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and when we were about to depart, I said to my husband: “By Allâh, I do not like to go back along
with the other women without any baby. I should go to that orphan and I must take him.” He said,
“There is no harm in doing so and perhaps Allâh might bless us through him.” So I went and took
him because there was simply no other alternative left for me but to take him. When I lifted him in
my arms and returned to my place I put him on my breast and to my great surprise, I found enough
milk in it. He drank to his heart’s content, and so did his foster brother and then both of them went
to sleep although my baby had not been able to sleep the previous night. My husband then went to
the she-camel to milk it and, to his astonishment, he found plenty of milk in it. He milked it and we
drank to our fill, and enjoyed a sound sleep during the night. The next morning, my husband said:
“By Allâh Haleemah, you must understand that you have been able to get a blessed child.” And I
replied: “By the grace of Allâh, I hope so.”
The tradition is explicit on the point that Haleemah’s return journey and her s ubsequent life, as long
as the Prophet (Peace be upon him)stayed with her, was encircled with a halo of good fortune. The
donkey that she rode when she came to Makkah was lean and almost foundered; it recovered speed
much to the amazement of Haleemah’s fellow travellers. By the time they reached the
encampments in the country of the clan of Sa‘d, they found the scales of fortune turned in their
favour. The barren land sprouted forth luxuriant grass and beasts came back to them satisfied and
full of milk. Muhammad (Peace be upon him) stayed with Haleemah for two years until he was
weaned as Haleemah said:
We then took him back to his mother requesting her earnestly to have him stay with us and benefit
by the good fortune and blessings he had brought us. We persisted in our request which we
substantiated by our anxiety over the child catching a certain infection peculiar to Makkah. At last,
we were granted our wish and the Prophet (Peace be upon him) stayed with us until he was four or
five years of age.
When, as related by Anas in
Sahih Muslim
, Gabriel came down and ripped his chest open and took
out the heart. He then extracted a blood-clot out of it and said: “That was the part of Satan in thee.”
And then he washed it with the water of Zamzam in a gold basin. After that the heart was joined
together and restored to its place. The boys and playmates came running to his mother, i.e. his
nurse, and said: “Verily, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has been murdered.” They all rushed
towards him and found him all right only his face was white.
BACK TO HIS COMPASSIONATE MOTHER:
After this event, Haleemah was worried about the boy and returned him to his mother with whom
he stayed until he was six.
In respect of the memory of her late husband, Amina decided to visit h is grave in Yathrib (Madinah).
She set out to cover a journey of 500 kilometers with her orphan boy, woman servant Umm Ayman
and her father-in-law ‘Abdul-Muttalib. She spent a month there and then took her way back to
Makkah. On the way, she had a severe illness and died in Abwa on the road between Makkah and
Madinah.
BACK TO HIS COMPASSIONATE GRANDFATHER:
‘Abdul-Muttalib brought the boy to Makkah. He had warm passions towards the boy, his orphan
grandson, whose recent disaster (his mother’s death) addedmore to the pains of the past. ‘Abdul-
Muttalib was more passionate with his grandson than with his own children. He never left the boy a
prey to loneliness, but always preferred him to his own kids. Ibn Hisham reported: A mattress was
put in the shade of Al-Ka‘bah for ‘Abdul-Muttalib. His children used to sit around that mattress in
honour to their father, but Muhammad (Peace be upon him) used to sit on it. His uncles would take
him back, but if ‘Abdul-Muttalib was present, he would say: “Leave my grandson. I swear by Allâh
that this boy will hold a significant position.” He used to seat the boy on his mattress, pat his back
and was always pleased with what the boy did.
When Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was eight years, two months and ten days old, his
grandfather ‘Abdul-Muttalib passed away in Makkah. The charge of the Prophet (Peace be upon him)
was now passed on to his uncle Abu Talib, who was the brother of the Prophet’s father.
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