Part of Treasures of the Prophetic Biography (series completed)
· Lesson 3 of 58
Treasures of biography | Sheikh Othman Al-Khamis | Episode (3) | His birth, may God bless him and grant him peace
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Transcript
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In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
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Treasures of the Seerah.
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The paternal uncles of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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It is mentioned that 'Abd al-Muttalib had twelve sons.
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They were: al-Harith,
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who was the eldest of them,
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Hamzah,
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al-'Abbas,
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Abu Talib,
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Abu Lahab,
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Hajl,
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al-Zubayr,
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al-Ghaydaq,
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al-Muqawwim,
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Saffar—
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and it is also said Dirar—
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'Abd al-Ka'bah,
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and 'Abdullah,
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the father of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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The sons of 'Abd al-Muttalib are divided into three categories:
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The first:
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those who lived until the advent of Islam and embraced it,
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namely Hamzah and al-'Abbas.
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The second:
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those who lived until the advent of Islam but did not embrace it,
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namely Abu Talib and Abu Lahab.
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The third:
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those who did not live until the advent of Islam,
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namely the remainder of the sons of 'Abd al-Muttalib.
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Treasures of the Seerah.
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The paternal aunts of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:
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al-Bayda',
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who was called Umm Hakim,
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Safiyyah,
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'Atikah,
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Barrah,
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Arwa,
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and Umaymah.
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Among them, Safiyyah embraced Islam.
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According to the well-known report,
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when 'Abd al-Muttalib dug the well of Zamzam,
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Quraysh prevented him from claiming sole custody of it,
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and he had no son to protect him.
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He grieved because of this,
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and made a vow, saying:
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"If Allah grants me ten sons,
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I will surely sacrifice one of them as an offering to Allah."
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Allah, Blessed and Exalted, then granted him those sons,
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and he wished to fulfill his vow.
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So he cast lots,
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and the lot fell upon his son 'Abdullah,
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the father of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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When he intended to slaughter him,
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Quraysh stood up against him and forbade him.
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Thereupon 'Abd al-Muttalib said,
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"Then what shall I do regarding my vow?"
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They advised him to consult a female soothsayer and ask her.
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So he went to her and asked her,
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and she instructed him to cast lots between his son 'Abdullah
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and ten camels.
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So he cast lots,
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and the lot fell upon 'Abdullah.
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She said to him,
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"Add ten more."
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So he added ten more camels,
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yet the lot fell upon 'Abdullah.
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She said to him,
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"Add ten more."
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And thus it continued;
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every time he added ten camels,
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the lot fell upon his son 'Abdullah,
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until the number of camels reached one hundred.
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Then he cast lots,
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and the lot fell upon the camels.
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At that point, 'Abd al-Muttalib stood up and slaughtered the camels,
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leaving them freely accessible to any human or beast of prey.
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The blood money among the Arabs at that time was ten camels;
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after this incident,
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the blood money among the Arabs became one hundred camels,
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and Islam confirmed this practice.
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Thus, the blood money in the religion of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is now
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one hundred camels.
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The maternal uncles of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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Al-Hafiz Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"The mother of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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was Aminah bint Wahb ibn 'Abd Manaf
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ibn Zuhrah ibn Kilab ibn Murrah
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ibn Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy ibn Ghalib.
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She had no brother who would have been a maternal uncle to the Prophet, peace be upon him,
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except 'Abd Yaghuth ibn Wahb.
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However, the Banu Zuhrah say
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that they are the maternal uncles of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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because Aminah, the mother of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was from among them."
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The biographers have mentioned
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that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had two maternal aunts:
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The first was
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Fakhitah bint 'Amr ibn 'A'idh al-Zuhriyyah.
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It is narrated from the Prophet, peace be upon him, in a marfu' hadith:
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"I have given my maternal aunt a servant boy,
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and I hope that Allah will bless him for her;
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and I have forbidden her from making him a cupper, a butcher, or a goldsmith."
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The second was
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Furay'ah bint Wahb al-Zuhriyyah.
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It is narrated that the Prophet, peace be upon him, raised her hand and said:
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"Whoever wishes to look upon the maternal aunt of the Messenger of Allah,
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let him look upon this woman."
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In the month of Rabi' al-Awwal, according to the well-known view,
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Allah, Blessed and Exalted, bestowed His grace upon humanity with the birth of the Master of the Messengers,
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the leader of the righteous, and the guide of those marked with radiant white limbs.
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That was several months after the Year of the Elephant, in Makkah al-Mukarramah.
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He was born an orphan without a father,
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because his father had passed away while his mother was still pregnant with him.
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His birth, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was a natural birth,
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and historians, as scholars mention, have not been able
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to determine the exact day and month of his birth with precision.
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As for the day of the week on which he was born,
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it was Monday,
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as the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
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"That is the day on which I was born."
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But which specific Monday?
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Allah knows best.
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It was said on the ninth of Rabi' al-Awwal,
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and it was said on the twelfth,
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and other dates were also stated;
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it was even said to be in Ramadan,
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but the most widely known opinion is that it was on the twelfth of Rabi' al-Awwal.
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Determining the exact day of his birth, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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carries no legal consequences in Islamic law.
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As for what many people do in many Muslim lands,
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namely celebrating the birthday of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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it is not a righteous deed.
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That is due to several reasons, among them:
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First:
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the exact date of his birth, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is not known with certainty.
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Second:
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the Prophet, peace be upon him, never once celebrated his birthday during his lifetime,
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even though he lived for sixty-three years,
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peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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Third:
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neither the Companions nor the Tabi'un,
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nor the leading scholars who are followed, ever celebrated his birthday;
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and had it been good, they would surely have preceded us in doing it.
