There are two blessings that can be remembered in Rabi’ al Awwal - The Birth of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) - and the establishment of the Deen of Islam in Al Madinah.
Al Nawawi states that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) was born on a Monday in the month of Rabi’ al Awwal according to an agreed scholarly opinion. The exact date was not agreed upon, but most (but not all) cite the 12th as the most likely date.
A mercy for all the worlds.
But in addition to this widely known matter, Al-Tabari relates in his Tarikh:
‘Abd al-Rahman b. ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abd al-Hakam told me that: Nu’aym b. Hammad told us that: al-Darawardi told us from ‘Uthman b. ‘Ubayd Allah b. Abi Rafi’ who said: I heard Sa’id b. al-Musayyib say: ‘Umar b. al-Khattab gathered the people and asked them: ‘From what day should we begin recording?’ ‘Ali replied: ‘from the day that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ migrated and left the land of polytheism (ard al-shirk).’ This is what ‘Umar (RA) did. And Abu Ja’far said: ‘The first year of Hijrah was considered from the month of Muharram of that year i.e. before the arrival of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to Medina by two months and a few days as the arrival of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was on the 12th of Rabi’ al-Awwal’…”
i.e. The conclusion of his (صلى الله عليه و سلم) migration to Al Madinah was on the 12th of Rabi’ al-Awwal - so marking the start of the establishment of Islam as a civilisation.
Yet in the secular age the celebration and thanks for the Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم) have become detached from the message, the mission and the Madinan civilisation that he (صلى الله عليه و سلم) established.
Abdul Wahid has been active in Muslim affairs in the UK for over 25 years. He has been published on the websites of Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, the Times Higher Educational Supplement, and Prospect Magazine. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AbdulWahid_X.
