The most beloved of the messengers was born in the valley of Banu Hashim in Makkah, on the morning of Monday, 9th Rabee' al Awwal in the Islamic Calender. It was the first year after the incident of the elephant, and forty years after the demise of King Chosroes I. This Islamic calander date coincides with the 20th or 22nd of April, 571 CE according to the great scholar Muhammad Sulayman al Mansoor al Farwee, and the astronomer Majmood Pasha.
Ibn Sa'ad narrates that the mother of Allah's Messenger PBUH said: When I gave birth to him, a light went forth from my womb, which lit up the palaces of Syria. Ahmad also narrates something similar to this, from Al-'Arbad ibn Sariyah.
As soon as she gave birth to him, she sent word to his grandfather 'Abdul-MUttalib, giving him the good news of the birth of his grandson. He happily rushed to fetch him and took him inside the ka'bah where he prayed to Allah and thanked Him. He named the child Muhammad--which was then an uncommon amongst the Arabs--and circumcised him on the seventh day, as was customary amonst the Arabs in those days.
The first woman who nursed him--after his own mother--was Thuwaybah, the bondswoman of Abu Lahab. She was still nursing her son Masrooh and before the Prophet PBUH she had nursed Hamzah ibn 'Abdul Muttalib. Also, after having nursed the Prophet pbuh, she nursed Abu Salamah ibn 'Abdul Asad al Makhzoomee.
It was customary amongst the Arabs of those days to send their children to be nursed by the Bedouin women, away from the ills of the urban cities. This was meant to strengthen their minds and bodies, and to teach them to be eloquent in speech from the very beginning. Hence, 'Abdul Muttalib also sought a wet nurse for the Messenger of Allah, and it was a woman from Banu Sa'd Ibn Bakr, called Haleemah bint Dhu'ayb and her husband Al'Harith ibn 'Abdul Uzza al Maknee from Abu Kabshah of the same tribe, who took charge of him.
Here, the Prophet's foster siblings through nursing were 'Abdullah ibn al Harith and his sisters Aneesah bint al Harith and Hudhafah or Judhamah bint al Harith (who was more commonly known as Shayma) Haleemah had also nursed Abu Sufyan ibn al Harith ibn Abdul Muttalib who was a cousin of the Prophet PBUH.
The Prophet's uncle Hamzah ibn 'Abdul Muttalib was also being nursed there in Banu Sa'ad ibn Bakr. One day, while the Prophet pbuh was in Haleemah's charge, the nursing mother of Hamzah breast-fed Muhammad, and in this way, Hamzah became the Prophet's foster brother through nursing from two sides, one being Thuwaybah and the other, Haleemah as Sadiyah.
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