Chapter 5: Mentioning of the Babyhood and Wet-Nurses of the

Messenger of Allaah ﷺ Thuwaibah (the freed slave of Abu Lahab): the first woman who suckled the Prophet ﷺ after his mother. 20 Narrated Umm Habeebah Bint Abu Sufyaan رضي اهلل عنهما: said: O Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ! Marry my sister, (`Azzah) Bint Abu Sufyaan. The Prophet ﷺ said: ❝Do you like that? ❞ I replied: Yes, for even now I am not your only wife and I like that my sister should share the good with me. The Prophet ﷺ said: ❝But that is not lawful for me (to have two sisters together in marriage).❞ I said: We have heard that you want to marry Durrah Bint Abu Salamah. He ﷺ said: ❝(You mean) the daughter of Umm Salamah? ❞ I said: Yes.

He ﷺ said: ❝Even if she were not my step-daughter, 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 to me your daughters or your sisters (in marriage).❞ Narrated `Urwah: Thuwaibah was the freed slave girl of Abu Lahab whom he had manumitted, and then she suckled the Prophet ﷺ. 21 20 After the Prophet’s mother, Thuwaibah, the concubine of Abu Lahab, was the first woman who suckled the Prophet ﷺ with her son, Masrooh. She had from before suckled Hamzah Ibn `Abdul-Muttalib رضي اهلل عنه, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ and later on, she suckled Abu Salamah bin `Abd al-Asad al-Makhzoomee رضي اهلل عنه. Ibn Hajar رمحه اهلل said: “Thuwaibah the freed slave woman of Abu Lahab” – she was mentioned by Ibn Mandah in (his book) “al-Sahaabah”.

He said: There was a difference of opinion as to whether she became Muslim. Abu Nu`aim said: We do not know of anyone who stated that she became Muslim except him (i.e. Ibn Mandah). What it says in the books of Seerah is that the Prophet ﷺ used to honor her and she used to visit him after he ﷺ married Khadeejah, and he ﷺ used to send gifts to her from Madeenah. And after the conquest of Khaybar she died, as did her son Masrooh.

His saying: “Abu Lahab manumitted her and she breastfed the Prophet ﷺ” – the apparent meaning is that he manumitted her before she breastfed the Prophet ﷺ, but what appears in the books of Seerah is the opposite, which is that Abu Lahab only manumitted her before the Hijrah (Prophet’s migration to Madeenah), which was a long time after she had breastfed him. As-Suhayli also narrated that her manumission came before she breastfed the Prophet ﷺ.” [Fath al-Baaree (9/145)] 21 sahih al-Bukhaaree (5101, 5106, 5107, 5372) and the wording are his and sahih Muslim (1449) Shaikh al-Albaanee said: (The narration in sahih al-Bukhaaree) has the additional wording: (`Urwah said): 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 rest since I left you, except that because of my manumitting Thuwaibah, I have been given water to drink in this [the space between his thumb and other fingers].” Haleemah al-Sa`diyyah: Ibn Is-haaq reported that a Companion of the Prophet ﷺ said: O Messenger of Allaah ﷺ! Tell us about yourself. He ﷺ said: ❝Yes, I am the answer to the prayer of my father, Ibraaheem (عليه السالم), and the glad tidings of `Eesa (عليه السالم), and when my mother became pregnant with me, she saw something as if a light came out of her and illuminated the palaces in the land of Syria. I was breastfed in the tribe of Banee Sa`d Ibn Bakr.

While I was (playing) with my (foster) brother behind our house where we used to pasture our sheep and goats, two men approached me. They were wearing white clothes and were carrying a basin of gold filled with ice. They took hold of me and cut open (my chest up to) my abdomen and took out the heart. Then they cut opened my heart and extracted a black blood-clot out of it and cast it away. Then they washed my heart and my chest with that ice till it was cleansed.

