CHAPTER 2: HIS NURSEMAIDS AND WET NURSES
His Nursemaids and Wet Nurses
Umm Aiman, whose name was Barakah was his nursemaid and the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) had inherited her from his father. When he grew up, he manumitted her and married her to his freed slave, Zaid Ibn Harithah and she bore him Usamah Ibn Zaid (may Allah be pleased with them all). The freed slave of his uncle, Abu Lahab, whose name was Thuwaibah, breastfed him, with his mother before Haleemah As-Sa‘diyyah.
Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their Saheehain, on the authority of Umm Habeebah Bint Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said, “O, Messenger of Allah! Marry my sister, the daughter of Abu Sufyan.” The Prophet said, “would you like that?” She replied, “yes, for even now I am not your only wife and I would like that my sister should share the good with me.” The Prophet said, “but that is not lawful for me.” She said, “we have heard that you want to marry the daughter of Abu Salamah (or in another narration: Durrah, the daughter of Abu Salamah).” He said, “(do you mean) the daughter of Umm Salamah?” She said, “yes.” He said, “even if she were not my stepdaughter, she would be unlawful for me to marry as she is my foster niece. I and Abu Salamah were suckled by Thuwaibah. So you should not present your daughters or your sisters (in marriage) to me.” Urwah added, “Thuwaibah was the freed slave girl of Abu Lahab whom he had manumitted, and then she suckled the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him). When Abu Lahab died, one of his relatives saw him in a dream in a very bad state and asked him, “What have you encountered?” Abu Lahab said, “I have not found any good since I left you, except that I have been given water to drink in this (the space between his thumb and other fingers) and that is because of my manumitting Thuwaibah.”
Wet-Nursing of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) by Haleemah Bint Abi Dhu’aib As-Sa‘diyyah
Muhammad Ibn Ishaq narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah Ibn Ja‘afar Ibn Abi Talib that he said, “It was related regarding Haleemah Bint Al-Harith that she said, ‘I came to Makkah with a group of women’…” and Al-Waqidi cited with his isnad that they were ten in number and that they were from Banu Sa‘d Ibn Bakr who had come looking for children to wet-nurse during a year of drought. She added, “I arrived on a white donkey belonging to me. I had our baby with me and an old she-camel, which I swear by Allah (SWT) did not give us even a drop of milk. We did not get even a moment of sleep that night because my hungry baby was crying and there was no milk to be had from my breast or from the she-camel with which to feed him. When we reached Makkah, we looked for children to suckle and the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) was offered to every woman among us, but they all refused him saying that he was an orphan. That was because we hoped for a good reward from the child’s father. We said, ‘An orphan! And what can his mother do?’ We disliked to take him because of that. Every woman who came with me found a child to suckle but I. Before we departed, I said to my husband, ‘By Allah, I hate to return among my friends without a baby to suckle. I will go and take that orphan.’ He said, ‘There is no harm for you if you do. Perhaps Allah will bless us through this orphan.’ So I went and took him because there was no other alternative. On my way back, as soon as I put him in my lap, my breasts overflowed with milk, which he drank until he was satisfied and so did his foster brother. Then both of them slept, while before this, we had not been able to sleep because of my son’s crying. My husband went to the old she-camel to milk it and to his surprise, its udders were full. He milked it and we both drank the milk until we were completely satisfied; and thereafter, we spent a good night. In the morning, my husband said, ‘By Allah, Haleemah, you have taken a blessed child. Have you not observed the goodness and blessings that we have enjoyed since you took him last night?’ And Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful continued to bestow blessings on us. I carried him with me, as we rode back on my jenny (female donkey) and it went at such a speed that the other donkeys could not keep up with it, so that my fellow travelers said to me, ‘Woe to you, O, daughter of Abu Dhu’aib! Is this the same jenny that you rode when you set out with us?’ I said, ‘Yes, by Allah, it is the very same.’ They said, ‘By Allah, there is certainly something unusual about it!’ At last
we reached the land of Banu Sa‘d and I do not know of any land more parched and drought-stricken than that land. But in spite of this, my sheep would graze and return with udders filled with milk and we would take as much as we wanted, while the sheep of all those around us did not give a single drop of milk. Their sheep became so hungry that their owners would say to their shepherds, ‘Woe to you!
