Tarikh (al-Tabari) 705
The sending of the Prophet ﷺ
الْبَابُ الْخَامِسُ فِي قَدْرِ عُمْرِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ وَقْتَ بِعْثَتِهِ وَتَارِيخِهَا قَالَ الْإِمَامُ النَّوَوِيُّ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى فِي شَرْحِ مُسْلِمٍ: الصَّوَابُ أَنَّهُ ﷺ بُعِثَ عَلَى رَأْسِ الْأَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً، هَذَا هُوَ الْمَشْهُورُ الَّذِي أَطْبَقَ عَلَيْهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ. وَقَالَ السُّهَيْلِيُّ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: إِنَّهُ الصَّحِيحُ عِنْدَ أَهْلِ السَّيَرِ وَالْعِلْمِ بِالْأَثَرِ. وَحَكَى الْقَاضِي عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ وَسَعِيدِ بْنِ الْمُسَيِّبِ رِوَايَةً شَاذَّةً أَنَّهُ بُعِثَ عَلَى رَأْسِ ثَلَاثٍ وَأَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً وَالصَّوَابُ الْأَوَّلُ. وَقَالَ شَيْخُ الْإِسْلَامِ الْبُلْقِينِيُّ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: كَانَ سِنُّ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ حِينَ جَاءَهُ جِبْرِيلُ فِي غَارِ حِرَاءَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً عَلَى الْمَشْهُورِ. وَقِيلَ وَيَوْمًا. وَقِيلَ وَعَشَرَةَ أَيَّامٍ. وَقِيلَ وَشَهْرَيْنِ وَقِيلَ وَسَنَتَيْنِ وَقِيلَ وَثَلَاثَةً. وَقِيلَ وَخَمْسًا. قَالَ: وَكَانَ ذَلِكَ يَوْمَ الِاثْنَيْنِ نَهَارًا. وَاخْتُلِفَ فِي الشَّهْرِ. فَقِيلَ شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ فِي سَابِعَ عَشْرِهِ وَقِيلَ سَابِعِهِ. وَقِيلَ رَابِعَ عَشْرِهِ. وَقَالَ الْحَافِظُ: وَرَمَضَانُ هُوَ الرَّاجِحُ لِمَا سَيَأْتِي مِنْ أَنَّهُ الشَّهْرُ الَّذِي جَاوَرَ فِيهِ فِي حِرَاءَ فَجَاءَهُ الْمَلَكُ. وَعَلَى هَذَا يَكُونُ سِنُّهُ حِينَئِذٍ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً وَسِتَّةَ أَشْهُرٍ. وَقِيلَ فِي سَابِعَ عَشَرَ شَهْرِ رَجَبٍ. وَقِيلَ فِي أَوَّلِ شَهْرِ رَبِيعٍ الْأَوَّلِ. وَقِيلَ فِي ثَامِنِهِ. وَعِنْدَ أَبِي دَاوُدَ الطَّيَالِسِيِّ مَا يَقْتَضِي أَنَّ مَجِيءَ جِبْرِيلَ لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِمَا الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ فِي حِرَاءَ كَانَ فِي آخِرِ شَهْرِ رَمَضَانَ. قَالَ الْحَافِظُ: وَلَعَلَّهُ الرَّاجِحُ. وَرَوَى الْإِمَامُ أَحْمَدُ وَالشَّيْخَانِ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ ؓ قَالَ: أَنْزَلَ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ وَهُوَ ابْنُ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً. أخذ الله الميثاق على الأنبياء للإيمان بالنبي ﷺ مَبْعَثُ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ تَسْلِيمًا قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً بَعَثَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ، وَكَافَّةً لِلنَّاسِ بَشِيرًا، وَكَانَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى قَدْ أَخَذَ الْمِيثَاقَ عَلَى كُلِّ نَبِيٍّ بَعَثَهُ قَبْلَهُ بِالْإِيمَانِ بِهِ، وَالتَّصْدِيقِ لَهُ، وَالنَّصْرِ لَهُ عَلَى مَنْ خَالَفَهُ، وَأَخَذَ عَلَيْهِمْ أَنْ يُؤَدُّوا ذَلِكَ إلَى كُلِّ مَنْ آمَنْ بِهِمْ وَصَدَّقَهُمْ، فَأَدَّوْا مِنْ ذَلِكَ مَا كَانَ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ الْحَقِّ فِيهِ. يَقُولُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى لِمُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ النَّبِيِّينَ لَمَا آتَيْتُكُمْ مِنْ كِتَابٍ وَحِكْمَةٍ ثُمَّ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَكُمْ لَتُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهِ وَلَتَنْصُرُنَّهُ قَالَ أَأَقْرَرْتُمْ وَأَخَذْتُمْ عَلَى ذَلِكُمْ إِصْرِي أَيْ ثِقَلَ مَا حَمَّلْتُكُمْ مِنْ عَهْدِي قَالُوا أَقْرَرْنَا قَالَ فَاشْهَدُوا وَأَنَا مَعَكُمْ مِنَ الشَّاهِدِينَ فَأَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ النَّبِيِّينَ جَمِيعًا بِالتَّصْدِيقِ لَهُ، وَالنَّصْرِ لَهُ مِمَّنْ خَالَفَهُ، وَأَدَّوْا ذَلِكَ إلَى مَنْ آمَنْ بِهِمْ وَصَدَّقَهُمْ مِنْ أَهْلِ هَذَيْنِ الْكِتَابَيْنِ.
