Is Prophet Muhammad's Lineage Pure? Responding to Christian Missionary Claims with Classical Evidence

1. Abdul Muttalib married before his son Abdullah married
2. Hamza existed before the Prophet ﷺ was born
3. Multiple classical sources confirm Hamza is older
4. Hamza himself confirms the Prophet ﷺ is his nephew

The Quraysh said when Abdullah married Amina: “He won — meaning he triumphed and Abdullah defeated his father Abdul Muttalib.”

Abu Jahl then said: “Leave Abu Ammarah alone, for I insulted his nephew with an ugly insult.”

Al-Sealed Nectar — Chapter: The Islam of Hamza, may God be pleased with him.

Response: This is a myth invented by Christians. No Muslim scholar, hadith, or Quranic verse has ever stated this. We challenge any Christian to produce a single hadith making such a claim.

On the narrations claiming longer pregnancies: “All of this is false reports that go back to someone who is not trustworthy and who is not known, and it is not permissible to rule in the religion of Allah with such a thing.”

• Imam Ibn Abd al-Barr: “This is an issue that has no basis except ijtihad.”
• Imam Ibn Khuwayz Mandad: “The least and most of the burden is taken from the path of ijtihad.”
• Imam Al-Baji (Al-Muntaqa Sharh Muwatta Malik): The duration of pregnancy is nine months.
• Dawud al-Zahiri: Nine months.
• Imam Al-Shawkani: The narrations claiming more than 9 months are not correct.

Ibn Abbas and Al-Hasan al-Basri said the same.

Additionally, a fetus may die in the womb, calcify, and remain for a long time until delivered by doctors — but in such cases it is delivered dead.

Narration 2 (Also Al-Waqidi, same book): The vow story — where Hamza is listed among Abdul Muttalib’s ten sons before Abdullah married Amina.

Conclusion: If Hamza was already present before Abdullah married Amina, how could Abdul Muttalib have first seen Hala (Hamza’s mother) in the same council as Abdullah’s marriage? Al-Waqidi contradicts himself in the same book — proving he fabricated narrations.

Response: Pregnancy can occur even from a single encounter. Moreover, Abdullah was present at the birth of the Prophet ﷺ and lived with him for a period of time.

Response (3 points):

1. No verse in the Quran and no hadith of the Prophet ﷺ states this.
2. Those who said it were individual scholars making ijtihad — which can be right or wrong. We take our religion from Quran and authentic Sunnah only.
3. All narrations supporting this claim are weak or fabricated — as demonstrated above.

30 months − 24 months (weaning) = 6 months minimum pregnancy Therefore: Maximum = 30 − 0 = 30 months total, making 4 years of pregnancy alone a direct contradiction of the Quran.

1. 350+ year gap — The closest narrator was not present at the time of the marriage. No chain connects him to anyone who was present. The narrator is therefore unreliable.
2. No pre-Islamic documentation — Events before Islam were not recorded. Even at the dawn of Islam, systematic documentation was absent.
3. The Prophet ﷺ was not known before Islam — No one kept precise records of his father’s marriage details.
4. Books written long after — Written 450+ years after the events, by people not present, without verified chains.
5. Narrated by liars — Including Al-Waqidi and others as testified by Islamic scholars.
6. Internal phrases of weakness — Phrases like “it was said,” “they claimed,” “we heard” signal unreliable transmission.
7. Internal contradictions — The same books contain conflicting accounts.

• Fame: Abdul Muttalib was far more famous than Abdullah, who died young. Arabs called the Prophet ﷺ “son of Abdul Muttalib” as a known identity.
• Prophecy reminders: Priests had foretold a prophet from the sons of Abdul Muttalib. He reminded them of the prophecy.
• Grandfather as father-figure: Abdul Muttalib raised the Prophet ﷺ and treated him as a son.
• Arabic custom: Arabs routinely attribute themselves to a famous grandfather. Abu Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah is actually Amer bin Abdullah bin Al-Jarrah.
• Strategic context (Battle of Hunayn): He said this to strengthen the hearts of companions, reminding them of his lineage.

Same battle, same narrator: “Come to me — I am the Messenger of God, I am Muhammad ibn Abdullah.”

• Al-Bayhaqi (Dala’il, Vol. 1, p. 105) — chain via Ibn Ishaq: interrupted.
• Ibn Sa’d (Tabaqat, Vol. 1) — chains include Al-Waqidi (rejected) and Al-Kalbi (accused of lying) — also interrupted.
• Al-Bayhaqi (Dala’il, Vol. 1, p. 107) — includes Muslimah ibn Alqamah (truthful but with errors), and the sheikh of Ibn Qani’ is unidentified.
• Abu Nu’aym (Dala’il, p. 38) — includes Muhammad ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Amri: among the weak.
• Abu Nu’aym (p. 39, via Ibn Abbas) — includes “the Zanji” who is weak, and Ibn Jurayj is a mudallis using indirect transmission.

1. The story contradicts authentic hadiths about the purity of the Prophet’s lineage and ancestry.
2. The woman’s name changes across narrations: a woman from Khatham / Umm Qatal, sister of Waraqa / Laila al-Adawiyya / a soothsayer from Tabalah — confusion indicating fabrication.
3. Abdullah supposedly says “I am the forbidden one, death is before me… the noble man protects his honor” — then immediately rushes to the same woman for adultery. Logically impossible.
4. Why would a man seek adultery the same day he entered his wife in lawful marriage?
5. The poetry attributed to the woman is metrically weak and clearly fabricated.
6. The story was fabricated to “prove” the transfer of the Nur (light of prophecy) — an invention by storytellers.

