In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you glimpses from the lives of the female Companions,
by Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy upon him.
Halimah al-Sa'diyyah,
may Allah be pleased with her.
This composed and dignified lady
is dear to every Muslim,
and cherished by every believer.
For from her pure breast
the blessed boy, Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah, peace be upon him, suckled.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Upon her bosom, overflowing with love, he slumbered,
and in her lap, brimming with tenderness, he grew.
From her eloquence and the eloquence of her people, the Banu Sa'd, he drank,
so he became the most eloquent of the eloquent in speech,
and the most articulate of the articulate in expression.
She is the noble lady, Halimah al-Sa'diyyah,
the foster mother of our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
The nursing of the blessed child by this lady of Sa'd,
who filled the world with righteousness and mercy,
and saturated it with goodness and guidance,
and adorned it with character and virtue,
is a story among the most wonderful of stories.
Halimah al-Sa'diyyah recounted it with her bright, elegant, and captivating expression,
and her brilliant, graceful, and delightful style.
So come, let us listen to her.
Her account of the noble Prophet, peace be upon him,
is among the most wonderful of accounts.
Halimah al-Sa'diyyah said:
"I set out from our homes,
along with my husband and a young son of ours,
seeking infants to nurse in Makkah.
With us were women from the tribe of Banu Sa'd,
who had set out for the same purpose as I.
That was during a year of drought and famine,
which had scorched the crops and destroyed the livestock,
leaving us with nothing.
We had two old, emaciated she-camels with us,
which did not yield a single drop of milk.
I rode one of them with my young son,
while my husband rode the other.
His camel was even older and more exhausted.
By Allah, we could not sleep at all during our nights,
due to our child’s constant crying from hunger,
for there was nothing in my breast to satisfy him,
nor was there anything in the udders of our camels to nourish him.
We were delayed in our journey
because of our camel’s frailty and weakness,
which caused our companions to become annoyed with us,
and made the journey difficult for them because of us.
When we reached Makkah
and searched for infants to nurse,
I encountered a situation I had not anticipated.
Every woman was offered
the young boy, Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah,
but we all refused him because he was an orphan.
We would say,
'What benefit could we get from the mother of a boy who has no father?'
'And what could his grandfather do for us?'
Then, no more than two days passed,
until every woman with us had secured a foster child.
As for me,
I had not secured anyone.
When we prepared to depart, I said to my husband,
'I hate to return to our homes
and meet our people empty-handed,
without having taken a foster child.'
'There is not one of my companions who does not have a foster child.'
'By Allah, I will go to that orphan
and take him.'
Her husband said to her,
'There is no harm in that.'
'Take him.'
'Perhaps Allah will place goodness in him.'
So I went to his mother and took him.
By Allah, nothing compelled me to take him
except that I found no other boy but him.
When I returned with him to my tent,
I placed him in my lap,
and offered him my breast.
Milk flowed from it as much as Allah willed,
after it had been empty and dry.
The boy drank until he was satisfied,
and his foster brother drank until he was satisfied as well.
Then they both slept.
My husband and I lay down beside them to sleep,
after we had only been able to sleep in snatches
because of our young son.
Then my husband happened to glance at our old, emaciated she-camel,
and behold, her udders were full and overflowing.
He stood up in astonishment,
unable to believe his eyes,
and milked her and drank.
Then he milked for me, and I drank with him,
until we were both full and satisfied.
We spent the best of nights.
When morning came, my husband said to me,
'Do you realize, Halimah, that you have secured a blessed child?'
I said to him, 'Indeed, that is so.'
'And I truly hope for much goodness from him.'
Then we left Makkah,
and I rode our old she-camel,
carrying him with me upon it.
It moved with such vigor that it outpaced all the people's mounts,
to the point that none of their animals could keep up with it.
My companions began to say to me,
'Woe to you, daughter of Abu Dhu'ayb!'
'Slow down for us!'
'Is this not your old she-camel that you set out on?'
I would say to them,
'Yes, by Allah, it is indeed her.'
They would say,
'By Allah, there is something special about her.'
Then we arrived at our homes in the land of Banu Sa'd,
and I know of no land of Allah more barren or more severe in drought.
Yet, our sheep would go out to graze every morning,
feed there, and return in the evening,
and we would milk from them as much as Allah willed,
and drink from their milk as much as we pleased.