Then one of them said to his companion: “Weigh him against ten people from his Ummah.” They weighed me This is how Imaam Ibn Katheer reported with the additional wording of al-Bukhaaree, except that the mentioning of the thumb and fingers are not from the sahih, but this is found in the narration of al-Ismaa`eeli, as mentioned by Ibn Hajar. But I (al-Albaanee) have removed this addition as it does not fulfill our condition. Firstly: It is a Mursal narration. Secondly: Even if we find the chain to be uninterrupted, the person who saw the dream is still Majhool (unknown), and there is no proof for his statement. Thirdly: It is a dream, and it has no value (i.e. it is not considered as evidence), especially when it is about this Kaafir, Abu Lahab, about whom Allaah said: ﴿ َّتـ ب ت ي د ا أ ب َل ب َّو ت ب﴾ {Perish the two hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he!} [Surah al-Masad (111): 1] And this is why Ibn Hajar said: This narration indicates that a Kaafir may benefit from his good deeds in the Hereafter, but this opposes the apparent meaning of the Qur’aan, as Allaah تعاىل said: ﴿و ق د م ن ا إ ىل ى م ا ع م ل وا م ن ع م ل ف ج ع ل ن اه ًه ب اء مَّنث ورًا﴾ {And We shall turn to whatever deeds they (disbelievers, polytheists, sinners, etc.) did, and We shall make such deeds as scattered floating particles of dust.} [Surah al-Furqaan (25): 23] I (Ibn Hajar) respond by saying, firstly: this is Mursal narration of `Urwah and he did not mention the name of the person who informed him of this.

Even if we were to accept that the chain is uninterrupted; what is being narrated is only a dream and it cannot be used as evidence (against the established Text). Moreover, the one who had the dream, it is not clear if he had accepted Islaam at that time, and so he counted as evidence. Secondly: even if we assume that it is acceptable, it can be based on what the Prophet ﷺ said specifically about Abu Taalib that the punishment was lessened for him and that he was removed from the depths of Hell to its shallow parts. [Fath alBaaree (9/145)] against them, but I outweighed them. Then he said: “Weigh him against a hundred people from his Ummah.” They weighed me against them, but I outweighed them also. Then he said: “Weigh him against a thousand people from his Ummah.” They weighed me against them, but I outweighed them also.

Then one of them said: “Leave him alone, for if we were to weigh him against his Ummah, he will outweigh them all.” ❞ (Ibn Katheer said): The chain of this narration is “Jayyid - Qawiy”. 22 Imaam Ahmad reported (in his Musnad) and Abu Nu`aim in “al-Dalaail”, on the authority of `Utbah Ibn `Abd that a person asked the Prophet ﷺ, saying: Tell us about your early life, O Messenger of Allaah! He ﷺ said: I was breastfed in the tribe of Banee Sa`d Ibn Bakr. I and a son of hers went out with the sheep and goats and we did not take any provision with us. So I said to him: O my brother! Go to our mother and bring back some provision for us.

So my (foster) brother went away while I stayed with the sheep. Then two white birds came as if they were like eagles (or vultures). One of them said to the other: “Is he the one?” The other said: “Yes!” Then they approached me hurriedly and took hold of me and made me lie down on my back and cut open (my chest up to) my abdomen. Then they took out my heart and cut it open and took out from it two black blood-clots. Then one of them said to his companion: “Bring me the water and ice”; and they washed my chest with it.

Then one of them said: “Bring me the water with hailstones”; and they washed my heart with it. Then one of them said: “Bring me a knife.” Then he made a small hole in my heart. Then one of them said to his companion: “Stitch it”, so he stitched my heart and put the seal on it with the seal of Prophethood. Then one of them said to the other: “But him on one side of the scale and put a thousand people from his Ummah on the (other-side) of the scale. And I watched (the scale with) the thousand people going up and I feared that some of them may tumble over me.

Then one of them said: “Even if his whole Ummah were to be weighed against him, he would (still) outweigh them. Then they departed and they left me. So I got scared and dispersed quickly and went to my (foster) mother (Haleemah) and informed her about the incident and what happened with me. She feared that some evil had touched to me and said: “I seek Allaah’s refuge for you.” So she called for her camel and made me sit on it while she sat behind me and we rode till we reached my mother (Aaminah). She said: “I have fulfilled my trust and my responsibility”.

