Foster Mothers of Prophet Muhammad

In ancient Arabia, it was a tradition of the common people to have their babies suckled by many women, apart from the mother, and to have their infants brought up in the Bedouin tribes. Therefore, when

Muhammad was born, Halimah Sadiya was tasked for his brought up.

Reason for sending the Babies to the Bedouins

In order to maintain the natural purity on which a child is born upon, and to promote appropriate development of both, the mind and the body, the city-dwelling Arabs would send their infants to be raised in the desert. ¹ The nobles of Arabia would entrust their babies to Bedouin women, so that they would become healthy and strong in the open and free climate of the desert. Besides, it would help these babies to develop eloquent speech, since the language of the Bedouins was more pure, graceful and eloquent than those living in urban areas. ² Eloquence of speech in the tribes is also endorsed by a hadith of Prophet Muhammad . Once, Abu Bakr said to him: O

of , I have not seen anyone who is more eloquent than you are. The Holy replied:

  أنا أفصح العرب بيد أنى من قريش، ونشأت في بنى سعد بن بكر. ³

  I am the most eloquent amongst the Arabs, for I am from the Quraysh, and I was nursed (and raised) among (the) Banu Saad (tribe).

Commenting on this practice, As-Sallaabee quotes Shaikh Muhammad Al-Ghazali and states that the attitude which the people of Makkah took towards the desert, in terms of making its spacious land the first playground of their children, should be admired. Many contemporary specialists in the field of education feel that a natural environment needs to be the first classroom setting for infants, so that their perceptions of the world become in harmony with the realities of the universe in which they live. ⁴

Women who suckled the Holy Prophet

Women from different tribes used to come to Makkah in different seasons to get babies for suckling. They were responsible for their suckling and upbringing, and when the babies would reach the age of 2, the women would return the kids to their parents. In return, these nurses would not demand any fixed payments and would accept the gifts given by the parents. ⁵

Muhammad was firstly nursed by his mother for seven days and after her, various women suckled him, and finally he was entrusted to Halimah Sadiya who suckled him for two years and took care of him. The women who suckled the Holy Prophet were as follows:

• First: His mother Aaminah bint Wahb who suckled him for 7 days.
• Second: Thuwaybah , the servant of Abu Lahab.
• Third: Another woman who belonged to Banu Saad tribe.
• Fourth: Umm-e-Ayman whose name was Barakah.
• Fifth, Sixth, Seventh: 3 women from Banu Sulaym.
• Eighth: Umm-e-Farwah
• Ninth: Halimah Sadiya bint Abi Zuayb who suckled the Holy Prophet for 2 years. ⁶

The details of all these women have not been recorded by the historians. Those which have been recorded are presented below:

Thuwaybah

She was a servant of Abu Lahab and was freed by him when he got the glad tiding of

Muhammad’s birth. ⁷ She was among the early converts to . Prophet Muhammad used to send her a monthly stipend after he migrated to Madinah. ⁸ She died in 7 A.H.

Umm-e-Ayman

She was one of the closest care takers of the Holy

, who also had the honor of suckling him. Her original name was Barakah, ⁹ but she became famous with her teknonym. Prophet Muhammad inherited her from his father, however, after his marriage with Khadijah , he freed Umm-e-Ayman . ¹⁰ Prophet Muhammad used to say that she is my mother, after my mother Aaminah . ¹¹ She departed from this world during the Caliphate of Uthman , 20 days after the demise of Umar .

Halimah Sadiya

When

Muhammad was around 8 days old, a group of nursing ladies, who willed to be foster mothers, visited Makkah. Halimah Sadiya , from Banu Saad Tribe, was that fortunate lady who took Muhammad for foster care. ¹² Banu Saad was a tribe which was a subdivision of Hawazin. Giving more details on this tribe, Kahala states:

  بطن من هوازن، من قيس بن عيلان، من العدنانية، وهم: بنو سعد بن بكر بن هوازن بن منصور بن عكرمة بن خصفة بن قيس بن عيلان. من أوديتهم: قرن الحبال، وهو واد يجيء من السراة. ومن مياههم: تقتد. وهم أصحاب غنم. وشهر ناس منهم يوم جبلة. وهم حضنة النبي صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم. وبعث بنو سعد سنة 9 هـ ضمام بن ثعلبة وافدا الى رسول الله صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم، ليجيب عما أرسل به المصطفى لهم، ويتبصر فيما جاء به عليه السلام. ¹³

  The tribe of Hawazun which is related to the tribes of Adnan is from the descendants of Qais ibn E’elan. The lineage is given as Banu Saad son of Bakar son of Hawazun son of Mansoor son of Ekrama son of Khasfa son of Qais ibn E’elaan. They resided in a valley which contained the horn of the mountain which come from Sirat. Their water springs contained a spring name Taqatud. The people of this tribes were shepherds. The people of this tribe became famous due to their relation with the famous Arab day of ‘Youm-e-Jubla’. This was the tribe in which Prophet Muhammad was brought up. In 9 A.H. a delegation comprising of the people of Banu Saad went to see Prophet Muhammad under the leadership of Damam ibn Tha’laba. This delegation accepted Islam in front of the Holy Prophet .

