Part 15

As for Umm Aiman, she was a maid who belonged to ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib, and she was from Abyssinia. When the Prophet # was born, and after his father had died, Umm Aiman nursed the Prophet #%. Then, when the Messenger of Allah 2% grew older, he #2 freed her and married her off to Zaid ibn Haarithah 4s. The Prophet #% died first, and then Umm Aiman % died five months later.)

‘Abdullah ibn Ja’far said, “When the Messenger of Allah 2 was born, Haleemah bint Al-Haarith came among a group of

UT Saheeh Bukhaaree, “The Book of Marriage”; chapter, “And Your Mothers From Breast-feeding.”” Hadeeth number: 5101.

women from (the tribe of) Banu Sa’d ibn Bakr, all of whom were looking for infants in Makkah.” It was common during those times for women who lived in the city to give up their infants for a while to women who lived in the desert. Those women were wetnurses; they would rear and breastfeed the infants for a number of months or years, depending on the child. The theory behind this practice was that children who were raised in the desert were at a safe distance from the diseases that commonly afflicted city-dwelling people; furthermore, in the desert, a child would grow up independent and strong, both physically and mentally; and he would learn pure, grammatically correct Arabic, and avoid picking up the slang that was often spoken in the city. Haleemah % herself related the rest of the narration:

“T left among the first group of women, riding a female donkey - which was Qamraa (a colour that is close to either green or white and that contains some mixture of brownness or dullness in it) - that belonged to me. With me was my husband, Al-Haarith ibn ‘Abdul-’Uzzah, one of the children of Sa’d ibn Bakr, who became a part of the Banu Naadirah clan. Our female donkey had become afflicted with bloody wounds (because of the length of the journey). I also brought along an old camel, but by Allah, it would not give forth even a drop of milk. It was a year of drought: people went hungry, to the point that they became very weak and emaciated. Also with me was my son, who, by Allah, did not sleep at night (due to hunger). And I did not even have anything in my hand with which I could distract him. Yet I hoped for rain (and relief). We had sheep, and so we wanted rain. After we arrived in Makkah, the Messenger of Allah # was presented to each one of us, and each one of us disliked (taking) him. We said, “He is an orphan, and it is the father who is kind and generous to the wet nurse. (In the case of this orphan) what can we expect his mother, uncle, or grandfather to do for us?’ Each one of my female companions took an infant (except for me). When I found no other child, I returned to him (the Prophet #) and took him. By Allah, the only reason I took him was that I could find no other infant. I said to my companion (husband), ‘By Allah, I will indeed take this

orphan who is from the children of ‘Abdul-Muttalib; perhaps Allah will benefit us through him, and I will not return with my female companions without having taken anything.’ He said, ‘You are correct (in your decision).’

And so I took him, and returned with him to the place where we had made camp. By Allah, during the very same evening that I brought him with me to the campsite, my breasts gave forth milk, so that I was able to quench his thirst, as well as the thirst of his brother (i.e., her son, and his brother from breast-feeding). His father (again, his father from breast-feeding, and not his blood father) stood up beside the old camel we came with, and he touched it. It was full with milk! And so he milked it. He gave me milk, (and J drank) until my thirst became quenched, and then he drank until his thirst became quenched. He then said, ‘O Haleemah, you do realize, by Allah, that we have taken a blessed soul. Allah has given us through that soul what we could not have hoped for.’ All of us being full, we spent a good and blessed night. Previously, we could not sleep at night with our own child.

Then my companions and I set out for the return journey to our lands. I mounted my Al-Qamraa female donkey, and I carried him (the Prophet #%) with me. By the One Who has the soul of Haleemah in His Hand, I raced past the rest of the caravan; the women exclaimed, ‘Hold on for us! Is this the female donkey that you set out with (at the beginning of our journey)?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘But it had bloody wounds (on its legs) when we arrived, so what happened to it (to cause this change)?” I said, ‘By Allah, I am carrying upon it a blessed boy.’

