Holy Prophet's Kindness to Children — Page 5
5 baby Muhammad s as was handed over by his mother Aamina to a wet nurse called Haleema, to be brought up in the countryside. ‘What is a wet nurse?’ asked Kim. ‘A wet nurse is a woman who is paid to suckle another woman’s baby,’ answered Miss Mitchell. When Muhammad s as was six years old his mother died. His grandfather Abdul Muttalib took him into his care, but he too died two years later. Thereafter his uncle Abu Talib looked after him. As a boy, Muhammad s as used to look after the goats and cam- els in the fields like other Arab youngsters. He was a very noble child. He never told a lie. He was pious, truthful and honest, so much so that he was given the titles as-Sadiq meaning ‘the truthful’ and al-Ameen, meaning, ‘the trustworthy’, by the people. He tried to help the poor and the weak. He was always respectful to his elders and kind to the young. Khadijah, a rich widow of Makkah, had heard of the honesty, piety, trustworthiness and high moral character of Muhammad. She decided to employ him as her trade agent. She therefore approached