The Honourable Women who breastfed Allāh’s Messenger (saw)

[ummtaalib]

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Beside the honourable mother of Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam we find that there are four other women who breastfed Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam . Namely: Thuwaybah RA, Halima Sa’diah RA – the most prominent lady to have breastfed Nabi Muahmmad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam , Khawlah bint Munthir RA and Baraqah Hakunya Agdomin an Umme Aymin – an African woman.

 

Thuwaybah RA: breastfed Rasulullah  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for seven days after his birth. Thuwaybah RA was the freed slave of Abu Lahab ibn Abdul Mutallib whom – it is reported – he set free upon hearing of the birth of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam . Nabi Muhammad’s  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam uncle Hazrat Hamza RA was also nursed by Thuwaybah RA and thus became Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam  foster brother. After Nabi Muhammad  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam  married Khadijah RA, Thuwaybah RA used to visit him, and Khadijah RA would honour her and be very hospitable towards her. Nabi Muhammad  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would send her gifts from Madina after the migration, until she died in the year 7 AH. Her son Masrooh RA died before her and he was the son whom she breastfed at the same time as Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam .

 

Halima Sa’diah RA: On the eighth day after his birth Rasulullah  sallallahu alayhi wa sallamwas placed in the care of Halima RA, from the Banu Sa’ad tribe. It was the practice of the Arabs to send their children away to the desert so that they would grow up strong and learn the refined Arabic of the Bedouin tribe. Halima RA found that since Nabi Muhammad  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had joined her family there was baraqah (blessings) and prosperity in her home. Rasulullah  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam grew up with Halima RA children and often went out with them to tend the sheep and goats. After every six months Halima RA would take Rasulullah  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam back to Makkah to his mother Aaminah RA and to his grandfather Abdul Mutallib.

 

Khawlah bint Munthir RA

 

Barakah Umme Ayman RA – was described by Rasulullah  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as the “mother after my own mother. She is the rest of my family” and was held in very high regard by Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam . She was the first person to hold him in her arms when he was born and the only person who knew him from that point until his death. She was one of the few Muslims who the Prophet assured of a place in Paradise.

“Be a mother to him, Barakah RA. And don’t ever leave him,” Amina RA instructed her about her son as she lay dying. Umm Ayman did not fail in her responsibility.

 

Her beginnings were more than humble. In her youth, the black Abyssinian girl was put up for sale in Makkah as a slave. In pre-Islamic Arabia, slavery was no shame, and slaves were treated like animals.

 

But Barakah RA was blessed to be treated with kindness. She was bought by the noble and gentle Abdullah RA, the son of Abdul Muttalib, Nabu Muhammad’s  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam father. Umme Ayman RA not only took care of Abdullah’s affairs as a servant in his home, but after he married Amina RA, she looked after Amina RA also.

 

It was Umm Ayman RA who slept at the foot of Amina’s RA bed and comforted her when, only two weeks after her wedding, her husband was instructed to leave for that journey to Syria, after which he never came back. It was Umm Ayman RA who took care of Amina RA during her pregnancy.

 

It was Umm Ayman who gave Amina RA the news of Abdullah’s RA death at Yathrib, what was later to be known as Madinah. As Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam faced tragedy upon tragedy, Umm Ayman RA was there for him. From the time when his mother died when he was six, to when his grandfather Abdul Muttalib died when he was eight, Umm Ayman RA stayed with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam .

 

It was only after the Nabi Muhammad  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam married Khadija RA that she married Ubayd ibn Zayd RA, on their insistence. They had a son named Ayman, thus her name Umm Ayman.

 

When Rasulullah  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam received the Prophethood, Umm Ayman RA was among the first Muslims, and like the others, bravely faced the punishments of the Quraish for those who dared to believe in Islam.

 

During the Battle of Uhud she gave out water to the thirsty soldiers and took care of the wounded. She tied her well-being to that of Islam. During a visit from Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam , he asked: “Ya Umme! Are you well?” and she would reply: “I am well, O Messenger of Allah so long as Islam is.”

 

Umm Ayman’s RA husband died not very long after their marriage. When she was in about her 50s, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam , when speaking to his companions said, “Should one of you desire to marry a woman from the people of Paradise, let him marry Umm Ayman RA.”

 

It was Zayd RA who stepped forward and agreed to marry her. They had a son named Usamah who was described as “the beloved son of the beloved.”

 

She travelled with Nabi Muhammad  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam across the burning desert through sandstorms on foot from Makkah to Madinah. Despite the harshness of the journey she persisted, and was given good news when she reached her destination. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam   said to her, “Ya Umm Ayman! Ya Umme! (O Umm Ayman! O my mother!) Indeed for you is a place in Paradise!”

 

When Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam   passed away she wept profusely. Sayyidina Abu Bakr RA and Sayyidina Umar RA visited her and asked her, “is Nabi Muhammad  sallallahu alayhi wa sallam not gone to a better place?” She replied, “By Allah, I knew that the Messenger of Allah would die but I cry now because the revelation from on high has come to an end for us.” Umm Ayman died when Uthman RA was Khalifa.

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