She then informed her about the incident which happened with me, 22 I (al-Albaanee) say: It is like he said, and the first part of the hadith is reported by al-Haakim with a “sahih” chain. [See footnote no. 15] but she was not surprised. She said: “I saw a light coming out of me which illuminated the palaces in the land of Syria.” 23 In sahih Muslim it is reported on the authority of Anas Ibn Maalik رضي اهلل عنه: ❝Jibreel عليه السالم came to the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ while he was playing with his playmates. He took hold of him and laid him on the ground and then he opened his chest and took out his heart from it and then extracted a blood-clot out of it and said: “That was the Shaitaan’s share of you.” Then he washed it with the water of Zamzam in a golden basin and then he put it back together and returned it to its place. The boys went running to his mother – meaning his wet-nurse (Haleemah) – and said: “Verily Muhammad has been murdered.” They all rushed toward him (and found him all right) but his color was changed.❞ Anas رضي اهلل عنه said: ❝I myself saw the marks of stitching on his chest.❞ 24 23 Musnad Ahmad (17648), Dalaail al-Nubuwwah of al-Baihaqee (2/7) I (al-Albaanee) say: The narrators are of sahih except for Baqiyyah Ibn al-Waleed, who is a Mudallis (i.e. one who gives the wrong impression that he had heard it from the narrator) and he narrated using the phrase “`an” (عن). But in the narration reported by al-Haakim (4230), he clearly mentioned that he has heard it from the narrator.

AlHaakim said: “It is “sahih” as per the condition of Imaam Muslim”, and al-Dhahabee agreed with him. Rather, it is only “sahih” (but not as per the condition of Imaam Muslim), as one of its narrators is Baheer Ibn Sa`d and Imaam Muslim did not report from him. See al-Saheehah (373). 24 sahih Muslim (162) I (al-Albaanee) say: This authentic hadith along with the support of other authentic Ahaadeeth, like the ones which were mentioned earlier and those other than them, which I had pointed out in (Takhreej Fiqh al-Seerah) with my checking pg. 64, yet Shaikh Abu Zahrah, the author of “خامت النبيني”, doubted the authenticity of this incident. Even though he quoted the above hadith of sahih Muslim, he says: “We say that the narrations regarding the incident of “cutting open of the chest” are not free from some form of defect or the other (either in its chain of narration or in its text). If we assume that the narrations are authentic, then we do not say: ‘They are not acceptable!’ Rather, we would only accept them if it was proved that they are authentic.

But the defect (in its chain or text) makes us neither to reject them nor to accept them.” – end of quote of Abu Zahrah. I (al-Albaanee) say: These types of contradictory philosophy made this Shaikh reject these authentic Ahaadeeth, and he is playing with words to deceive (and mislead) the people with what the whisperer (the devil) is whispering (in his heart). The people with the least amount of knowledge and intellect know that if it is proved that there is a defect (in a narration), like the way (Abu Zahrah) is claiming, then by necessity (the narration) becomes not acceptable, because a hadith which has (an apparent) defect (in its chain or text) is not accepted by the scholars. And if the matter is like how he says it is, then it becomes necessary to reject it. So how can he say: “The defect stops us from neither rejecting it nor accepting it”?!

Do you not see that if you were to offer some money to a person and he refuses from taking it; it doesn’t matter what you say about him, either: “he did not accept it” or “he rejected it”, because in the end the meaning is the same and it is not hidden from anyone. So how can it be hidden from him (Abu Zahrah)? And in the Saheehain, from the (long) hadith of Anas Ibn Maalik رضي اهلل عنه regarding the incident of al-Israa’ (the Prophet’s night journey from Masjid al-Haraam to Masjid alAqsa) – which will be mentioned later on – there is another incident of cut opening of the chest on that night, and that it was washed with Zamzam water. There is no contradiction in these two narrations, as the incident of cutting open of the chest happened twice: once during the childhood of the Prophet ﷺ, and the other during the night of al-Israa’, in preparation for his ﷺ ascension to be in the company of the most exalted group (i.e. the angels) and to meet his Lord عز وجل and be in His سبحانه و تعاىل presence. The purpose (here is to mention) the blessings of the Prophet ﷺ which were bestowed upon Haleemah al-Sa`diyyah and her family while he was still an infant.

