Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 21
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 21 them out to nurse among the neighbouring desert tribes. The child thus developed a robust frame, and acquired the pure speech and free manners of the desert. The infant Muhammad, shortly after his birth, was made over to Thuweiba, the slave of his uncle Ab u Lahab, who had lately suckled his baby uncle Hamzah. He was nursed by her for only a few days, but he retained in later life a lively recollection of her. He periodically sent her clothes and other presents until the seventh year of the Hijra, when he received intimation of her death. He inquired after her son, his foster - brother, but he too was dead, and she had left no relatives. When Thuweiba had nursed the child for some days, a party of Bani Sa’d, a clan of Hawazin, arrived at Mecca with ten women who offered themselves as nurses. They were soon provided with children, excepting Halima, who, somewhat reluctantly, took the infant orphan Muhammad, whose charge had been declined by the other women. Incidentally, Sa’d means ‘fortunate’, and indeed it was fortunate for Bani Sa’d that the child whom God had intended to be the greatest of His messengers, should be reared among them. Six ty years later, after the battle of Hunain, the prisoners taken from Bani Sa’d were released by the Holy Prophet as a matter of grace in memory of the days that he had spent among Bani Sa’d in his childhood. Halima means ‘the gentle one’, and she proved a very gentle and affectionate foster - mother for her charge. At two years of age he was weaned and Halima took him to his home. His mother was delighted with his healthy and robust appearance and she asked Hali ma to take him back with her again to the desert, for