Hadith #552

Arabic Text

English Translation

Ḥaywah and Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Rabbihi both narrated to us saying: Baqiyyah narrated to us, Baḥīr ibn Saʿd narrated to me, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from Ibn ʿAmr al-Sulamī, from ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd al-Sulamī who narrated to them: that a man asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, 'How was the beginning of your affair, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'My wet-nurse was from Banū Saʿd ibn Bakr. I went out with her son among some young sheep of ours, and we did not take any provisions with us. I said, "O brother, go and bring us provisions from our mother." So my brother went and I stayed with the sheep. Then two white birds like eagles came toward me. One of them said to the other, "Is it him?" He said, "Yes." They rushed toward me and seized me, laying me on my back. They split open my belly, then extracted my heart and split it open, removing two black clots from it. One of them said to the other' — Yazīd said in his narration — '"Bring me snow water," and they washed my interior with it. Then he said, "Bring me hail water," and they washed my heart with it. Then he said, "Bring me tranquility (sakīnah)," and he sprinkled it into my heart. Then one said to the other, "Sew it up." So he sewed it up and sealed it with the Seal of Prophethood.' Ḥaywah said in his narration: '"Sew it up" — so he sewed it up — "and seal it with the Seal of Prophethood."' 'Then one said to the other, "Place him in one pan and place a thousand of his ummah in the other pan." I was looking at the thousand above me, fearing that some of them might fall on me. He said, "If his entire ummah were weighed against him, he would outweigh them all." Then they departed and left me. I was terrified, so I went to my mother and told her what had happened. She feared that something had afflicted me and said, "I seek refuge for you in Allah." She saddled a camel and placed me on it' — Yazīd said: 'she carried me' — 'on the saddle and rode behind me until we reached my [real] mother. She said, "Have I fulfilled my trust and my covenant?" and told her what had happened to me. That did not alarm her, and she said, "I saw a light come forth from me that illuminated the palaces of Shām."'