household were favoured by successive strokes of good fortune while
the baby Muhammad (Peace be upon him) lived under her care. Ibn Ishaq
statesthat Haleemah narrated that she along with her husband and a
suckling babe, set out from her village in the company of some women
of her clan in quest of children to suckle. She said:
It was a year of drought and famine and we had nothing to eat. I rode
ona brown she-ass. We alsohad with us an old she-camel. By Allah we
could not get even a drop of milk. We could not have a wink of sleep
during the night for the child kept crying on account of hunger. There
was not enough milk in my breast and even the she-camel had nothing to
feed him. We used to constantly pray for rain and immediate relief. At
length we reached Makkah lookingfor children to suckle. Not even a
single woman amongst us accepted the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon
him) offered to her. As soon as they were told that he was an orphan,
they refused him. We had fixed our eyes on the reward that we would
get from the child's father. An orphan! What are his grandfather and
mother likely to do? So we spurned him because of that. Every woman
who came with me got a suckling and when we were about to depart, I
said to my husband: "By Allah, I do not like to go back along with the
other women without any baby. I should go to that orphan and I must
take him." He said,"There is no harm in doing so and perhaps Allah
might bless us through him." So I went and took him because there was
simply no other alternative left for me but to take him. When I lifted
him in my arms and returned to myplace I put him on my breast and to
my great surprise, I found enoughmilk in it. He drank to hisheart's
content, and so did his foster brother and then both of them went to
sleep although my baby had not been able to sleep the previous night.
My husband then went to the she-camel to milk it and, to his
astonishment,he found plenty of milk in it. He milked it and wedrank
to our fill, and enjoyed a sound sleep during the night. The next
morning, my husband said: "By Allah Haleemah, you must understand that
you have been able to get a blessed child." And I replied: "By the
grace of Allah, I hope so."
The tradition is explicit on the point that Haleemah's return journey
and her subsequent life, as long as the Prophet (Peace beupon
him)stayed with her, was encircled with ahalo of good fortune. The
donkey that she rode when she came to Makkah was lean and almost
foundered; it recovered speed much to the amazement of Haleemah's
fellow travelers. By the time they reached the encampments in the
country of the clan of Sa'd, they found the scales of fortune turned
in their favour. The barren land sprouted forth luxuriant grass
andbeasts came back to them satisfied and full ofmilk. Muhammad (Peace
be upon him) stayed with Haleemah for two years until he was weaned as
Haleemah said:
We then took him back to his mother requestingher earnestly to have
him stay with us and benefit by the good fortune and blessings hehad
brought us. We persisted in our request which we substantiated by our
anxiety over the child catching a certain infection peculiar to
Makkah. At last, we weregranted our wish and the Prophet (Peace be
upon him) stayed with us until he was four or five years of age. -
- ▓███▓ Translator:-> http://translate.google.com/m/ ▓███▓ - -
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