When Abdul Muttalib met Halimah , he asked her about her details. When she told him her name and that she belonged to Banu Saad, he smiled and said:

  How pretty! Saad (Lucky) and Hilm (Humbleness); these are the two virtues which included all the goodness of time and eternal honour. ¹⁴

Then, he asked Halimah whether she would take his grandson for suckling. She asked her husband, who told her to accept the baby. She accepted Abdul Muttalib’s offer and went inside to see the baby. The baby was wrapped in a milky-white woolen cloth, beneath him was a green silky sheet which was fragrant with musk. When she looked at the sleeping baby, she willed to touch him, but did not want to wake him. As soon as she touched the baby, he opened its eyes and smiled. She hugged the baby and took him to her husband. ¹⁵

Halimah states that she had another son as well and did not have enough milk in her breasts or animals to feed him, but when she took the responsibility of Muhammad , her breasts became full, and she not only satisfactorily fed Prophet Muhammad , but also his foster brother as well. Furthermore, her animals, which were extremely emaciated before, became plump and healthy, and their udders became full of milk. While commenting on the characteristics of the Holy

, Halimah narrates that he suckled from the right bosom, and when she offered him the left one, he would not feed from it and would leave it as his foster brother’s share. ¹⁶

Halimah took care of him for 24 months and then, the time came for his departure. She brought the child back to Makkah, but when she was handing the child over, she wept so much that Aaminah was moved by her love and gave the child back to Halimah to be raised in Banu Saad region near Taif. She took care of him for around 3 more years, after which Muhammad was given back to his mother.

 

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• ¹ Safi Al-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri (2010), Al-Raheeq Al-Makhtum, Dar ibn Hazam, Beirut, Lebanon, Pg. 72.
• ² Akber Shah Najeebabadi (2000), The History of Islam, Darus Salam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 1, Pg. 94.
• ³ Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Muslim ibn Qutaiba Al-Dainuri (1992), Al-Ma’arif, Al-Hayatu Al-Misriyatu Al-A’amatu lil Kitab, Cairo, Egypt, Pg. 132
• ⁴ Dr. Ali Muhammad As-Sallaabee (2005), The Noble Life of the Prophet ﷺ (Translated by Faisal Shafeeq), Darus Salam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Vol. 1, Pg. 88.
• ⁵ Muhamamad Karam Shah Al-Azhari (2013), Zia-un-Nabi (Translated by Muhammad Qayyum Awan), Zia-ul-Quran Publications, Lahore, Pakistan, Vol. 2, Pg. 40.
• ⁶ Muhammad ibn Yusuf Al-Salihi Al-Shami (1993), Subul Al-Huda wal-Rashad fe Seerat Khair Al-Abad, Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 1, Pg. 375-378.
• ⁷ Abu Bakr Ahmed ibn Hussain Al-Bayhaqi (1405 A.H.), Dalail Al-Nabuwwah, Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 2, Pg. 183.
• ⁸ Abul Qasim Abdul Rehman ibn Al-Suhaili (2000), Al-Raudh Al-Unf fe Sharha Al-Seerah Al-Nabawiyah, Dar Ihya Al-Turath Al-Arabi, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 5, Pg. 123.
• ⁹ Muhammad ibn Saad Al-Basri (1990), Tabqat Al-Kubra, Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 8, Pg. 179.
• ¹⁰ Abu Nua’ym Ahmed ibn Abdullah Al-Asbahani (1986), Dalail Al-Nabuwwah, Dar Al-Nafais, Beirut, Lebanon, Pg. 164.
• ¹¹ Abul Hasan Ali ibn Al-Athir Al-Jazri (1994), Usud Al-Ghabba fi Ma’arift Al-Sahaba, Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 7, Pg. 290.
• ¹² Syed Ahmed ibn Zaini Dahlan (2014), Al-Seerah Al-Nabawiyah (Urdu Translation by Zulfiqar Ali), Zia-ul-Quran Publications, Lahore, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 64-65.
• ¹³ Umer ibn Raza Kahala (1994), Mu’jam Al-Qabail Al-Arab Al-Qadeema Al-Hadeetha, Muasasat Al-Risala, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 2, Pg. 513-514.
• ¹⁴ Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Ahmed Al-Halabi (1427 A.H.), Al-Seerah Al-Halabiyah, Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 1, Pg. 131.
• ¹⁵ Ibid, Pg. 132.
• ¹⁶ Ibid.