more clean up and questions i think the first paragraph in early childhood needs a bit of a rewrite i propose muhammad was born about the year and his birthday is believed to be in the month of rabi' al awwal he belonged to the banu hashim clan part of the quraysh tribe and was one of mecca's prominent families although it appears the clan was less prosperous during muhammad's early lifetime tradition places the year of muhammad's birth as corresponding with the year of the elephant which is named after the failed destruction of mecca by the aksumite king abraha who supplemented his army with elephants alternatively some th century scholars have suggested different years such as or thoughts