By Sadaf Azhar – Hiba magazine Assistant Editor
Aminah- his birth mother
The Prophet ﷺ was the son of Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib ibn Hashim, the tenth son who was spared from sacrifice. So the Prophet (sa) was the son of ‘Zabihatan’- the two destined to be saved from sacrifice- his father Abdullah and his forefather, Prophet Ismail (as).
Abdul Muttalib, the Prophet’s (sa) grandfather, married his son Abdullah to Amina bint Wahab ibn Abd Manaf of noble lineage. Amina’s father, Wahab, was the chief of the tribe of Banu Zuhra. Abdullah was slightly over the age of 20 years old and Amina was a teenager. The very young couple had only, some narrations say, as little as four days, a few days, weeks or months together before Abdullah embarked on what was known as Rihlatu As-Saif, the summer travel which was to greater Syria (Ash-Sham) to earn a living. He did not know that he was about to become a father. Unfortunately, he fell ill around Madinah and he died, but no one knows where his grave is.
Aminah, a teenage mother-to-be, was left bereft- her child would be born as an orphan. On top of that, Abdullah never had a chance to make money, so she only had a few camels, a small number of goats, and one female servant, Umm Ayman ﷺ, who would later serve as the nurse of the Prophet ﷺ as well. Her father-in-law, Abdul Muttalib, stepped in and helped even though he was a very old man by then.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was born as an orphan in a society where orphans were open to exploitation. His grandfather named him and as per the custom of the Quraysh, Amina sought to find a wet nurse for him.
Halima- his foster nurse
The women of Quraysh, particularly from noble tribes, used to send out their children to a desert tribe named Banu Sa’ad. Here, the children would be nursed in the desert so they become accustomed to the minimalistic life. They would learn the purest Arabic language from Banu Sa’ad who spoke it beautifully, far from Makkah where different cultures and different tribes interacted adulterating the Arabic language.
Also, in Makkah children were prone to diseases that people would bring back from travel. However, Banu Sa’ad was located in an area that is about 70 kilometers south of Ta’if- it was actually one of the Hawazin. It was a remote place, where news of Makkah reached once a year when they would visit Makkah to bring infants of the elite. They would bring these children for a year or two and earn for their keep. This was how Halima bint Abi Duaib, also known as Halima as-Sadiyyah nursed the Prophet (sa).
She was true to her name- forbearing, gentle and patient. Halima bint Abi Duaib and her husband, al-Harith ibn Abdul Uzza (also known as Abi Kabsha) had an elder daughter named Al-Shayma, and she also had a newborn son which is why she was able to nurse. Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in Zad al-Ma’ad that his name was Abdullah. That particular year was a year of famine and they had absolutely nothing to eat. Theirs was the most stricken home of the homes of Banu Sa’ad. They would not be able to sleep because of hunger and prayed for rain as a relief.
As a result, she couldn’t produce any milk. They had only two animals- an old brown donkey and a malnourished she-camel. Their trip to Makkah was out of desperation, in the hopes of earning some money. It was an arduous journey and because of weakness, their animals kept lagging. The women of Banu Saad would look for either a rich or influential family so that they could benefit either now or later when the child would grow into a leadership position.
Unfortunately, not only was the Prophet ﷺ an orphan, he had inherited nothing from his father ﷺ. But he was the only child that was left. Halima initially did not take him ﷺ. But none of the other women wanted to give Halima their child, because she was malnourished. Halima, however, did not want to return empty-handed after such a difficult trip so Halima took the Prophet ﷺ for two years hoping some good would come out of it.
The Barakah of the child
Surprisingly, their fortunes started to turn almost immediately. Their malnourished camel suddenly had udders full of milk and seemed energized. On the return journey, their weak old donkey that used to lag behind now trotted faster than any other animal.
In addition, when she held Muhammad ﷺ the first time to nurse him, she suddenly was full of milk. She knew that this was a special child even though she did not understand the concept of Barakah. She had enough milk to be able to nusrse both the Prophet (sa) and her own son, Abdullah. Her husband exclaimed: ‘Halima, you’ve put your hands on something blessed!’
When they returned home, despite the famine, they had food and milk- even their sheep began to give milk. Shayma, the foster-sister of the Prophet, ﷺ, said to Halima that when he walks, there’s a cloud that’s over him all the time. ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ thrived in the pure desert air. When he returned to Makkah, Abdul Mutalib, remarked: ‘He has the beauty of Quraish in him and he has the eloquence of Sa’d.’
But when the two year period ended, Halima did not want to return him to Amina. This was unusual but Amina agreed, seeing how beautiful, eloquent, playful and happy he was.
However an uncanny occurrence terrified Halima and she decided to return Muhammad (sa) to his biological mother. Be on the look out in the second part of this series about ‘The mothers of the Prophet (sa)’ to discover what happened that alarmed Halima so much.
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