In the Land of the Wet Nurse

For a healthier environment, hiring a wet nurse for their newborns out of town had become a custom of the Meccans. Since Mecca had a hot and muggy climate. Moreover, some tribes outside Mecca lived a decent life without being affected by the ugliness of the age of ignorance. Through different times in the years, wet nurses from these tribes would come to Mecca and take newborn babies and go back to their homes. In return for money, gifts, and some merchandise, they wet-nursed the babies for two-three years.

There was a plateau near Mecca where Arabic was spoken in a very beautiful way and the children were taught high morality. But that year, an unprecedented drought occurred in the plateau where the Sons of Sa’d had been living. The longstanding Amina burned up all bits and pieces. The milk of the wet nurses who did not have enough food was quite low. However, the women of this tribe came to Mecca that year too, despite the hard conditions. They were going to take few nurslings in order to help contribute to their income. Harith, from the land of the Sons of Sa’d, his wife Halima, and ten women all went on their way to Mecca for that very reason. However, Halima’s bony donkey and Harith’s old camel had difficulty walking, and the family of Harith could not keep up with their friends. When they arrived in Mecca, their travelling Companions had already picked the children they wanted to nurture.

Halima and Harith started wandering in search of nurslings. The only child that had not been given to a wet nurse was the orphan child Muhammad of Abdullah. Whoever found out he was an orphan child, did not want to take him and turned to another child. Halima, who saw that children of wealthy families were already shared among other women, was upset. She did not want to go back home without bringing a child with her, especially since she had come such a long distance. While walking absent minded on the streets of Mecca, a tall and imposing man came along. It was Abdul Muttalib, the leader of the Quraysh tribe. He asked Halima, “Which tribe are you from?”

“From the Bakr tribe.”

“What’s your name?” was his next question.

“Halima.”

“Where you come from, the children are well taken care of. They are being taught high morality. O Halima, I have an offer for you!”

Halima looked curiously at Abdul Muttalib and started waiting for the offer without saying a single word. Our Prophet Muhammad’s grandfather sighed and continued, “I have an orphan grandchild. I offered him to other women before you, but they did not take him. Please, come and take him as your nursling. Thus, maybe Allah will bring grace and abundance to your home.”

This offer immediately went into Halima’s mind, as she did not want to go back home without a single child. Instead of accepting the offer right away, Halima walked away saying that she had to ask her husband’s opinion. After explaining to Harith what had happened, she said, “My intention is to go and get that child. I don’t want to go back without taking a nursling. Now tell me your opinion too!”

“Let’s do it! Perhaps Allah will bestow His blessings on us for his sake,” said Harith.

When the couple came back and told Abdul Muttalib that they accepted his offer, the Quraysh leader was pleased. He prayed for them and immediately took Halima to our mother, Amina’s house. At that moment, our Master, the Sultan of the Universe was sleeping in his crib. There was a very nice smell around him. Halima, who took the baby in her arms with permission from Amina, started nursing the baby immediately. Her breasts, which did not have any milk at that moment, were welled up with milk. The Master of Masters then Halima’s son Abdullah both sucked milk from her breast until they were full. Both of them fell asleep. However, Abdullah could not fall asleep for days due to his hunger.

They spent that night in Mecca. The next day they were going to take their nurslings and return home. When they came up to their old camel they saw that his breasts were also welled up with milk. They milked the camel and drank it until they were full. The night that they spent in Mecca was their happiest and most blessed night all throughout their lives. And this blessing never fell short so long as the Master of Masters remained in their presence.

The beloved Amina was very sad leaving her rose-scented baby. She hugged her only son in tears and looked at him tenderly for a long time. She prayed to her Lord silently that nothing bad should happen to the blessed baby given into the custody of Harith and Halima.

When Halima took the Master of Masters in her lap and mounted on the donkey, all of a sudden the weak and bony donkey changed. The donkey started walking very fast. The donkey had been moving so fast that they had practically caught up with their friends, who had set off days before them. Even though their travelling Companions were tired and exhausted, Halima and Harith were quite vigorous. Their friends didn’t understand this at all. Soon, they turned to Halima, and said, “What does this mean Halima? Weren’t you always behind us and were late?” They could not help asking her if this was the donkey that she had been riding days before.

Halima and Harith were aware that the blessings that were being granted to them were due to the nursling that they had brought home with them from Mecca. There was a different type of abundance in their soils, which were considered to be droughty and unproductive. Their sheep started to produce more milk. The other herd owners were even calling their shepherds and scolding them by saying, “Shame on you! Why don’t you bring your herds to where Halima’s sheep are grazing? We wish our sheep looked as nice and had as much milk as Halima’s sheep.”

