The birth of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
The master of the children of Adam, Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullah ﷺ, was born in Makkah in the Year of the Elephant, on a Monday of Rabiʿ al-Awwal, fatherless, among Banu Hashim, the noblest of the houses of the Arabs — his birth the dawn of a new history for humankind.
He ﷺ was born in the Year of the Elephant — the year in which Allah destroyed the People of the Elephant who came to demolish the Kaʿba. His father ʿAbdullah died before his birth, so his grandfather ʿAbd al-Muttalib, then his uncle Abu Talib, cared for him, and Halima al-Saʿdiyya nursed him among the desert of Banu Saʿd.
It is authentically reported that when he ﷺ was asked about fasting Monday, he said: "That is a day on which I was born and a day on which I was sent — or on which revelation came to me." So it is established, without dispute, that his birth was on a Monday.
He ﷺ grew up in Makkah known as the Truthful and Trustworthy, until Allah sent him at forty as a mercy to the worlds. He brought people from darkness into light and left his Ummah on a clear path, its night like its day.
Note — differing reports on the date: It is agreed that he was born on a Monday in Rabiʿ al-Awwal of the Year of the Elephant; the day is disputed — the 2nd, 8th, 9th and 12th are reported — the most famous among the majority being 12 Rabiʿ al-Awwal, while some modern astronomers favour the 9th.