No one else among our people could milk a single drop from their sheep.
My people began to say to their shepherds,
'Woe to you!'
'Graze your sheep where the shepherd of the daughter of Abu Dhu'ayb grazes.'
So they began to graze their sheep behind ours,
yet they would return with them hungry, not yielding a single drop.
We continued to receive blessing and goodness from Allah,
until the two years of the boy's nursing were completed,
and he was weaned.
During these two years,
he grew in a way that did not resemble the growth of his peers.
He had barely completed his two years with us
when he became a strong, well-developed boy.
At that point, we brought him to his mother,
while we were most eager for him to stay with us
and remain among us,
because of the blessing we saw in him.
When I met his mother, I reassured her about him and said,
'I wish you would leave my son with me,'
'until he grows stronger and more robust.'
'For I fear for him the plague of Makkah.'
I did not cease to persuade and entice her,
until she let him return with us.
So we returned with him, happy and rejoicing.
Then, no more than a few months had passed since the boy's return with us,
when an event occurred that frightened, alarmed, and shook us deeply.
One morning, he went out with his brother to graze our small flock behind our houses.
Only a short while later,
his brother came running toward us,
and said,
'Catch up with my Qurayshi brother!'
'For two men dressed in white garments have taken him, laid him down,'
'and split open his belly.'
My husband and I rushed toward the boy,
and we found him with a pale face, trembling.
My husband embraced him, and I pressed him to my chest,
and I said to him, 'What is the matter, my son?'
He said,
'Two men in white garments came to me,'
'they laid me down, split open my belly,'
'and searched for something inside it; I do not know what it was.'
'Then they left me and departed.'
We returned with the boy, distressed and fearful.
When we reached our tent,
my husband turned to me with tears in his eyes,
and said,
'I fear that this blessed boy'
'has been afflicted by something we cannot remedy.'
'So take him back to his family,'
'for they are more capable of caring for him than we are.'
We carried the boy and traveled until we reached Makkah,
and entered his mother's house.
When she saw us, she stared at her son's face,
then she immediately asked me,
'Why have you brought Muhammad back, Halimah?'
'You were so eager for him,'
'and had such a strong desire for him to stay with you.'
I said, 'He has grown strong,'
'his constitution has matured,'
'and I have fulfilled my duty toward him.'
'I feared for him because of the circumstances,'
'so I have returned him to you.'
She said, 'Tell me the truth,'
'for you are not one to be anxious about a boy for the reason you mentioned.'
She persisted in asking me,
and did not leave me until I told her what had happened to him.
She calmed down and said,
'Are you afraid that Satan has power over him, Halimah?'
I said, 'Yes.'
She said, 'Never!'
'By Allah, Satan has no way to reach him.'
'My son has a great destiny.'
'Shall I tell you his story?'
I said, 'Yes.'
She said, 'When I was pregnant with him, I saw'
'that a light emerged from me,'
'a light that illuminated for me the palaces of Busra in the land of Sham.'
Then, when I gave birth to him, he descended placing his hands upon the ground,
raising his head toward the sky.
Then she said,
"Leave him be and go forth in peace,
and may you be rewarded with goodness on our behalf and on his."
So my husband and I departed, grieving with the deepest sorrow over his separation,
and our young son was no less saddened than we were by his departure,
and no less filled with anguish and longing for him.
Furthermore,
Halimah al-Sa'diyyah lived until she reached an advanced age,
and then she saw the orphan child whom she had nursed
had become a master for the Arabs,
a guide for humanity,
and a Prophet for all mankind.
She came to visit him after she had believed in him,
and affirmed the Book that was revealed to him.
No sooner did he see her
than he was overcome with joy,
and he began to say,
"My mother!"
Then he took off his cloak and spread it out beneath her,
and he honored her visit with the utmost generosity.
The eyes of the Companions watched him and her with admiration and reverence.
May the prayers and peace of Allah be upon Muhammad, the righteous and loyal,
the possessor of noble character.
And may the pleasure of Allah be upon the lady Halimah al-Sa'diyyah,
the wet nurse of the great Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Halimah al-Sa'diyyah, may Allah be pleased with her,
the mother of the greatest Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, through nursing.