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Fourth:
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the Prophet, peace be upon him, never commanded us to do so,
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despite having said:
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"There is nothing that brings you closer to Paradise and distances you from the Fire
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except that I have commanded you to do it."
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Fifth:
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it is unanimously agreed among scholars
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that the twelfth of Rabi' al-Awwal
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is the day of his death, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him;
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so if we were to celebrate on this day,
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it would be as if we were celebrating the day of his passing.
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Since he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, did not command us to do it,
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it is not a good deed.
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All good lies in following the Sunnah,
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and all evil lies in religious innovation.
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The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
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"Whoever introduces into this matter of ours that which is not part of it, it is rejected,"
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meaning it will be turned back upon its perpetrator.
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When the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was born,
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Thuwaybah nursed him;
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she was the freed slave of his uncle Abu Lahab.
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Before nursing the Prophet, peace be upon him, she had nursed his uncle Hamzah,
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thus making Hamzah the foster brother of the Prophet, peace be upon him, through nursing,
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both having the same foster mother, Thuwaybah, the freed slave of Abu Lahab.
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This arrangement did not last long,
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for it was the custom of the Arabs
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to seek wet nurses for their children for a period of two years,
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after which the nurse would wean the child and return him to his mother.
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Let us now leave Halimah al-Sa'diyyah to recount her story with the Prophet, peace be upon him.
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Halimah al-Sa'diyyah said:
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"I set out from my homeland with my husband and an infant son of mine whom I was nursing,
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accompanied by some women of Banu Sa'd ibn Bakr,
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looking for infants to nurse.
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That was in a year of severe drought
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that had left us with nothing.
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I set out on a pale she-donkey of mine—
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meaning an off-white one—
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and with us was an old she-camel of ours,
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that is, a camel,
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and by Allah, she did not yield a single drop of milk.
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We could not sleep the entire night
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because our infant with us would not stop crying from hunger;
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by Allah, there was nothing in my breast to satisfy him,
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nor was there anything in our old she-camel to nourish him,
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yet we were hoping for rain and relief.
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So I rode on that she-donkey of mine
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until we reached Makkah looking for infants to nurse.
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There was not a single woman among us to whom the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was not presented,
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only for her to refuse him
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once she was told that he was an orphan.
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That was because we hoped for generosity from the child's father,
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so we would say, 'An orphan!
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What could his mother and grandfather possibly do?'
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For that reason, we were reluctant to take him.
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Every woman who had come with me took a suckling child,
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except me.
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"When we decided to depart,
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I said to my husband,
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'By Allah, I loathe the thought of returning among my companions without having taken a nursing infant.
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By Allah, I shall certainly go to that orphan and take him.'
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He said,
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'There is no harm in you doing so;
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perhaps Allah will place a blessing in him.'
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Glory be to Allah!
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This poor woman, Halimah al-Sa'diyyah,
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did not realize that all goodness and blessings lay in this very orphan, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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She said,
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'So I went back to him and took him,
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and nothing drove me to take him except that I could find no one else.
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When I took him, I returned with him to my mount,
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and as soon as I placed him in my lap,
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my breasts overflowed with as much milk as he could desire.
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He drank until he was fully satisfied,
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and his foster brother drank along with him until he, too, was fully satisfied.
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Then both of them went to sleep,
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whereas before that we could never sleep because of my son's constant crying.
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My husband then stood up to inspect our old she-camel,
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and found her udders completely full—
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that is, brimming with milk.
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So he milked from her enough for him to drink, and I drank with him,
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until our thirst was entirely quenched and we were completely full.
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We spent the best of nights,
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and when morning came, my husband said to me,
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"You must realize, by Allah, O Halimah,
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that you have taken a blessed soul."
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I replied, "By Allah, I truly hope so."
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Then we set out, and I rode my female donkey,
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carrying him upon it with me'—
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meaning she carried the Prophet, peace be upon him.
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'By Allah, it outpaced the entire caravan
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in a way none of their donkeys could match'—
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that is, she sped far ahead of them on the journey—
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'so much so that my female companions kept saying to me,
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"O daughter of Abu Dhu'ayb!
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Woe to you! Slow down and wait for us!"'—
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meaning: do not rush ahead—
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'"Is this not the very donkey you rode when you set out?"
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And I would say to them,
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"Yes, by Allah, it is indeed the very same one!"
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And they would say,
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"By Allah, there is surely something extraordinary about it!"
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Then we arrived at our dwellings in the lands of the Banu Sa'd,
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and I know of no land of Allah more barren than it was.
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Yet my sheep would return to me in the evening, after we had brought him with us,
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well-fed and full of milk,
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so we would milk them and drink,
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while no other person could milk even a single drop of milk,
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because the land was so barren.
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It reached the point where the people of our tribe would say to their shepherds,
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"Woe to you!
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Graze your flocks wherever the shepherd of the daughter of Abu Dhu'ayb grazes!"
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Yet their sheep would return in the evening hungry,
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unable to yield even a single drop of milk,
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while my sheep returned full of milk.
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We continued to witness an increase in grace and goodness from Allah,
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until two years had passed and I weaned him'—
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meaning she weaned him from nursing—
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'and he was growing up unlike other young boys;
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he had not even reached two years of age
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before he had become a sturdy, robust boy'—
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that is, strong.
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'So we brought him back to his mother,
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though we were intensely eager for him to remain among us
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because of the abundant blessing we had seen from him.
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We spoke to his mother, and I said to her,
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"If only you would leave my little boy with me until he grows stronger,
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for I fear the plague of Mecca for him."
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And she did not truly fear the plague for him,
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but she only wanted him because of the goodness she had witnessed upon his arrival, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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She said,
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'So I kept persisting with her until she sent him back with us.'