See where the sheep of the daughter of Abu Dhu’aib are grazing and let your sheep graze with them.’ So they would put them to graze where my sheep were grazing, but their sheep would return hungry and without a drop of milk in their udders. My sheep, on the other hand, would return with udders full of milk and we would take what
we wished. Allah continued to bestow this blessing on us, which we gratefully acknowledged, until Muhammad reached two years of age, at which time, he was growing at a rate that exceeded that of the other children. By Allah, by the time he had attained the age of two years, he was a sturdy child. So we took him to his mother, though we were keen to keep him with us because of the blessings we had enjoyed as a result of having him. When his mother saw him, I said to her, ‘Let us return with our boy next year, for we fear that he may be affected by the infectious disease that is present in Makkah.’ By Allah, we continued to press her until she said, ‘Yes, ‘ and she let him go with us. He remained with us for two or three months after that. Then one day, while he was outside, behind our dwellings with a foster brother of his, playing with our lambs, that foster brother came running to us and said, ‘Two men wearing white garments came to my Quraishi brother and they laid him down and cut open his belly!’ My husband and I went out and raced over to him and we found him standing, his face pale. My husband embraced him and said, ‘O, my son! What happened to you?’ He said, ‘Two men wearing white garments came to me and they laid me down and opened up my belly. Then one of them took something out of it and they cast it aside. Then they returned it (my belly) to its former state.’ So we took him back to the house with us. My husband said, ‘O, Haleemah! I fear that something might have befallen our son, so let us take him back to his family before something that we fear appears in him.’
Haleemah said, ‘So we carried him to his mother and when we arrived, she said, what has caused you to return him, when you were earlier insisting that he remain with you? We said, ‘No, by Allah; it is only because Allah has allowed him to reach this age and we have fulfilled our duty. We were afraid that some harm may befall him and so we have brought him back to you as you requested.’ She felt that this was not the case and so she insisted to know the truth until I told her what had happened. Then she said, ‘Do you fear that he has been possessed by Satan? Nay! By Allah, Satan has no way to control him, for he has a great future in store for him. Shall I not inform you about
him?’ We said, ‘Certainly! I bore him and by Allah, I have not born a lighter load than him. I saw in a dream when I was carrying him that it was as if when I delivered him, a light was emitted from me which illuminated the palaces of Ash-Sham. Then it happened thus when I gave birth to him and he supported himself on his hands and raised his head to the heaven. So leave him’.” This Hadith has been narrated from other sources and it is well-known and widely circulated among the scholars of military campaigns and battles.
Ibn Ishaq said, “I was informed by Thawr Ibn Yazeed, who reported on the authority of Khalid Ibn Ma‘dan, who in turn reported on the authority of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) that they said to him, ‘Inform us about yourself.’ He said, ‘Yes: I am the supplication of my father, Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) and the glad tidings of ‘Eesa (Peace be upon him); and my mother saw in a vision when she was carrying me that a light was emitted from her which illuminated the palaces of Ash-Sham. I was breastfed among Banu Sa‘d Ibn Bakr and while I was playing with their lambs, two men wearing white garments came to
me and they had a golden bowl with them which was filled with ice. They laid me down and they opened up my belly, then they removed my heart and they cut it open and removed a black clot from it and threw it away. Then they washed my heart and my belly with that ice and when they purified it, they put it back in its place as it had been before. Then one of them said to the other, ‘Weigh him against ten of his nation, ‘ so he did and I outweighed them. Then he said, ‘Weigh him against a hundred of his nation, ‘ so he did and I outweighed them. Then he said, ‘Weigh him against a thousand of his nation, ‘ so he did and I outweighed them. Then he said, ‘Leave him, for if you were to weigh him against the whole of his nation, he would outweigh them’.” The isnad of this Hadith is good, strong.
And it has been confirmed in Saheeh Muslim on the authority of Anas Ibn Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) that Jibraeel (Peace be upon him) came to the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) while he was playing with the other boys and he took him and lay him down on the ground, cut open his breast and took the heart out from it. Then he extracted a clot from it and said: “That was the part of Satan in you.” Then he washed it with the water of Zamzam in a golden basin and then it was joined together and restored to its place. The boys came running to his mother, (i.e. his nurse) and said, “Verily, Muhammad has been murdered. They all rushed toward him (and found him all right) though his color was changed.” Anas said, “I, myself, saw the marks of the needle on his chest.”
Ibn Ishaq said, “‘Abdullah Ibn Abi Bakr Ibn Muhammad Ibn ‘Amr Ibn Hazm informed me that the mother of the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him), Aminah, died when he was six years old at Al-Abwa’, which lies between Makkah and Al-Madinah. She had taken him to Al-Madinah to visit his uncles from Banu ‘Adiyy Ibn An-Najjar, but she died on the way back to Makkah.”
Imam Ahmad narrated on the authority of Buraidah that he said, “We set out with the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) and journeyed until we reached Waddan. At this point, the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘Remain in your places until I come to you.’ Then he came to us with a troubled
expression and said, ‘I went to the grave of Umm Muhammad (i.e. his mother) and I asked my Lord to let me intercede for her. But He refused me. Previously, I had forbidden you to visit the graves, now you may visit them. I had also forbidden you to eat the meat of sacrificial animals after three days, now you may eat it and keep it
with you as long as you see fit. And I forbade you to drink from these vessels, now drink as you see fit’.”
