Ibrahim ibn Muhammad

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Ibrahim ibn Muhammad (Arabic script إبرهيم بن محمد) was the male child of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and Maria al-Qibtiyya. The child was named after Abraham, the common ancestor of both Muslim and Christians. The child was placed in the care of a nurse called Umm Sayf, in the tradition of the Arabs of the time, to whom Muhammad gave some goats to complement her milk supply ^[1].

1 Illness and Death
2 Burial
3 The Eclipse
4 References

[edit] Illness and Death

Ibrahim fell seriously ill sometime after the Battle of Tabuk at which time he was reported as being either sixteen or eighteen months old. He was moved to a date orchard near Mashrabat Umm Ibrahim, under the care of his mother and her sister Sirin. When it was clear that he would not likely survive Muhammad was informed ^[1].

His reaction to the news is reported as:

He was so shocked at the news that he felt his knees could no more carry him, and asked `Abd al Rahman ibn `Awf to give him his hand to lean upon. He proceeded immediately to the orchard and arrived in time to bid farewell to an infant dying in his mother's lap. Muhammad took the child and laid him in his own lap with shaking hand. His heart was torn apart by the new tragedy, and his face mirrored his inner pain. Choking with sorrow, he said to his son, "O Ibrahim, against the judgement of God, we cannot avail you a thing," and then fell silent. Tears flowed from his eyes. The child lapsed gradually, and his mother and aunt watched and cried loudly and incessantly, but the Prophet never ordered them to stop. As Ibrahim surrendered to death, Muhammad's hope which had consoled him for a brief while completely crumbled. With tears in his eyes he talked once more to the dead child: "O Ibrahim, were the truth not certain that the last of us will join the first, .we would have mourned you even more than we do now." A moment later he said: "The eyes send their tears and the heart is saddened, but we do not say anything except that which pleases our Lord. Indeed, O Ibrahim, we are bereaved by your departure from us."^[1]

Seeing Muhammad's sorrow, his companions reminded him of his commandment against indulging in self-pity after a death. Muhammad is reported as having answered: "I have not commanded against sadness, but against raising one's voice in lamentation. What you see in me is the effect of the love and compassion in my heart for my lost one. Remember that whoever feels no compassion toward others will not receive any compassion." ^[1].

Ibrahim is reported as finally passing away in 10 AH, which was known as the "the Year of Deputations." It is also the year in which Abu Bakr made the pilgrimage to Makkah ^[1].

[edit] Burial

Muhammad is also reported as having informed Mariyah and Sirin that Ibrahim would have his own nurse in Paradise. Different accounts relate that the ghusl for Ibrahim was performed by either Umm Burdah, or al-Fadl ibn `Abbas, in preparation for burial. Thereafter, he was carried to the cemetery of Abu Bakr upon a little bed among others by the Prophet, his uncle al-`Abbas. Here, after a funeral prayer led by the Prophet, he was laid to rest. Muhammad then filled the grave with sand, sprinkled some water upon it, and placed a landmark on it, whereupon he is reported as saying that "Tombstones do neither good nor ill, but they help appease the living. Anything that man does, God wishes him to do well." ^[1]

[edit] The Eclipse

The occasion of the death of Ibrahim also coincided with an eclipse of the sun (probably that of 27 January 632), a phenomenon the Muslims began to circulate by rumor as a miracle. The word went out saying that the sun was eclipsed in sadness over the death of Ibrahim. Upon hearing this Muhammad is reported as saying "The sun and the moon are signs of God. They are eclipsed neither for the death nor birth of any man. On beholding an eclipse, therefore, remember God and turn to Him in prayer." Thereby, denying the concept ^[1].

Ali Asgher Razwy, a 20th century Shi'a Islamic scholar writes:

In late 630, Muhammad, the Messenger of God, sustained a personal loss. His son, Ibrahim, from his Egyptian wife, Maria the Copt, died when he was 11 months old (some say 16 months). Muhammad was very much attached to him. He was deeply aggrieved at his death, and could not withhold his tears. Umar took it upon himself to call his (Muhammad's) attention to the "impropriety" of shedding tears at the death of his son ^[2].