Abstract:

All religions have a founding/charismatic leader or prophet. These founding figures played a central role in the institutionalization of those religions, the formation of the scriptures, and the gathering of the first believers. The lives of these religious founders are accepted as binding examples for their followers. All their lives, from birth to death, have been a matter of curiosity for believers. However, information about the lives of many was recorded sometimes years and sometimes centuries after their deaths. Different narrations about the birth of founders of religion or prophets before the Prophet Muhammad have been mentioned in the sources. Some of them have been transferred from generation to generation by the members of religion in an exaggerated and mythological manner. The other part of narrations are historical facts mentioned both in the Quran and other holy books. The mention of the miracles of Jesus such as his birth without a father and his speech in the cradle in the Quran caused the similar narrations to be included for the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the books of Irhasat and Dala’il in particular. Similarly, information is given in the Quran regarding the birth of Moses and the events that took place after it. Information similar to these narrations is also found in Jewish sources. The fact that the mothers of religious founders miraculously get pregnant, the presence of a light or a light motif at birth seem to be prominent similarities. Examples include Lao-Tzu’s mother getting pregnant from a light, a heavenly light covering the house at the birth of Zarathustra, and the light seen by the midwife who gave birth to Moses. The appearance of mysterious beings during birth and the help of these beings from time to time are also mentioned among the extraordinary events reported. Five mysterious people visting their homes during the birth of Confucius and the guidance of Jesus by a voice he heard during his birth and facilitating the birth can be seen among the miracles expressed. In addition, dreams and the good news given in dreams is considered as a distinctive feature of the births of religious founders. The dreams by the mothers of Mahavira and Budda and the dreams of Mary’s fiancée, Joseph, can be cited as such examples. Another similarity is the information given to the parents about the importance of the child to be born. In fact, it is stated in the sources that information such as how important people Ismail, Confucius, Mahavira, Budda and many others will be in the future, that they will dominate the whole world, that their ancestry will spread all over the world is given to their parents. In some cases, the names to be given to the baby to be born are mentioned. The narrations that the names of Ismail and Jesus were reported to their parents can be regarded as the best examples of this situation. The accounts that the founders of religion lived in heaven or in a heavenly place before coming to this world and that they wanted to come to the world to destroy the evil in the world also have an important place in relation to the birth event. The wish of Mahavira and Budda to come to earth and the sending of Jesus as a sacrifice to cleanse humanity from the original sin can be seen as examples of the narrations mentioned. In this article, the narrations about the birth of founders of religion or prophets before the Prophet Muhammad will be analyzed comparatively. Information about narrations in scriptures, historical works and mythological works will be included. The method of comparison will be used when dealing with these narrations. Similar and different aspects of the narrations about the birth of different religious founders will be highlighted. The similarities and differences between these narrations and those about the birth of the Prophet will be revealed. Thus, the reader will better understand the source of the narrations about the birth of the Prophet in the books and the reasons why such narrations were written.

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