Childhood: nursing, the opened chest, the orphan

Thuwayba, the first wet nurse

In his first days, the Prophet ﷺ was nursed by Thuwayba, a freedwoman of Abu Lahab. He said so himself: “Thuwayba nursed me and Abu Salama” (Bukhari 5101). She also nursed his uncle Hamza (Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 40-41; Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 223-224). Abu Lahab is said to have freed her when she brought him the news of the birth, but this rests only on an “it is said” (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 224).

He was in the care of Umm Ayman, whose name was Baraka, whom he ﷺ had inherited from his father. When he grew up, he freed her and married her to Zayd ibn Haritha, to whom she bore Usama (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 223; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 46, 48).

Among the Banu Sa’d

He ﷺ was then entrusted to Halima bint Abi Dhu’ayb, of the Banu Sa’d ibn Bakr, a tribe of Hawazin. Halima’s husband was al-Harith ibn Abd al-Uzza; the child’s foster brother and sisters were Abd Allah, Unaysa and Hudhafa, who was known as al-Shayma’ (Ibn Hisham, I, 160-161; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 41; Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 225). Here the four books all take from Ibn Ishaq; the story is also reported through other routes (al-Salihi, I, 386), and nothing contradicts it, and Muslim confirms that he grew up with a wet nurse (Muslim 162).

Halima told, according to Ibn Ishaq, of a year of drought. The nurses of the Banu Sa’d who had come to Mecca did not want the orphan; Halima took him ﷺ, and everything was blessed: her milk, her she-camel, her donkey, her flock (Ibn Hisham, I, 162-164; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 41-42). Ibn Ishaq has this story from Jahm ibn Abi Jahm, from Abd Allah ibn Ja’far, “or someone who reported it to him” (Ibn Hisham, I, 162). Ibn Kathir adds that it is reported through other routes, and is “one of the well-known reports widely circulated among the people of the sira and the campaigns” (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 228).

Weaned at two, the child was brought back to his mother, around 573 (calculated). Halima obtained leave to keep him ﷺ longer: she told Amina that she feared for him the epidemic in Mecca (Ibn Hisham, I, 164; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 42).

The opened chest

It was among the Banu Sa’d that his chest was opened. Anas ibn Malik reports it, in Muslim: Gabriel came to him ﷺ while he was playing with other children, opened his chest, took from his heart a clot, “the share of Satan in you”, then washed it in a basin of gold with the water of Zamzam. The children ran to tell “his mother, that is, his wet nurse” that he had been killed; they found him pale. Anas adds that he used to see on his chest the trace of the stitching (Muslim 162).

Halima’s account, in Ibn Ishaq, describes the same event, with the same sequel: two men dressed in white, the child found pale, who says: “they searched in me for something, I do not know what” (Ibn Hisham, I, 164-165). A version handed down to Ibn Ishaq from Companions adds a basin filled with snow, and the child weighed against ten, then a hundred, then a thousand men of his community; Ibn Kathir judges its chain “good and strong” (Ibn Hisham, I, 166-167; Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 229).

The common core is established. The details found only in the biographies vary: Gabriel alone, two men, or two white birds according to Utba ibn Abd; snow, or the water of Zamzam (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 229). One version must be set aside, that of Umar ibn al-Subh: its narrator is judged “abandoned, a liar, accused of forgery” (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 229).

How many times was his chest ﷺ opened? Twice, according to al-Suhayli and Ibn Kathir: in childhood, then on the night of the Night Journey, with no “contradiction” between the two (Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 44; Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 231). Four times, according to al-Salihi, who adds an opening at the age of ten and another at the start of the mission (al-Salihi, II, 59-62). The night of the Journey is told in part 3.

After this event, according to Ibn Ishaq, Halima took fright and brought the child back to his mother (Ibn Hisham, I, 165). He ﷺ was five according to Ibn Abbas, four according to others, all of it on al-Waqidi’s authority (Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 45), six according to al-Umawi (al-Salihi, I, 391): around 575 or 576 (calculated).

Did Halima see the Prophet ﷺ again? Abu al-Tufayl relates that at al-Ji’rana he saw a woman sit on the cloak the Prophet ﷺ had spread out for her; he was told: “This is his mother, who nursed him” (Abu Dawud 5144; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 45). Umar ibn al-Sa’ib reports, by hearsay, that the foster father, foster mother and foster brother of the Prophet ﷺ were received in the same way (Abu Dawud 5145; al-Salihi, I, 383). Ibn Hajar, quoted by al-Salihi, places Halima’s coming in 7 or 8 AH, around 629-630 (calculated). Whether Halima lived to see the mission remains disputed: Ibn Kathir thought not, and Ibn Hajar contests this (al-Salihi, I, 382).