Translation
✧ The Fifth Chapter: On the Age of the Prophet ﷺ at the Time of His Sending and Its Date Imam al-Nawawī, may God Almighty have mercy on him, said in his commentary on Muslim: The correct view is that he ﷺ was sent at the beginning of his fortieth year. This is the well-known position upon which the scholars have unanimously agreed. Al-Suhaylī, may God Almighty have mercy on him, said: It is the sound view according to the people of biography and knowledge of tradition. Al-Qāḍī reported from Ibn ʿAbbās and Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib an anomalous narration that he was sent at the beginning of his forty-third year. The correct view is the first. Shaykh al-Islām al-Bulqīnī, may God Almighty have mercy on him, said: The age of the Messenger of God ﷺ when Gabriel came to him in the cave of Ḥirāʾ was forty years according to the well-known view. It is also said: and a day. And it is said: and ten days. And it is said: and two months. And it is said: and two years. And it is said: and three. And it is said: and five. He said: That was on a Monday during the day. There is disagreement about the month. It is said: the month of Ramaḍān on its seventeenth. And it is said: its seventh. And it is said: its fourteenth. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: Ramaḍān is the most likely because of what will come later, that it is the month in which he was in seclusion in Ḥirāʾ and the angel came to him. Based on this, his age at that time would have been forty years and six months. It is said: on the seventeenth of the month of Rajab. And it is said: on the first of the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal. And it is said: on its eighth. According to Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī, there is something implying that Gabriel's coming to the Messenger of God, upon them both be peace and blessings, in Ḥirāʾ was at the end of the month of Ramaḍān. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: Perhaps that is the most likely. Imam Aḥmad and the two Shaykhs related from Ibn ʿAbbās ؓ, who said: Revelation was sent down upon the Messenger of God ﷺ when he was forty years old. God took the covenant from the prophets to believe in the Prophet ﷺ The Sending of the Prophet ﷺ as a Submission Ibn Isḥāq said: When Muḥammad, the Messenger of God ﷺ, reached forty years, God Almighty sent him as a mercy to the worlds and to all people as a bearer of good tidings. God, Blessed and Exalted, had taken the covenant from every prophet He had sent before him to believe in him, to affirm him, and to support him against whoever opposed him. He took from them that they should convey that to everyone who believed in them and affirmed them, so they conveyed what was incumbent upon them of the truth regarding it. God Almighty says to Muḥammad ﷺ: "And when God took the covenant of the prophets: 'By what I have given you of Book and wisdom, then there shall come to you a messenger confirming what is with you—you shall surely believe in him and you shall surely help him.' He said: 'Do you affirm and take upon yourselves My burden?'—meaning the weight of what I have charged you with of My covenant. They said: 'We affirm.' He said: 'Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.'" Thus God took the covenant of all the prophets to affirm him and to support him against whoever opposed him, and they conveyed that to those among the people of these two scriptures who believed in them and affirmed them.
Grades by grader
No grade is recorded for this wording.