslims to victory, but so many Quran reciters were killed that Abu Bakr had the Quran gathered into one book.
- How was Abu Bakr chosen as the first caliph?On the day the Prophet ﷺ died, the Ansar met at the Saqifa of Banu Sa'ida. Abu Bakr, Umar and Abu Ubayda joined them, Umar pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr, and the others followed. The next day the general pledge was given in the mosque. He ruled from 11 to 13 AH (632 to 634 CE).
- How did Abu Bakr die?Abu Bakr died of an illness with fever in Madinah on 22 Jumada al-Akhirah 13 AH (August 634 CE), aged 63, after about two years and three months as caliph. Before he died he named Umar as his successor, and he was buried beside the Prophet ﷺ.
- Why did Uthman burn copies of the Quran?Around 25 AH (about 645 CE), Muslims in different lands were disputing over ways of reciting. To keep the ummah united on one text, Uthman had official copies made from the collection kept by Hafsa, sent them to the main cities, and ordered other personal copies burned. The Companions agreed with him.
- How did Uthman die?Uthman ibn Affan was killed in his home in Madinah in Dhul Hijjah 35 AH (656 CE) by rebels who had besieged him. He refused to let the Companions fight for him so no Muslim blood would be shed. The Prophet ﷺ had foretold that he would face a trial and gave him glad tidings of Paradise.
- When did the Abbasid Caliphate fall?The Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad fell in 656 AH (1258 CE), when the Mongols under Hulagu sacked the city and killed the caliph al-Musta'sim. A line of Abbasid caliphs with little real power then lived in Cairo under the Mamluks until the Ottomans took Egypt in 923 AH (1517 CE).
- What is the difference between the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates?The Umayyads ruled from Damascus from 41 to 132 AH (661 to 750 CE) and descended from Umayya of Quraysh. The Abbasids overthrew them in 750, ruled from Baghdad, and descended from al-Abbas, the Prophet's ﷺ uncle. Both were dynasties after the era of the four rightly guided caliphs.
- How did Islam come to Africa?Islam reached Africa before it reached Madinah: around 615 CE early Muslims fled to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and were protected by its Christian king. Egypt and North Africa came under Muslim rule in the first Islamic century, and Islam then spread south and east mostly through traders, scholars and Sufi teachers.
- How did Islam spread in West Africa?Islam spread in West Africa mainly through trade across the Sahara, from around the eighth and ninth centuries CE. Muslim merchants and scholars came with the caravans, local kings converted, and great Muslim centres grew in Mali, Songhay and Timbuktu.
- Was Islam spread by the sword?No. Muslim states did expand by conquest, as empires did then, but Islam forbids forcing anyone to convert. In the conquered lands Christians and Jews kept their faith, and people became Muslim slowly over centuries. Many of the largest Muslim populations today, such as Indonesia, received Islam with no army at all.
- How did Islam spread in Indonesia?Islam came to Indonesia peacefully, through Muslim traders from Arabia, India and Persia who sailed the Indian Ocean routes. The first known Muslim kingdom, Samudra Pasai in northern Sumatra, appears by the late thirteenth century CE, and Islam spread across Java and the islands over the next centuries through trade, marriage and teachers.
- How did Islam come to India?Islam reached India in three main ways: Arab traders on the Malabar coast in the first Islamic centuries, the conquest of Sindh by Muhammad ibn al-Qasim in 92 to 93 AH (711 to 712 CE), and later the Turkic sultanates of north India together with the Sufi teachers who drew many people to Islam.
- Is the Dome of the Rock a mosque?Yes, in the sense that it stands inside al-Masjid al-Aqsa, which is the whole walled compound, so prayer in it carries the reward of praying in al-Aqsa. But it is a shrine built over the Rock, not the main prayer hall. The main congregational mosque is the Qibli mosque with the grey dome, at the south of the compound.
- Why is Jerusalem important in Islam?Jerusalem holds al-Masjid al-Aqsa, the first qibla of the Muslims, the destination of the Prophet's ﷺ Night Journey, and one of the three mosques he urged people to travel to. It is a land of many prophets, which Allah calls blessed.
- What is the difference between Isra and Mi'raj?Isra ("night journey") is the Prophet's ﷺ journey by night from Makkah to Jerusalem. Mi'raj ("ascent") is his ascent from Jerusalem through the seven heavens, where the five daily prayers were given. Both happened on the same night, before the Hijrah.
- Why does the Islamic calendar start with the Hijrah?Because the Hijrah, the Prophet's ﷺ migration from Makkah to Madinah in 622 CE, turned the Muslims from a persecuted few into a community and state. When Umar set up the calendar around 16 to 17 AH, the Companions chose the Hijrah as its starting point, and Muharram as its first month.
- Did the Prophet split the moon?Yes. Muslims believe that in Makkah, a few years before the Hijrah, the people of Quraysh asked for a sign and the moon split into two halves in front of them. The Quran mentions it (54:1-2) and it is reported by several Companions in Bukhari and Muslim.
- What miracles did Prophet Muhammad perform?His greatest miracle is the Quran. Allah also gave him many physical miracles reported in authentic hadith: the splitting of the moon, water flowing from between his fingers, a small meal feeding a whole army, a palm trunk weeping for him, and the Night Journey to Jerusalem and the heavens.
- How many children did Prophet Muhammad have?Seven, according to the best-known view: three sons, Qasim, Abdullah and Ibrahim, and four daughters, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah. All were from Khadijah except Ibrahim, whose mother was Mariyah. His sons died in childhood, and all his children died before him except Fatimah.
- What is Prophet Muhammad's full name, and what are his other names?His name is Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, of Quraysh, and his kunya was Abu al-Qasim. He said he had several names: Muhammad, Ahmad, al-Mahi, al-Hashir and al-Aqib. The Quran also calls him the Messenger of Allah, the Prophet, and a mercy to the worlds.
- What happened at Karbala?On 10 Muharram 61 AH (October 680 CE), al-Husayn ibn Ali, the Prophet's ﷺ grandson, was killed at Karbala in Iraq with members of his family and companions by an army sent by the Umayyad governor of Kufa. Sunni Muslims regard him as a martyr and his killing as a great crime.
- Who were Hasan and Husayn?Al-Hasan and al-Husayn were the sons of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatimah, the grandsons of the Prophet ﷺ. He loved them dearly and called them the leaders of the youth of Paradise. Al-Hasan made peace among the Muslims in 41 AH, as he had foretold, and al-Husayn was martyred at Karbala in 61 AH.
- Who are the Ahl al-Bayt?Ahl al-Bayt means the people of the Prophet's ﷺ household. In Sunni belief it includes his wives, his daughter Fatimah, Ali, al-Hasan and al-Husayn and their descendants, and in a wider sense the believing families of Banu Hashim, such as the families of Ali, Aqil, Ja'far and al-Abbas.
- Why is Prophet Muhammad important to Muslims?Muslims believe he is the final messenger of Allah, sent to all people. Through him came the Quran, and his Sunnah (words and example) shows how to live it. Muslims love him more than their own families, follow his example, and send blessings on him, but they worship only Allah.
- Is April Fools' Day linked to the fall of Muslim Spain?There is no historical evidence for it. A story spread online says Christians tricked the Muslims of Granada on 1 April, but Granada surrendered by treaty on 2 January 1492, and no source from the time links April Fools' Day to it. The real suffering of Spain's Muslims came later, through forced conversion and expulsion.