Childhood in the desert with Halimah

Part oneWhy Makkah sent its babies away

Every so often, women from the desert tribes rode into Makkah looking for babies to nurse. This was an old custom among the families of the Quraysh. The crowded valley, with pilgrims arriving from many lands, was thought unhealthy for newborns, and the open desert offered clean air and room to grow strong. A child raised among the Bedouin also learned the pure, quick Arabic of the tribes. The nursing mothers did not set a price, but the child's family gave them a gift when the child came home, and the poorest women of the desert depended on that.

Bedouin life then was simple. Families lived in tents woven from goat hair, kept flocks, and moved when the grass ran out. Water came from wells, and a poor household could go hungry in a dry year. Children grew up among animals and open ground, with the whole tribe looking after them.

In Arab custom, milk created kinship. A nursing mother became a second mother, and her children became brothers and sisters of the child she fed. Islam later confirmed these ties and gave them rules of their own.

One of the women who came was Halimah bint Abi Dhu'ayb, of the Banu Sa'd. She travelled to Makkah with her husband, al-Harith, and her own baby son, on a weak donkey, in a hard year. Every woman in her party hoped to take home a baby from a wealthy family. Baby Muhammad ﷺ was offered to several of them, and they turned him down, because a child with no father promised little reward.

Halimah did not want to return with nothing, and she took him. From that day, her household felt a blessing. Her milk was enough for both babies, the flocks gave more, and the dry year grew easier. The Banu Sa'd were a branch of the Hawazin who lived in the highlands towards Ta'if, and they were known all over Arabia for the clarity of their speech.

Part twoYears among the Banu Sa'd

For about two years, he lived in Halimah's tent. He had a foster brother, Abdullah, and a foster sister, ash-Shayma, who helped to look after him. His days were spent under the open sky, among sheep and goats and the families of the tribe. When Halimah brought him back to Makkah at the age of two, he was strong and healthy, and Aminah was glad to see him. An illness was going round the town, though, and Halimah asked if she could keep him a little longer. Aminah agreed, and he went back to the desert.

Some time later came an event that startled the household. While he was playing with other children, the angel Jibril (peace be upon him) came, opened his chest, washed his heart with Zamzam water and closed it again. The other children ran to Halimah and told her he had been taken. She found him pale but unharmed. Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who reported the event, said that he could still see the mark on the Prophet's ﷺ chest.

From the hadith

Anas b. Malik reported that Gabriel came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) while he was playing with his playmates. He took hold of him and lay him prostrate on the ground and tore open his breast and took out the heart from it and then extracted a blood-clot out of it and said:

That was the part of Satan in thee. And then he washed it with the water of Zamzam in a golden basin and then it was joined together and restored to it place. The boys came running to his mother, i. e. his nurse, and said: Verily Muhammad has been murdered. They all rushed toward him (and found him all right) His color was changed, Anas said. I myself saw the marks of needle on his breast.

Halimah and al-Harith were frightened. They took him back to his mother in Makkah, at around the age of four or five, though accounts differ on his exact age. Aminah had her son at home once more. Halimah had cared for him as her own child, and the Prophet ﷺ never forgot his foster family. All his life he remained warm and respectful towards them.

That bond lasted for decades. After the battle of Hunayn in 8 AH, members of the Hawazin, the larger tribe to which the Banu Sa'd belonged, came to the Prophet ﷺ to ask for their captives to be freed. One of them reminded him that women who had cared for him as a child were among their kin. He returned the captives to their people.

Those early years left their mark. He grew up knowing the open desert, its silence and its stars, and the Arabic of the Banu Sa'd, which was clear and direct. He had also been raised for two years by a woman who had very little, and who gave without counting. Later he would spend his life among the poor and the orphaned, and it would not feel strange to him.

Halimah did not want to return with nothing, and she took him.

More on How to Muslim

• children.howtomuslim.orgThe Prophet ﷺ and childrenHow he treated children, from little Amanah.
• guide.howtomuslim.orgHis first 40 yearsHis childhood and youth on one page.

WatchLectures for this chapter

Lecture Towards EternityO Messenger, Ep. 1: Life of Prophet Muhammad (opens on YouTube)

Lecture Islamic GuidanceThe Incident That Shook Halima As-Sa'diyah (Seerah of Muhammad, part 13) (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Makkah
• the road east to the highlands
• the Banu Sa'd lands
• Ta'if

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter