Chief of the Prophets — Page 34
Chapter Three 34 The Wet Nurse and Childhood It was customary among the nobles of Arabia to give their babies to respectable wet nurses in the villages for suckling. For the first few days, Muḥammad sa was given under the care of a woman named Thuwaibah. 1 However, later, a wet nurse named Ḥalīmah, of the Banū Sa‘d tribe, 2 took him permanently to her village. After two years, when the appointed time of fosterage was complete, Ḥalīmah brought the baby back to Makkah to return him to his mother. Considering the less than favourable climate of Makkah and the deep love of Ḥalīmah for the baby, Āminah agreed to send the baby back with Ḥalīmah on her insistence. When Muḥammad sa was four years old, an extraordinary incident took place that frightened Ḥalīmah. It is recorded in a tradition that all of a sudden two men clad in white garbs appeared, and laid down Muḥammad sa on the ground, and cut open his chest. ‘Abdullāh bin Ḥārith, his foster brother, was playing with him when this incident took place. He ran back to his parents and narrated the event. The physical condition of Muḥammad sa frightened Ḥalīmah and her husband Abū Kabshah. 3 They immediately took Muḥammad sa back to Makkah and handed him over to his mother Āminah. It should be noted that some people mistakenly take this event in the physical sense. In reality, this was a spiritual experience, which was extended to the other children present at that time. On checking, Ḥalīmah and her husband found no incision marks on his chest. Throughout his entire life, Muḥammad sa never forgot Ḥalīmah’s four years of service. Once, when Ḥalīmah visited Muḥammad sa during the time of a famine, he presented her with forty sheep and a camel. 1 Thuwaibah was a slave of Muḥammad’s paternal uncle, Abū Lahab. 2 Banū Sa‘d was a branch of Banū Hawāzin. 3 He came to be well known by his nickname, Ibni Abī Kabshah because of this incident.