The Prophet (ﷺ) had a wet-nurse called Ḥalīmah, she helped raise him soon after birth. Arab families would often send their children away from the harsh corrupt cities into the deserts to be suckled and weaned, learn Arabic and grow in a loving holistic environment that was both easy and enriching. Many of the sons of Quraysh were kept as long as eight years in the desert, so that it might leave a lasting impression upon them. Some of the tribes had a high reputation for nursing and rearing children, and amongst these were the Bani Sa’d ibn Bakr clan, they resided to the south-east of Mecca. Lady Āminah wanted her son Muḥammad to be reared by such a clan. The tribes would frequently visit towns to pick children to rear, the time had come once again and on one such journey was Lady Ḥalīmah, the daughter of Abū Dhu'ayb, she was accompanied by her husband, Ḥārith, and a recently born son of their own.
She described the journey later in her life. “It was a year of drought, and we had nothing left. I set forth on a grey donkey of mine, and we had with us an old she-camel, which could not yield one drop of milk. We were kept awake all night by our son who was wailing for hunger, for I had not enough in my breasts to feed him; and that donkey of mine was so weak and so lean that I often kept the others waiting.”
She shared how they went on their way with nothing to hope for except a fall of rain which would enable the camel and the donkey to graze enough for their udders to swell a little, but by the time they reached Mecca no rain had fallen. Once there they set about looking for nurselings, and Lady Āminah offered her son first to one and then to another until finally she had tried them all, they had all refused. The reason for refusal was because Muḥammad was an orphan. The people of the desert and tribe formed a link, they became relatives of some sort, if the child was an orphan, the link couldn’t be formed, mainly because if, and when they returned for more nurselings they would have nothing to offer. It’s important to note, that the foster families never accepted to be rewarded financially, but the children would feel a filial duty towards his newfound family forever.
Muḥammad was a child of one of the great families; but he was by far the poorest nurseling that these women were offered that year. The foster-parents were not expected to be rich, but they must not be too poverty stricken, Lady Ḥalīmah and her husband were poorer than all the others, when the choice lay between them and another, the other was picked. Soon every Bani Sa’d women except Lady Ḥalīmah had been entrusted with a babe. So the poorest nurse was without a nurseling; and only the poorest nurseling was without a nurse. This troubled Lady Ḥalīmah greatly and she did not wish to leave Mecca deprived of a child, so she told her husband that she would go and collect the orphan child. She recounts,
“…so I went and took him, for no reason save that I could find none but him. I carried him back to where our mounts were stationed, and no sooner had I put him in my bosom than my breasts overflowed with milk for him. He drank his fill, and with him his foster-brother drank likewise his fill. Then they both slept; and my husband went to that old she-camel of ours, and her udders were full. He milked her and drank of her milk and I drank with him until we could drink no more and our hunger was satisfied. We spent the best of nights, and in the morning my husband said to me: ‘By God, Ḥalīmah, it is a blessed creature that you have taken.’ 'That is indeed my hope.’ I replied”
The Prophet (ﷺ) grew to love Lady Ḥalīmah dearly, and she loved him too, as if he was her very own son, how could she not? Her home had become a Prophetic abode of Light that would help increase her entire family.
She said, "… I know of no place on God’s earth more barren than Bani Sa’d. But after we brought him to live with us, my flock would come home to me full every evening bursting with milk. We milked them and drank, when others had no drop of milk; and our neighbours would say to their shepherds: ‘Out upon you, go graze your flocks where he grazes his,’ meaning my shepherd. Yet still their flocks came hungry home, yielding no milk, while mine came well fed, with milk in plenty; and we ceased not to enjoy this increase and this bounty from God until the babe’s two years had passed, and I weaned him.”
Lady Ḥalīmah visited the Prophet (ﷺ) in his adult life, once was when he got married to Lady Khadīja, the other time was a few years after the Hijra. It is reported that on both occasions, the Prophet (ﷺ) honored her and laid out his shawl for her to sit on. He (ﷺ) never forgot her role in his life. #TheBeloved
