The Light on the Foreheads of Our Ancestors

For Islamic scholars this light is of more than a mere symbol. According to some accounts, when Allah created Adam He placed on Adam's forehead a pearl-like light which shone like a sun in daytime and like a moon in nighttime. This light was passed on to his pregnant wife Eve and then on to Seth. The father and the mother of Prophet Muhammad were the final link of the light, which had passed from a hundred people, fifty of whom were male, and the other fifty female.⁵ Ibn Ishaq, (d. 150/767) speaks about a woman who tried to seduce Abdullah, the father of Prophet Muhammad just before he married his wife Amina. After Prophet Muhammad was conceived, Abdullah saw the same woman, yet the woman turned her face away. When he asked her why she had acted in such a way, the woman replied "The light I saw on you has forsaken you today." According to Ibn Ishaq, this woman had seen a bright mark between the eyes of Abdullah, which disappeared after Prophet Muhammad was conceived. Ibn Ishaq states that this woman was the sister of Waraqa ibn Nawfal (although she is given different names in different sources); she had been warned by her brother that the arrival of a prophet was imminent. Naturally, what the woman had seen on the face of Abdullah was the light of prophethood. This story was used by later historians. ⁶

In relation to the light inherited from the forefathers, it is even said that the ancestors of Prophet Muhammad had been informed about his arrival by means of a light or glowing trees being perceived in their dreams.⁷ An incident regarding Abdulmuttalib which supports this is as follows:

According to reports, while Abdulmuttalib, the grandfather of Prophet Muhammad was sleeping in Hijr, he suddenly awoke startled. Abbas tells us: "Then I was just a child, who hardly understood what was being said. I followed Abdulmuttalib. He came to the Quraishi oracles and said:

‘In my dream, I saw a silver chain coming out of my back. This chain had four ends. One end stretched to the east, one to the west, one end to the depths of the sky and the other end stretched to the depths of the earth. While I was looking at this chain, it turned into a radiant green tree. While I was standing in this position, two old men passed by. To one of the men I said:

‘Who are you?'

He replied ‘I am Noah, the prophet of Almighty God.'

To the other man I said:  ‘And who are you?'

He replied: ‘I am one dear to Almighty God.' And then I woke up.

The Quraishi oracles replied to him ‘If you really had this dream, then it means that a prophet will emerge from your descendents; everybody on earth and in the sky will have faith in him. The links of the chains are interconnected, which shows that the subjects and the helpers of the prophet will become abundant and strong. The transformation of the chain into a tree shows that the religion brought by this prophet will last forever and that he will have a high level of honor.' Later, on the day of Hunayn, Prophet Muhammad said "There is no denying this, I am a prophet. I am the grandson of Abdulmuttalib"⁸;he was speaking of Abdulmuttalib's dream."⁹  

Prophet Muhammad describes his mother's dream as follows:

"When Adam was still mud, I was assigned by Allah as hatamu'n-nabiyyin (the last of the Prophets). I will show you my first signs now. They are my father's prayer, good news of Jesus and the dream my mother had when she was pregnant. In that dream, my mother saw a light emitting from her that illuminated the castles of Damascus."¹⁰