Similar conversations took place regularly between herd owners and shepherds. Because of their weakness, animals in the upland looked like they were starving. Drought and famine got so bad, that they decided to perform the Prayer for rain. It was Friday. Everybody, families and singles, all moved up to the high hill. Accompanied by an old priest, they prayed for hours. However, there wasn’t even a small raindrop falling down from the sky. People in the upland grew very sad, but they kept waiting helplessly. At that moment, an old lady dodged through the crowd and approached the priest. She said, “There is a Meccan boy in our neighbor Halima’s house. They have received many blessings after he entered their house. I say that we should bring this child here and pray for the sake of his Lord. Then the Lord of the Worlds will most probably bestow rain on us.”

The priest found this idea very logical. In fact, they did not have any hopes other than that. The old lady found Halima in the crowd and told her the situation. Because it was very hot that day, Halima did not bring the blessed baby to the hill. They returned home together with the old lady. Halima wrapped her beloved nursling in a blanket and put a piece of cloth on his face to protect him from the sunlight. They immediately left her house. They wanted to reach the hill without wasting any time. While approaching the gathering place, they realized that a small cloud was shading them. The cloud followed them through their walk. The priest also realized it as he had been watching them after they had left home. He also started to think that this Meccan child would bring them blessings. He took the Messenger of Allah from Halima’s lap and shouted to the crowd, “O people! Ask for rain from your Lord for this child’s sake. This child is a beloved one in the sight of Allah.”

Somehow, he could not take his eyes off the Prophet’s black eyes. During Prayers, the small cloud shading Allah’s Messenger covered the whole sky and grew very dark. It was the awaited time. Suddenly, everybody started cheering joyfully, “Rain, it’s raining! It’s raining!”

It rained discontinuously for exactly one week. Pastures turned green, water supplies were full, and trees started shooting. Animals were full and produced more milk. The blessings in Halima’s house spread across the upland.

Meanwhile, two years had passed. Allah’s Messenger grew up and became a robust child. At this time, he was not being nursed. The time period, upon which Halima, Amina, and Abdul Muttalib agreed, was over, and it was time to say farewell. As they promised, they took little Muhammad to his mother in Mecca. Coming together with her dear son, Amina began crying out of happiness. She smelled him over again while hugging him firmly. But Halima was very sad. She did not want to leave her beloved nursling. Her heart was full of sorrow. She felt like something inside her was broken, when she remembered that she was going to leave him. She asked Amina like she was begging, “I am worried that he will catch the Meccan plague here. I wish that he stays with us just a little longer.”

Amina opposed the idea of leaving her son right after coming back together. However, she was also worried that he would catch the epidemic disease in Mecca. She accepted the offer reluctantly. Halima and Harith took their nursling back again and returned home joyfully.

Allah’s Messenger spent most of his time with his foster sisters and brothers. Both, his foster mother and father loved him a lot and coddled him. They spent two more years together that way. One day, Allah’s Messenger was playing with his foster sisters and brothers in the back of their house. Suddenly, Halima’s son Abdullah came running to his mother. He excitedly said, “Two men clothed in white put my foster brother Muhammad on the ground and split his belly.”

Halima and Harith were very scared. Running, they went to where Abdullah told them. Their foster son’s face was really pale. He was just standing. First Halima and then Harith hugged Muhammad. They asked him, “What happened to you?”

The Prophet started to tell them what had happened: “Two men in white attire came to me. One of them had a golden bowl filled with snow. They made me gently lay down on the ground. They opened my chest, took my heart out, and split it into two pieces. They removed a black clot from it. Then they washed my heart and belly with icy snow until they had thoroughly cleaned it. After that, one of them said to the other one ‘Put him on a scale and ten people of his Ummah (community) against him.’ They weighed me against ten people and I outweighed them. Afterwards, he repeated, ‘Weigh him against a hundred people.’ They weighed me against hundred people and I outweighed them again. He said this time, ‘Weigh him against a thousand people of his community.’ I was weighed against a thousand people and I outweighed them. When he saw this, he said, ‘Leave him! I swear by Allah, if you weighed him against all of his people, he would outweigh them.’”

Halima and Harith were very anxious. When they returned home, Harith said, “O Halima! I fear that something bad may happen to him. If you agree, we should probably take him back to his family in Mecca.”

Halima agreed to this idea. It was best to give the entrusted child back to his mother as soon as possible. Thus, they immediately set off for Mecca to bring their foster son Muhammad to his mother, Amina. The Prophet’s days in his foster mother’s home came to an end, when he was around four years old.