The Year of the Elephant
Muhammad b. Abd Allah (s) was born in Makkah in the year an Abyssinian army led by Abraha marched on the Ka'ba with an elephant and was destroyed — the Year of the Elephant, around 570 CE. His father had died before his birth and his mother Amina died when he was six, so he was raised first by his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib and then by his uncle Abu Talib, in whose household he grew up alongside Ali (a). The Shia scholars fix the birth on 17 Rabi al-Awwal; most Sunni sources give the 12th.
Signs at his birth
The sources describe wonders on the night he was born: the trembling of the palace of Ctesiphon, the extinguishing of the sacred fire of the Persians after a thousand years, the drying of Lake Saveh. Later scholars have discussed the strength of these reports, but they have shaped the devotional literature of the Mawlid.
How it is observed
The Mawlid is celebrated across the Muslim world with gatherings, poetry in praise of the Prophet (s), the distribution of food and the lighting of streets and mosques; devotional manuals recommend ghusl and special supplications on the day. The Shia celebration on the 17th also marks the birth of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a), born on the same date in 83 AH. The house where the Prophet was born was demolished under Saudi rule and its site is now a library.
Written for Shia Online Community. Dates and facts are checked against the references listed under Research & books; where the tradition records more than one date, all are given.