Orphan

The Qur’an would later remind him ﷺ of it:

Amina took her son to Medina, to his maternal uncles, the Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar, with Umm Ayman; on the way back, she died at al-Abwa’ (Ibn Hisham, I, 168; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 47; Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 235). He was six according to Ibn Ishaq, who has it from Abd Allah ibn Abi Bakr ibn Hazm (Ibn Hisham, I, 168): around 577 (calculated). Others give ages from four to twelve (Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 47; al-Salihi, II, 120). The place is less disputed: the view that she died in Mecca “is not established”, according to al-Baladhuri, and it is “a mistake; her grave is at al-Abwa’”, according to Ibn Sa’d (al-Salihi, II, 120). Ibn Sa’d reports, from Ibn Abbas and others, that the Prophet ﷺ used to recall things from this stay in Medina: the tower, the well, his father’s grave (al-Salihi, II, 120).

Once a prophet, he ﷺ visited his mother’s grave and wept. He said: “I asked my Lord’s permission to seek forgiveness for her, and it was not given to me; I asked His permission to visit her grave, and it was given to me” (Muslim 976).

The story that his parents were brought back to life to believe in him ﷺ is judged forged. Ibn Kathir calls it “highly objectionable”, and contradicted by what is established in the Sahih (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 239); Ibn Nasir, al-Jawzaqani, Ibn al-Jawzi and al-Dhahabi hold to be forged the report in which his mother alone is brought back to life, and Ibn Hajar shares their view (al-Salihi, II, 123).

With his grandfather

The orphan passed into the care of his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib. Ibn Ishaq reports, without a chain, that the child would sit on the old man’s mat in the shade of the Ka’ba, where none of his sons would sit, out of reverence for him, and that Abd al-Muttalib would say: “Leave my son be; he will have a great destiny” (Ibn Hisham, I, 168; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 47).

Abd al-Muttalib died when the child was eight, according to most, around 579 (calculated). He was buried at al-Hajun, and the child wept behind the bier (Ibn Hisham, I, 169; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 47, 50; al-Salihi, II, 135). Al-Waqidi reports that he ﷺ was later asked: “Do you remember the death of Abd al-Muttalib?”, and that he answered: “Yes, I was eight” (al-Salihi, II, 135). Other ages are given, from three to ten (Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 50; al-Salihi, II, 135). After him, the office of giving the pilgrims water passed to al-Abbas (Ibn Hisham, I, 178-179).

Under the protection of Abu Talib

He ﷺ was then placed in the care of Abu Talib, the full brother of Abd Allah (Ibn Hisham, I, 179; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, I, 50). Ibn Ishaq says that Abd al-Muttalib had commended him to his care, “so they claim” (Ibn Hisham, I, 179), and the four books report this commendation, which Ibn Kathir also cites from al-Waqidi (Ibn Kathir, al-Sira, I, 240). The protection itself is attested by al-Bukhari.

Al-Abbas once said to the Prophet ﷺ that Abu Talib “used to shield you and grow angry on your behalf” (Bukhari 3883). And Ibn Umar would recite, of the Prophet ﷺ, this verse by Abu Talib: “a fair-faced man through whom rain is sought from the clouds, refuge of orphans, shelter of widows” (Bukhari 1008).

How this page connects to the others

• Abd Allah, who died before the birth according to the best-established view, and the maternal kinship with the Banu al-Najjar: page 1, Lineage and family.
• The journey to Syria with Abu Talib: page 4, Bahira and his youth.
• The opening of the chest on the night of the Journey: part 3, The Isra and Mi’raj.
• Abu Talib’s protection during the years of preaching: part 3, Mecca.

Sources for this page

• Thuwayba: Bukhari 5101.
• The opening of the chest: Muslim 162.
• The wet nurse at al-Ji’rana: Abu Dawud 5144; Abu Dawud 5145.
• His mother’s grave: Muslim 976.
• Abu Talib: Bukhari 3883; Bukhari 1008.
• Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-nabawiyya, ed. al-Saqqa, al-Abyari and Shalabi, al-Babi al-Halabi, 1955, vol. I, pp. 160-169, 178-179.
• Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, Uyun al-athar, Dar al-Qalam, 1993, vol. I, pp. 40-50.
• Ibn Kathir, al-Sira al-nabawiyya, ed. Mustafa Abd al-Wahid, Dar al-Ma’rifa, 1976, vol. I, pp. 223-240.
• al-Salihi al-Shami, Subul al-huda wa-l-rashad, ed. Abd al-Mawjud and Mu’awwad, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1993, vol. I, pp. 382-391; vol. II, pp. 59-62, 120-135.
• Research file “His birth and life before the message”, v1.0, 2 November 2026, sections 7 and 8.