The children of Muhammad include the three sons and four daughters of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.Template:Sfn The common view is that all were born to Muhammad's first wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, except one son, named Ibrahim, who was born to Maria al-Qibtiyya.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Most Shia Muslims, however, hold that Fatima was the only biological daughter of Muhammad.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Muhammad also had a foster son, Zayd ibn Harithah.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Sunni view
In chronological order, most Sunni sources list Muhammad's children as
- Qasim (598–601)
- Zainab (599–629)
- Ruqayyah (601–624)
- Umm Kulthum (603–630)
- Fatima (605–632)Template:Sfn
- Abd Allah (611–615)
- Ibrahim (630–632)
Shia view
A number of Shia sources argue that Zainab, Ruqayyah, and Umm Kulthum were adopted by Muhammad after the death of their mother, Hala, a sister of Khadija.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to Abbas, most Shia Muslims hold that Fatima was Muhammad's only biological daughter,Template:Sfn whereas Fedele limits this belief to Twelver Shi'ism.Template:Sfn Hyder reports that this belief is prevalent among the Shias of South Asia.Template:Sfn
Descendants
Muhammad's sons all died in childhood.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Their early deaths, according to Freedman and McClymond, was detrimental to a hereditary-based system of succession to Muhammad.Template:Sfn Alternatively, after the past prophets, writes Madelung, their descendants became the spiritual and material heirs to them in the Quran, a matter that is settled therein by divine selection and not by the faithful.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Muhammad's daughters reached adulthood but they all died relatively young.Template:Sfn Fatima married Ali ibn Abi Talib, Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum married Uthman one after another, and Zainab married Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi. Umm Kulthum remained childless whereas Ruqayya gave birth to a boy Abd Allah, who died at the age of six.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Zaynab gave birth to a son Ali (who also died in childhood) and a daughter Umama, whom Ali ibn Abi Talib married after Fatima's death.Template:Sfn Fatima gave birth to two boys, Hasan and Husayn, and it is through her that Muhammad's progeny has spread throughout the Muslim world.Template:Sfn The descendants of Fatima are given the honorific titles [[Sayyid|Template:Transl]] (Template:Lit) or [[Sharif|Template:Transl]] (Template:Lit), and are respected in the Muslim community.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Muhammad's attitude and treatment towards his children, enshrined in the hadith literature, is viewed by Muslims as an exemplar to be imitated.Template:Sfn
See also
References
Bibliography
- The Prophet's Heir: The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib{{#if:Abbas|, Abbas}. Yale University Press(2021). ISBN 9780300252057
- The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate{{#if:Madelung|, Madelung}. Cambridge University Press(1997). ISBN 0-521-64696-0
- Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam{{#if:Jafri|, Jafri}. Longman(1979)
- The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad{{#if:Hazleton|, Hazleton}. Atlantic Books Ltd(2013). ISBN 9781782392316
- Template:Cite encyclopedia
- Template:Cite encyclopedia
- Template:Cite thesis
- The Life of Muhammad{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Islamic Book Trust(1933). ISBN 9789839154177
- Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad: A Comparative Study{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. John Wiley & Sons(2013). ISBN 9781118465493
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2008). ISBN 9780195148909
- The Rivers of Paradise: Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, and Muhammad as Religious Founders{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company(2000). ISBN 9780802829573
- Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World's Religious Traditions{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Rowman & Littlefield(2006). ISBN 9780742544635
- Sayyids and Sharifs in Muslim societies: The living links to the prophet{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2012). ISBN 9780415519175
- Dictionary of Islam{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. W. H. Allen(1885)
- The Quest for the Historical Muhammad{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Prometheus Books(2000). ISBN 9781573927871
- The Religious Elite of the Early Islamic Ḥijāz: Five Prosopographical Case Studies{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Occasional Publications UPR(2011). ISBN 978-1900934138
- Khadija: The First Muslim and the Wife of the Prophet Muhammad{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Tughra Books(2007). ISBN 9781597841214
- Reliving Karbala : Martyrdom in South Asian Memory: Martyrdom in South Asian Memory{{#if:Akbar|, Akbar}. Oxford University Press(2006). ISBN 9780199706624
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Further reading
- THE SONS OF KHADIJA. Retrieved 22 February 2015.