Moreover, he ﷺ returned (to the people of) Hawaazin their families who were taken as the captives of war (by the Muslims) after the battle which took place (between them and the Muslims). This incident happened a month after the conquest of Makkah. They had appealed to the Prophet ﷺ through their relationship with him through breastfeeding. So he ﷺ freed the captives with affection and kindness towards them. This will be discussed in detail later on, In shaa Allaah.25 Muhammad Ibn Is-haaq said regarding the incident of Hawaazin, on the authority of `Amr Ibn Shu`aib, on the authority of his father, that his grandfather said: “We were with the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ in Hunain, after we had taken their wealth and (their families) as captives, the people of Hawaazin send their delegates and they had (now) accepted Islaam (and became Muslims).

They said: O Messenger of Allaah ﷺ! We are (from your) family and relatives, and we have been inflicted by a calamity which is not hidden from you. So favor us, may Allaah favor you. Their spokesperson, Zuhair Ibn Sard, stood up and said: O Messenger of Allaah ﷺ! Among the captives under the thatched are those who are your maternal The reality is that the Ahaadeeth regarding the “cutting open of the chest” are authentic, and there is no doubt about them, (and no one doubts them) except for those who have weak Imaan (Faith) or who have no Imaan (in the first place).

As for the defect he is claiming, there is no truth to it except for mere claims, and just for distracting (or entertaining) the readers. 25 The Shaikh رمحه اهلل passed away before he could complete his task of checking the book - قدر اهلل وما شاء فعل. One can refer to the original book of Imaam Ibn Katheer “السرية النبوية” or other books on the Prophet’s biography to read more about this incident. aunts and septs through breastfeeding - those who took care of you. Had we breastfed Ibn Abee Shamrah or Nou`maan Ibn al-Mundhir 26 and were we to be afflicted with the same calamity through them as we are suffering through you, we would have expected much from them, (and from you, we expect even more) as you are the best of those who take care. He then recited a few lines of poetry…” 27 This narration was also reported (from a different chain) on the authority of Abee Sard, Zuhair Ibn Jarwal, and he was the chief of his people, who said: “On the Day of Hunain, when the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ held us captives as prisoners of war, while he was segregating between the men and the women, I sat in front of him and made him hear the poetry and reminded him of his nurturing and upbringing in the (land of Hawaazin) during his days of babyhood [and then he recited the poetry] The Messenger of Allaah ﷺ said: ❝As for what belongs to me and to the children of Abdul Muttalib, you may consider them, from now on, as yours. And I will ask my folks-men to give back theirs.❞ Upon hearing that the Ansaar said: “What belongs to us is, from now on, offered to the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ.” 28 And it will be mentioned later on how he ﷺ released for them their kith and kin, and they were six thousand in number, consisting of children and women, and he provided for them numerous cattle and men.

This is all due to his ﷺ instant blessings in this world, so what about his blessings on those who follow him (upon righteousness), in the home of the Hereafter?! 26 [TN: Al-Haarith Ibn Abee Shamrah was the king of Syria and al-Nou`man Ibn al-Mundhir was the king of `Iraaq. [Seerah Ibn Hishaam (2/489)]] 27 Seerah of Ibn Hishaam (4/131), but he did not mention the verses from the poem. The chain of this narration is “Hasan”. Al-Tabaraanee has also reported this from Ibn Is-haaq, and the poetry is mentioned in there. There is a supporting chain for this narration which will be mentioned next. And both these narrations have been discussed in al-Saheehah (3252). 28 Al-Tabaraanee reported this in all of his three Mu`jam (Kabeer, Awsat, and Sagheer) with a chain in which one of its narrators is Majhool, but al-Haafidh (Ibn Hajar) graded it as “Hasan” Al-Dhiyaa’ al-Maqdisee reported this in his “al-Mukhtaar” and it is “Qawy” (strong) due to the previous narration. This is why I have reported it in al-Saheehah as mentioned earlier.