Muslim narrated on the authority of Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) that he said, “The Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) visited the grave of his mother and he wept, causing those around him to weep. Then he said, ‘I sought
permission from my Lord to visit the grave of my mother and He permitted me. Then I sought permission from Him to ask forgiveness for her, but He did not permit me. So visit the graves, for it will remind you of death’.”
What is meant is that ‘Abdul-Muttalib died while still an adherent to the religion of the Jahiliyyah; this view is in contrast to the claim of the Shiites regarding him and his son, Abu Talib, as we shall see when we discuss the death of Abu Talib. Al-Baihaqi said, after narrating these Ahadeeth in his book: Dala’il An-Nubuwwah, “And how could the parents of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) and his grandfather not be as described in these Ahadeeth in the Hereafter, when they used to worship idols until they died and they did not follow the religion of ‘Eesa (Peace be upon him)? But
their disbelief does not diminish his lineage, because the marriages of the disbelievers are valid: Do you not see that when they embrace Islam, they are not required to renew their marriage contract or to split up?”
I say: The information that the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) has conveyed to us regarding his parents and his grandfather, ‘Abdul-Muttalib, i.e. that they are among the inhabitants of the Fire, does not contradict the Hadith which is related from him via numerous sources, which states that the People of the Fatrah, children, the insane and the deaf will not be put to trial on the Day of Resurrection, as we have explained in detail in our explanation of the Words of Allah, Most High: “And We never punish…” (Soorah Al-Isra 17:15). Among them are those who respond positively and among them are those who do not; and these people are among those who do not respond, so there is no contradiction. All praise and thanks be to Allah (SWT), from Whom proceeds all grace. As for the Hadith cited by As-Suhaili – which he said contains in its chain of narrators two unknown persons up to Ibn Abi Az-Zinad, who reported on the authority of ‘Urwah, who in turn reported on the authority of ‘A’ishah
(may Allah be Pleased with her) – in which it was stated that the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) asked his Lord to return his parents to life and that He did so, after which they both believed in him, it is totally munkar, even though it is possible for Allah, the Omnipotent to do so, it contradicts what has been reported in the Saheeh. And Allah knows better.
Ibn Ishaq said, “The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) was with his grandfather, ‘Abdul-Muttalib Ibn Hashim, i.e. after the death of his mother, Aminah Bint Wahb. A mattress used to be placed for ‘Abdul-Muttalib in the shade of the Ka‘bah and his sons would sit around that mattress until he came out to it and out of respect for him, none of them would venture to sit on it.” He said, “Yet the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) would come – though he was but a young boy – and his uncles would hold him in order to restrain him from going on it, but if ‘Abdul-Muttalib saw them doing that, he would say, ‘Leave my son,
for by Allah, he has a great future before him.’ Then he would make him sit beside him on his mattress and he would stroke his back with his hand and it used to please him to see what the young boy did. He said to Umm Aiman, who was the child’s nurse, ‘O, Barakah! Do not neglect my son, for I have found him with other boys near to As-Sidrah and the People of the Scripture claim that my son is the Prophet of this nation.’ And whenever Abdul-Muttalib ate, he would say, ‘I must have my son!’ Then he would be brought to him.”
Regarding His Journey With His Uncle, Abu Talib to Ash-Sham and What Happened With Baheera, the Monk
Ibn Ishaq said, “Then Abu Talib set out with a trading caravan to Ash-Sham and when he was preparing to depart, the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) attached himself closely to him, according to what has been claimed, and this touched Abu Talib’s heart and he said, ‘By Allah, I will certainly take him with me
and I will never be parted from him, nor will he ever be parted from me!’ Or he said words similar to these. Then, when the caravan camped at Busra, in the land of Ash-Sham, they found there a monk, whose name was Baheera, who was staying in his hermitage. He was well-versed in Christianity. It was claimed that this monk had always lived in that hermitage, where he gained his knowledge from a book which had been handed down from generation to generation. That year, when they stayed near Baheera, he prepared for them a great feast, unlike most years, when they passed by him and he would not speak to them or pay any attention to them. Then he sent a message to them, saying, ‘I have prepared food for you, O, assembly of Quraish and I would like all of you to attend, including the old and the young, the slaves and the freemen.’ Due to his tender years, the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) stayed behind under a tree, to take care of his people’s baggage. When Baheera saw them, he did not see the sign that he knew about and he said, ‘O, assembly of Quraish! Let none of you fail to partake of my food.’ They said, ‘O, Baheera! No one who should come to you has stayed behind, except a boy, who is the youngest of us, and who has remained behind to take care of our baggage.’ He said, ‘Do not do that. Invite him and let him partake of the food with you.’ Then, when the people finished eating their food and dispersed, Baheera came over to him and said to him, ‘O, Boy! I ask you by Al-Lat and Al-‘Uzza to answer what I am going to ask you.’ Baheera only said this to him because he had heard Quraish swearing by them. It is claimed that the
Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said to him, ‘Do not ask me anything by Al-Lat and Al-‘Uzza, for by Allah, I have never despised anything as much as I despise these two.’