• Al-Sirah al-Halabiyya: He was “the best and most chaste” of Abdul Muttalib’s sons — meaning he did not accept adultery.
• Tarikh Abi al-Fida: “His father loved him because he was the best and most chaste of his sons.”
• In the very story used by Christians, Abdullah says: “It is a sin — as for what is forbidden, death is before it… the noble man protects his honor and his religion.”

Similarly, the Prophet’s mother passed away before Islam. The “disavowal” referred to by Gabriel means disavowal from her disbelief — exactly parallel to Abraham’s situation.

In Islam, such people are considered Ahl al-Fitra — Allah will test them on the Day of Judgment as they did not receive the message.

• Ishaq ibn Abd Allah ibn Kaysan: Al-Bukhari: “His hadith is not authentic.” Ibn Hibban: “His hadith is to be avoided.”
• Abu al-Darda’ Abd al-Aziz ibn Munib: Ibn Hajar declared him weak.
• Ibn Kathir on this narration: “This is a strange hadith and a strange context.”

• The science of genealogy (‘ilm al-ansab) was unique to the Arabs among nations since ancient times.
• Every person is introduced as: “So-and-so, son of so-and-so, son of so-and-so.”
• Specialized genealogy books exist from before and after Islam.
• Dedicated websites exist today: www.ansab-online.com, www.alnssabon.com
• In Egypt, the Citadel contains a dedicated genealogy registry going back 70 generations.
• The Prophet ﷺ said: “Learn from your lineages what will connect your kinship ties.”
• Wars were waged between Arab tribes for years over matters of honor.

This is the family of Lady Amina. Her guardian would draw a sword over passing by — how much more would he protect his daughter’s honor.

1. Siege of the Prophet’s house: Abu Jahl — the Prophet’s greatest enemy — refused to climb the wall of the house because “the Arabs would not say we climbed over our cousins and violated their privacy” (with the Prophet’s daughters inside).

2. Uthman’s assassination: When the hypocrites came to kill Uthman, he told his wife: “I will die — but not a single hair of yours will appear.” The assailants, despite coming to kill, would not proceed if a woman was present with uncovered hair.

3. Hind bint Utbah’s reaction at the pledge of allegiance: When the Prophet ﷺ said “…and you will not commit adultery”, Hind responded: “Does a free woman commit adultery?” — expressing genuine shock that such a thing could be asked of a free Arab woman.

1. Kinda’s claim was based on Al-Abbas and Rabi’ah ibn al-Harith saying “We are the sons of Akil al-Marar” (from Kinda) — a lie they told to secure trade, since Kinda were kings.

2. The Prophet ﷺ corrected this: “We are the sons of Al-Nadr ibn Kinanah” — i.e., Quraysh. (Ibn Hisham: “Al-Nadr is Quraysh — whoever descends from Al-Nadr is Qurayshi.”)

3. The Prophet ﷺ then gave his full lineage publicly: “I am Muhammad, son of Abdullah, son of Abdul Muttalib, son of Hashim…” — and no one denied it.

4. If the narration contained a lineage challenge, the punishment would have been carried out. It was not — because there was no challenge.

5. The narration appears in the chapter: “Mentioning his noble lineage and the goodness of his lofty origin.”

Lady Amina was not accused by anyone. There was no doubt about her behavior — so there was nothing for the Quran to address.

The Quran does not defend the mothers of all prophets because no one accused them. The absence of defense is evidence of complete absence of accusation.

• Bakr Amina = the Prophet ﷺ was her firstborn — she had no child before him.
• Al-Muhsana = she gave birth to him through her husband Abdullah — she is honorable.

• Al-Dhahabi (Mizan al-I’tidal 2/159): “Jahm ibn Abi Jahm — the story of Halima al-Sa’diya (this very narration) is not known from him.”
• Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (Ta’jil al-Manfa’a): “Jahm ibn Abi Jahm is unknown.”
• Al-Albani: “This Jahm is unknown. Al-Dhahabi said he is not known.”

As Muslims, we do not accept narrations from unknown narrators.

• Al-Barqani (his contemporary, described by Al-Dhahabi as “the Imam, the scholar, the memorizer, the steadfast”): He personally witnessed Ibn Sarakhsi fabricate a question that Abu Bahr answered “Yes, I heard from him” — proving he lied about hearing narrations. Al-Barqani declared: “He was a liar.”
• Tarikh Baghdad, Vol. 2 — liar
• Duyuf al-Du’afa (Al-Dhahabi): “Al-Barqani said: He was a liar.”
• Al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya (Ibn Kathir): “More than one hadith scholar spoke about him because of his confusion, negligence, and some accused him of lying.”

Al-Nawawi (Al-Majmu’): “Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad is weak according to the consensus of the hadith scholars.”

• The Prophet ﷺ = the tall, valuable palm tree (elevated in status and honor)
• Banu Hashim = the “hill/barren land” (belittled and despised)

This is an insult to Banu Hashim — not to the Prophet ﷺ.

When the Prophet ﷺ heard, he said: “What is the matter with people who humiliate my family? By God, I am the best of them in origin.” — He defended Banu Hashim, not himself, because he was not being attacked.

The Prophet ﷺ responded: “By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, faith will not enter the heart of a man until he loves you for the sake of God and His Messenger… whoever harms my uncle has harmed me — a man’s uncle is like his father.”

Hashim ↔ Umayyah → Abdul Muttalib ↔ Harb ibn Umayyah → Al-Abbas ↔ Abu Sufyan ibn Harb

The insults were directed at Al-Abbas and Banu Hashim — envying their noble positions — not at the Prophet’s lineage.

Even Abu Sufyan — the Prophet’s enemy — respected the Prophet ﷺ (basil = beautiful fragrance) while despising Banu Hashim (stench). He confirmed the Prophet ﷺ is from Banu Hashim.