Was the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, born circumcised and with a cut umbilical cord?
Fatwa No: 92702

Question

Was Prophet Mohammed delivered clean from his mother's womb (i.e., free from any dirt/blood stains), and was the maternal chord (connecting him to his mother) already detached? One of the great scholars of the Tableeghi Jamaat (Sh. Taariq Jameel) said so, in one of his lectures. Please advise, if there is any truth in it.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

 

It is reported in some narrations that the Prophet was born with a cut umbilical cord and circumcised, but these narrations are either weak or fabricated. Indeed, there are other Prophetic narrations which contradict the above narrations, which state that 'Abdul-Muttalib, the grandfather of the Prophet circumcised him on the seventh day. It is for this reason that some scholars adopt the view that he was not born circumcised.

Among these scholars was Ibn Al-Qayyim as he stated in his book, Zaad Al-Ma'aad, when he mentioned the first view in this issue,

'One of these opinions is that he was born circumcised with a cut umbilical cord, however, the narration which was reported in this regard is unauthentic. Abu Faraj Ibn Al-Jawzi listed this narration in the book of fabricated narrations. No authentic narration was mentioned in this issue which states that he was born circumcised, and no one can prove it on the pretext that this is peculiar to him as many people were born circumcised.'

As regards him being born clean from any blood stains and the like, then we have not come across any evidence proving this despite the large number of books that we have on the subject.

Allaah Knows best.

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