Baheera said to him, ‘Then by Allah, will you answer me anything that I ask you?’ He said, ‘Ask me whatever you like.’ So he began to ask him about things pertaining to his situation, including his sleep, his appearance and affairs in general. The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) answered him and his answers agreed with the information that Baheera had regarding his description. Then he looked at his back and he saw the seal of Prophethood between his shoulders, in the place which was in accordance with the description found in his book. When he finished, he went over to his uncle, Abu Talib and he said, ‘what is this boy to you?’ Abu Talib replied, ‘he is my son.’ Baheera replied, ‘he is not your son.’ Abu Talib said, ‘then he is my brother’s son.’ Baheera asked, ‘and what happened to his father?’ He replied, ‘his father died while his mother was pregnant with him.’ Baheera said, ‘you have spoken the truth. Return with this nephew of yours to his land and protect him against the Jews, for by Allah, if they see him and recognize in him what I have recognized, they will contrive evil against him, for this nephew of yours has a great future in store for him. So hasten with him to his land.’ So as soon as he finished his trading business, he departed with him in haste and returned him to Makkah.”
Regarding His Upbringing and Allah’s Sufficiency for Him, His Protection of Him
Muhammad Ibn Ishaq said, “The Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) grew up into a young man and Allah provided food for him and protected him from the evils of the Jahiliyyah in order to preserve his honor and his status as a
Messenger. This continued until he became a man and he was the best of his people in manly virtues and good conduct, the noblest of them in lineage, the best of them in neighborliness, the greatest of them in forbearance and gentleness, the most truthful of them in speech, the most trustworthy of them, the remotest of them from indecency and such behavior as defiles men and causes them to lose their decency and honor. Such was his reputation among his people that even they referred to him as Al-Ameen, because of the righteous attributes that Allah had combined in him. According to what I have been told, the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) spoke of how Allah used to preserve him during his childhood and the period of his ignorance and he said, ‘You might have seen me among boys from Quraish moving stones in order to make a play area. All of us had exposed our private parts by taking our lower garments and placing them on our shoulders, so that we could carry the stones on them. I was going back and forth with them when I felt a painful slap on my face from someone I could not see.
Then the unknown person said, ‘pull your lower garment around you.’ So I took it and pulled it around me, then I began to carry the stones on my shoulder with my companions while wearing my lower garment’.” This story resembles that which is found in the Saheeh regarding the rebuilding of the Ka‘bah. If this is not the same story, then it precedes it, like a preparation for it. And Allah knows better.
Al-Baihaqi narrated on the authority of ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib (May Allah be pleased with him) that he said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) say, ‘I only took an interest in the affairs which preoccupied the people of the Jahiliyyah twice and on both occasions Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful protected me: One night, while a young Makkan man and I were guarding some sheep belong to the people of Makkah, I said to him, look after my sheep for me so that I may go down to Makkah and socialize there as the young men do. He said, Certainly. So I went down to Makkah and approached the first house I came to; from inside I heard the sound of musical instruments playing and I asked, What is this? They said, so-and-so and so-and-so have got married.
So I sat and watched, but Allah struck me on my ear and by Allah, nothing awakened me until I felt the sun on my face. Then I returned to my companion and he asked, What did you do? I said, I did not do anything. Then I informed him of what I had seen. Then on another night, I said to him, Look after my sheep for me so that I may go and socialize. He agreed and I went down to Makkah. When I arrived there, I heard music such as I had heard on the previous occasion and I asked what was happening and was told, It is the marriage of so-and-so and so-and-so. So I sat and watched, but Allah struck me on my ear and by Allah, and by Allah, nothing awakened me until I felt the sun on my face. Then I returned to my companion and he asked me, What did you do? I replied, Nothing. Then I informed him of what had occurred and by Allah, I took no interest and did not repeat anything of that until Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful honored me with Prophethood.” This Hadith is extremely ghareeb. It could be from ‘Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) himself and the words: “…until Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful honored me with Prophethood…” could be an interpolation. And Allah (SWT) knows better.
By Ibn Katheer
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