When did the Beloved of Allah Pass away?

 

Praise be to Allah Lord of the Worlds and Peace be upon His Final Messenger who is a Mercy of the Worlds.

The exact date the Prophet Muhammad [Peace be upon him] passed away is disputed by the Scholars, many hold the view that the date he passed away coincides with the date he was born, namely the date of 12^th Rabbi-ul-Awwal.

Due to this opinion some have objected to showing happiness and celebrating the birth of the Prophet [Peace be upon him] on 12^th Rabbi-ul-Awwal as they say this day is a mark of sadness because of the great loss the ummah suffered on it.

Allah willing this article will provide substantial evidence that The Prophet Muhammad [Peace be upon him] did not pass away on the 12^th of Rabbi-ul-Awwal, but for arguments sake even if this was the date that he had passed away, it still would not be a valid objection to holding gatherings in remembrance of the birth of the most honorable of human beings, the seal of the Prophets Muhammad [Peace be upon him] in order to thank Allah for such a great favor he best owed upon mankind on that day.

Imam Jalal al Din al Suyuti says in his Al hawi lil fatawi (pg.193) that; “The Prophet’s birth is the greatest bounty, and his death is the greatest calamity. Religious law urges us to express thankfulness for bounties, and be patient and remain calm during calamities. Religious law has commanded us to sacrifice an animal on the birth of a child [and distribute the meat to the needy], which is an expression of gratitude and happiness with the newborn, while it did not command us to sacrifice at the time of death. Also, it prohibited wailing and showing grief. Therefore, the rules of Divine Law indicate that it is recommended to show joy during the month of the Prophet’s birth, and not to show sorrow for his death.”

Similarly Ibn Rajab, in his book Al lata’if, said, “Some designated the day of Aashura as a funeral ceremony for the murder of Al Hussein. But neither Allah nor His Prophet commanded that the days of the prophets’ great trials or deaths should be declared days of mourning, let alone those with lesser rank.”

Firstly to establish that the Prophet [Peace be upon him] did not pass away on the 12^th of Rabbi-ul-Awwal we have to take the below two points into consideration, know that they are unanimously accepted by the Scholars and Historians and there is no dispute on them.

1) The Prophet [Peace be upon him] died on a Monday of the 3^rd Month (Rabbi-ul-Awwal) in the 11^th year after Hijri.

2) The Last Quran Ayah was revealed on a Friday which was the 9^th day of the 12^th Month (Dhul-Hijja) in the 10^th year after Hijri.

Having said that there is an agreement of the Scholars on the above two points, I will still cite some of the evidences for the first point.

Ahmad cites a narration on the authority of Abdullah Ibn Abbas who says; “Allah’s Messenger [Peace be upon him] was born on a Monday, received Prophethood on a Monday, emigrated from Makkah to Madinah on a Monday, arrived at Madinah on a Monday, died on a Monday, and raised up the stone on a Monday.”

Imam Malik in his Al-Muwatta mentions the day the Prophet [Peace be upon him] passed away as Monday

Imam Thirmidhi cites three narrations in his Sham’ ail in the chapter concerning the death of the Prophet Muhammad [Peace be upon him].

The Narrations are from the following:

Imam Muhammad Al-Baaqir [May Allah be pleased with him]
The Mother of the believers Ayesha [May Allah be pleased with her]
Abi Salamah bin ‘Abdurrahmaan bin ‘Awf [May Allah be pleased with him]

All three stating that the Prophet [Peace be upon him] passed away on a Monday: The evidences for this are many, and as mentioned above this opinion is unanimously accepted by the Scholars and Islamic Historians and is not a matter of dispute, and this is what Ibn Hajar Asqaalani says;

Ibn Hajar Asqalani [May Allah be pleased with him] said: “There is no controversy regarding the fact that the Prophet [Peace be upon him] died on a Monday during the month of Rabee’ Al-Awwal. However, some scholars have differed as to the actual date of that Monday on which the Prophet [Peace be upon him] died.”

Regarding the date the last Quran ayah was revealed, this is also an undisputed matter, and is very well known thus there is no need to provide the evidences of this view in this article.

Now knowing the time frames of two important events will help solve the puzzle, namely the date of the last revelation and the day of the week in which the Prophet [Peace be upon him] passed away.

Friday 09/12/10 Date of last revelation
Monday **/03/11 Date of death

Each Islamic month consists of either 29 or 30 days, and if we calculate from Friday 9^th Dhull Hijja to any Monday of Rabbi-ul-Awwal using all the possible combinations of days in the month then in no outcome does the 12^th of Rabbi-ul-Awwal fall on a Monday.

Possible combinations: [For full calculations click here]

1. Dhull Hijja 29 days, Muharram 29 days, Safar 29 days [Thursday]

2. Dhull Hijja 29 days, Muharram 29 days, Safar 30 days [Friday]

3. Dhull Hijja 29 days, Muharram 30 days, Safar 30 days [Saturday]

4. Dhull Hijja 29 days, Muharram 30 days, Safar 29 days [Friday]

5. Dhull Hijja 30 days. Muharram 29 days. Safar 29 days [Friday]

6. Dhull Hijja 30 days, Muharram 29 days, Safar 30 days [Saturday]

7. Dhull Hijja 30 days, Muharram 30 days. Safar 29 days [Saturday]

8. Dhull Hijja 30 days, Muharram 30 days, Safar 30 days [Sunday]

This view is also cited by the Hadith Scholar from Deoband by the name of Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi (Died 1402 AH)

In his commentary on the Shama’il of Imam Thirmidhi he says:

“Historians are unanimous in that our master, Allah’s Messenger [Peace be upon him] passed away on a Monday. There are differences of opinion about the date of the demise. The majority are of the opinion that it was on the 12^th of Rabbi-ul-Awwal but there is a perplexity in this that in 10 AH, the 9^th Dhull-Hijja [was] on a Friday. There is no difference of opinion in this among the Hadith scholars nor the historians. After taking this into consideration, if the months of Dhull-Hijja, Muharram and Safar (all three months) had 30 or 29 days or some had 29 and others 30 days, in no combination does 12^th Rabbi-ul-Awwal fall on Monday. For this reason a group among the Hadith scholars have given preference to the other date [that is] that our master, Allah’s Messenger [Peace be upon him] passed away on the 2^nd of Rabbi-ul-Awwal”

May Allah help us recognise the truth from falsehood when it is made clear to us.

By Yamustafa Admin