■ Why is Abdul Muttalib called Abdul Muttalib?
Shaykh Sayyed Saad Qadri said:
The Prophet ﷺ is the son of Abdullah, who is the son of Abdul Muttalib. So, Abdul Muttalib is the grandfather of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and Abdul Muttalib’s father is Hashim. Hashim is the great-grandfather of the Prophet ﷺ, and Hashim was the son of Abd Manaf. So, Muhammad bin Abdullah, Abdul Muttalib bin Hashim, Abd Manaf.
We will talk a bit about the lives of Hashim and Abd Manaf to understand why Abdul Muttalib was called Abdul Muttalib. Hashim, who died at a very young age, was born a little over 100 years before the birth of the Prophet ﷺ. Hashim had five wives, as recorded in historical books, and his last wife was Salma bint Amr from the Banu Najjar tribe in Yathrib (Medina).
Hashim used to go on several trade routes, one of which led to Syria during the summer. On one of these journeys, he passed through Yathrib and sent a marriage proposal to Salma. Salma, being an influential, wealthy, and politically strong woman, refused most suitors, but Hashim, as the chief of Makkah, was a suitable match. However, Salma set a condition: she would not move to Makkah but stay in Medina, and Hashim could visit her whenever he was on his trade routes to Syria or at any other time.
They got married, and Hashim stayed in Medina for a few days before continuing his journey. Unfortunately, this was Hashim’s last journey. Salma became pregnant with a boy, and Hashim, on his way to Syria, stayed in Palestine, in a place called Gaza, where he passed away.
Salma gave birth to Abdul Muttalib, but no one in Makkah knew about this marriage except those on the caravan with Hashim. When news of Hashim’s death reached Makkah, no one pursued the matter of his child or wife. Leadership in Makkah, and among the children of Abd Manaf, shifted to other sons like Abd Shams and Nawfal.
Abdul Muttalib, born as Shaiba (due to some white hair on his head, as “Shaiba” in Arabic means an elderly person), grew up almost to the age of 8 in Medina. Hashim’s younger brother, Muttalib, was informed in Makkah that he had a nephew in Medina, in the Banu Najjar tribe, who was old enough to leave his mother. Muttalib then traveled to Yathrib to bring his nephew to Makkah to inherit what his father had left behind.
Initially, Salma resisted sending her only son, but Muttalib convinced her, appealing to the honor and future of the boy in Makkah. Salma eventually agreed, and some historians say that she asked Abdul Muttalib whether he wanted to stay or go to his father’s homeland, and Abdul Muttalib chose to go to Makkah.
Muttalib rode a camel with Shaiba (later known as Abdul Muttalib), and when they arrived in Makkah, people assumed that Muttalib had brought a slave from the market, as it was common to buy children for household chores and hard labor later on. Since they didn’t know the boy’s name, they began calling him “Abdul Muttalib,” meaning “Muttalib’s slave.” This name became so famous that Shaiba’s real name was almost forgotten.
Abdul Muttalib grew up in Makkah and eventually became the chief of Makkah, but that’s a story for another time. Today, we focused on why Abdul Muttalib was called Abdul Muttalib and what his real name was. This practice of giving different names was quite common in Arabia, where names given at birth sometimes took a back seat to other names that became more prominent.
If you examine the lives of Abdul Muttalib and the Prophet ﷺ, you will find many similarities. When Abdul Muttalib was born, his father Hashim had already passed away, just as the Prophet ﷺ’s father, Abdullah, had passed away before his birth.
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Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 