Splitting of the Chest

# The Splitting of the Prophet's Chest (Shaqq al-Sadr)

An Event That Occurred Twice

The miraculous event known as Shaqq al-Sadr — the opening and purification of the Prophet's ﷺ chest — is recorded as having occurred twice in his life: once during his childhood in the desert with Halimah al-Sa'diyyah, and again on the night of the Isra and Mi'raj. Both instances are referenced in the Quran and corroborated by multiple chains of narration in the hadith corpus. Together they affirm a central theological truth: the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was prepared and purified for his mission from before he received revelation, by Allah Himself.

The Childhood Incident

The first splitting occurred while the Prophet ﷺ was still a young child living with his foster family, the Banu Sa'd in the desert. He was approximately four or five years old. He and his foster brother Abdullah ibn al-Harith were playing among the sheep when two men in white garments appeared — described in the narrations as having the appearance of men but understood by scholars to be angels, with Jibril identified specifically in some versions.

The Prophet ﷺ himself narrated the event later in his life. As recorded in Sahih Muslim: "While I was with a group of boys from Quraysh, Jibril came to me, threw me to the ground, opened my chest, took out my heart, removed from it a clot of blood, and said: 'This is the portion of Shaytan in you.' He then washed it in a basin of gold with Zamzam water, put my heart back together, and replaced it in its place. The boys ran to my foster mother and said: 'Muhammad has been killed!' They came to me and found me with my face changed [pale]. Anas said: I used to see the mark of that incision on the Prophet's chest."

The companion Anas ibn Malik — who was the Prophet's personal servant for many years — attested to seeing the physical scar from this procedure on the Prophet's chest. This is one of the most direct physical attestations in the seerah literature.

Halimah's Terror

From Halimah's perspective, she received a terrified young boy at her doorstep, brought by his equally terrified foster brother who was crying that Muhammad had been killed. When she found him standing — physically unharmed — she examined him carefully and saw nothing wrong except that he was pale and frightened. He told her what had happened.

Halimah's response was to rush him back to his mother Aminah in Mecca — earlier than she had intended to return him. She feared that something sinister had occurred, that the child might be possessed or afflicted. She explained the incident to Aminah. Aminah's response was remarkable for its theological composure: she told Halimah that she had perceived, from the pregnancy itself, that this son had a great destiny, and she did not fear that Shaytan could harm him.

The Theological Significance

Islamic scholars have explained the meaning of this procedure in detail. The "clot of blood" extracted from the Prophet's heart is understood as the portion through which Shaytan's whispers (waswas) could affect a human being — the vulnerability to temptation and the predisposition toward sin that is part of the human condition. Its removal from the Prophet ﷺ before his prophethood does not mean he was incapable of receiving revelation before (he was a child); rather, it represents the divine preparation and protection — isma (prophetic infallibility) in one of its physical manifestations.

The washing with Zamzam water is also significant: Zamzam, the sacred water of Ibrahim, was used to purify the vessel that would carry the final revelation. The Prophet ﷺ himself later described Zamzam as the best water on earth, as nourishment and healing — and in this incident it served as the agent of his own purification before prophethood.

Imam al-Nawawi and other classical scholars addressed the question of whether this procedure implied a deficiency in the Prophet ﷺ: the answer is no. Every human being has the portion of Shaytan's potential access — the Prophet ﷺ was purified of this not because he was deficient, but as an honor and a preparation. He was being made singularly ready for the mission he would receive decades later.

The Second Splitting: The Night of Isra

The second occurrence of the chest-opening is recorded in connection with the Night Journey (Isra and Mi'raj), when the Prophet ﷺ was approximately fifty years old. On that night, before the journey began, Jibril opened his chest again. This time, the context was preparation for standing before Allah's presence — the journey to the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary (Sidrat al-Muntaha) and beyond.

The hadith of Anas in Bukhari and Muslim describes: "The Prophet's ﷺ roof was opened and Jibril descended. He opened the Prophet's chest and washed it with Zamzam water, then brought a golden tray filled with wisdom and belief and poured it into his chest, then sealed it." This second washing was preparation for receiving the direct divine communication that occurred during the Mi'raj — including the obligation of the five daily prayers.

The Quranic Reference

Surah al-Sharh (Chapter 94) is understood by scholars to reference this event:

"Did We not expand for you your chest? And We removed from you your burden which had weighed upon your back, and raised high for you your repute."

The "expansion of the chest" (sharh al-sadr) in the Quranic vocabulary refers to spiritual expansion — the opening of the heart to divine light, guidance, and capacity. The literal and spiritual meanings converge in this surah: the physical procedure of the chest-opening was the concrete manifestation of the spiritual expansion that Allah granted His Prophet ﷺ.

The Mark That Anas Saw

The personal testimony of Anas ibn Malik that he saw the scar on the Prophet's chest is among the most intimate attestations in the seerah. Anas served the Prophet ﷺ from childhood (approximately age ten) until the Prophet's death, and had unparalleled access to his physical person. His description of a visible mark from the chest-opening — not a wound, but a scar, on the man he served daily — is the testimony of an eyewitness confirming what sounded like a miraculous account.

The scar also appears in the descriptions of the Prophet's physical appearance (shama'il) recorded by companions. Al-Tirmidhi's Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya preserves numerous physical descriptions of the Prophet ﷺ, and references to this mark appear in several chains of narration.

Conclusion: A Prophet Prepared from Childhood

The incident of the splitting of the chest establishes that the Prophet's ﷺ preparation for his mission was not something that began when he first received revelation at age forty in Cave Hira. It began in childhood — with a miraculous purification that set him apart from the rest of humanity in a fundamental spiritual sense. He grew up in the desert, among the Banu Sa'd, physically strong and spiritually purified. When revelation came to him decades later, it came to a vessel that had been prepared by Allah's own hands, through His own angels, from the earliest years of the Prophet's life.

Sources: Muslim, Sahih Muslim (Kitab al-Iman); al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari (Kitab Bada al-Khalq); Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya; al-Tirmidhi, Jami al-Tirmidhi; Surah al-Sharh (94:1-3); Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Quran al-Adheem (on Surah al-Sharh)