So we continued our journey, and with the passing of every day Allah % increased us in goodness. When we arrived (home), the lands were afflicted with drought. Our flocks would go out for grazing, and would then return. The sheep of (the) Banu Sa’d (tribe) returned hungry; meanwhile, my sheep returned with their stomachs full and with plenty of milk in them. We would milk (our sheep) and (then) drink. They (the rest of the tribe) would

say, ‘What is it with the sheep of Al-Haarith ibn ‘Abdul-"Uzzah, and the sheep of Haleemah: they come back full and with plenty of milk in them. Woe upon you (they would say to one another)! Go out to pasture where the sheep of their flock go out to pasture.’ They would do so, but as would happen before, their flocks would return hungry; meanwhile, my flock would also return as before (full and with plentiful milk).

And the way in which the Prophet #% grew was very different from the way in which all other children grow: “He grew ina single day the normal growth of an entire year. When he was fully two years old, both his father (i.e., his father from breast-feeding) and I took him to Makkah. We said, ‘By Allah, as long as we are able to keep him, we will never part from him.’ When we met with his mother, we said, ‘By Allah, we have never seen a boy who is more blessed than he is, and we fear upon him the plague and diseases that are rampant in Makkah (Aaminah herself was sick at the time), so let us take him back with us, at least until you are cured from your sickness.’ We continued to persist until she finally gave her permission. We took him back with us and stayed (in our homeland) for 3 or 4 months. While he and his brother (.e., her son, and his brother from breast-feeding) were playing behind the houses (in the area) among a group of small goats and sheep that belonged to us, his brother suddenly (left him and) came racing back to us, and said, ‘Verily, (something has happened to) my brother from the Quraish! Two men, both wearing white garments, came to him, took him, and made him lie down. Then, they split open his stomach.’

His father and I went racing outside, and when we reached him, we found him to be standing up; the colour of his face had completely changed. When he saw us, he raced towards us, crying. Both his father and I embraced him, and tightly held him close to us. (One of us said,) ‘What is the matter with you, may my mother and father be sacrificed for you?’ He said, ‘Two men came to me and made me lie down, they split open my stomach, put something with (or in) it, and then returned it as it was before.’

His father said, ‘By Allah, I am sure that my son has become afflicted (with madness or something similar); let us return to his family, and give him back to them, before something we really fear happens to him.’ And so we took him back to his mother, who, upon seeing us, reproached us for what we were doing and said, ‘What made you bring him back before I asked you to do so? Before, you were indeed bent upon restraining him among yourselves.’ We said, ‘Nothing is the matter. Allah has decreed an end to his breast-feeding, and we are happy with what we see (in terms of his health, etc.).’ She said, ‘Something has happened with you, so tell me about it?’ She did not leave us alone until we told her what had happened. She then said, ‘No! By Allah, Allah would not do that with him. Indeed, my son has a great purpose ahead of him. Shall I not inform you about him? I carried him (in my womb), and by Allah, I never carried a load that was lighter and easier upon me than he was. Then, when I carried him, I was made to see light come out of me, light that illuminated the necks of camels in Basra (or she said, ‘illuminated the castles of Basra’). Then I delivered him and by Allah, he did not come out as other children do; he came out, supporting himself with his hands on the ground; and his head was raised towards the sky.’ She took him, and we departed.”")

Lessons and Benefits from This Story

1) The student of Seerah sees signs and manifestations of the Prophet’s blessedness throughout his life; during the Prophet's infancy, Haleemah % greatly benefited from his blessedness. Once she took the Prophet #¢ into her life, she began to produce a great deal of milk, though previously her

{0 Abu Ya’laa, in Mujma’ Az-Zawanid (8/221), and As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah, with the Explanation of Al-Khushanee (1/214), by way of Ibn Ishaaq. In the narration of As-Seerah, Ibn Ishaaq explicitly said that he heard the narration (from another narrator). Commenting on this Hadeeeth, Adh-Dhahabee said in As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah (pg. 8), “This Hadeeth has a good chain, and there are corroborating narrations that strengthen (its grading); therefore, based on those corroborating narrations, the Hadeeth is Hasan (acceptable).””

The Noble Life of the Prophet

breasts did not have enough milk in them for even a single child - her son. Haleemah’s child would cry a lot, thus preventing his mother from sleeping at night, a situation that changed after Haleeman % took custody of the Prophet #. Having plentiful milk to drink, both son and mother began to spend comfortable and relaxed nights. The Prophet’s blessedness also became manifested in the sheep that belonged to Haleemah % and Haarith #, for they began to flow with plentiful milk, though previously their udders would remain dry and empty.