The Story of Umm Sulaym
“I entered Paradise, and heard footsteps.
So I said, ‘Who is this?’ and they told me, ‘It is al-Ghumaysa’
(رضي الله عنها), the daughter of Milhan, the mother of Anas ibn Malik (رضي الله عنه)
(Umm Sulaym (رضي الله عنها)). [Sahih Muslim]
...So he married her (Umm Sulaym), and she was a woman with nice
eyes, rather small. She was with him until she bore him a son, who Abu Talhah
loved very much. The child became very ill, and Abu Talhah was very upset and
distressed by the child’s sickness. Abu Talhah used to get up to pray the
morning prayer, he would go to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) and pray with him, and would stay with him for almost half the day.
Then [Abu Talhah] would come to take a nap and eat, and when he had prayed Zuhr
[mid-day prayer] he would get ready and leave, and would not
come back until the time of the ‘Isha’ [night-time] prayer. One
evening, Abu Talhah went out to see the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) (according to another report: to go to the mosque), and the child
died (during his absence).
Umm Sulaym said, “No one is to tell Abu Talhah about his child’s
death until I have told him.” She covered the child up as if he were sleeping,
and left him in a corner of the house. Abu Talhah came back from
visiting the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
and brought some people from the mosque with him. He asked, “How is my son?”
She said, “O Abu Talhah, from the time he fell sick, he has never been as
calm as he is now, and I hope that he is resting.” (She spoke vaguely so
as not to upset him; this was not a lie. She was referring to the calmness of
death and the child finding relief from the pain of his sickness, but her
husband took it to mean that the child’s condition had improved). She brought
the meal and they all ate dinner, then the people left. Then he went to bed and
lay down, and she got up and put on perfume and adorned herself, making herself
more beautiful than she ever had before. (This was a sign of her patience and
great faith in the will and decree of Allaah. She was seeking reward from
Allaah and concealing her feelings, hoping that she would become pregnant that
night to make up for the loss of her child). Then she came and lay down in the
bed with him, and when he smelt the perfume, he did as men usually do with
their wives (this is the narrator’s polite and circumspect manner of referring
to what happened between them).
At the end of the night, she said, “O Abu Talhah, do you
think that if some people lent something to some others, then they asked for
it back, do they have the right not to give it back?” He
said, “No.” She said,“Allaah, may He be glorified, lent your son to
you, and now He has taken him back, so seek reward with Him and have
patience.” He became angry and said, “You left me until I did what I did
(i.e., had intercourse), then you tell me that my son has died!” Then he said,
“Innaa Lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji’oon (Truly, to Allaah we belong and
truly, to Him we shall return – the words uttered by Muslims when faced with
news of death or calamity) and he praised Allaah. In the morning, he did ghusl
(full ablution) then he went to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) and prayed with him, and told him what had happened. The
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “May
Allaah bless you for last night.” She conceived a child (thus the Prophet’s
prayer for them was answered).
Umm Sulaym used to travel with the Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), leaving Madeenah when he left, and
returning when he returned. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said, “When she gives birth, bring the child to me.” He was
on a journey, and Umm Sulaym was with him. When the Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came back from travelling, he
would never enter Madeenah at night (so as not to disturb the people, and so
that wives would have time to get ready to greet their husbands). They reached
the outskirts of Madeenah, and her labour pains started. Abu Talhah stayed with
her, and the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
went on. Abu Talhah said, “O Allaah, you know that I like to set out with your
Messenger when he sets out, and come back with him when he comes back. I have
been detained as You see.” Umm Sulaym said, “O Abu Talhah, I do not feel the
pains as much (this was one of her “miracles”; her labour pains ceased because
she had asked Allaah to enable her to catch up with the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)).
So they set off, and after they had reached Madeenah, her labour
pains started again, and she gave birth to a boy. She told her son
Anas, “O Anas, I will not give him anything to eat until you take him in
the morning to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him),” and she sent some dates with him. (Because she wanted the first
thing to enter the child’s mouth to be food from the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him); this was a sign of her great faith, because
the woman’s natural instinct is to hasten to feed the baby as soon as he is
born). The child cried all night long, and I [Anas, the narrator of this story]
stayed up all night taking care of him. In the morning, I took him to the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), who was
wearing his burdah (a kind of cloak) and marking the camels and sheep that had
been given to him (the animals had been given in charity and he was marking
them so that they would not get lost or mixed with other flocks or herds). When
he saw him, he said to Anas, “Has the daughter of Milhaan [i.e., Umm Sulaym]
given birth?” He said, “Yes.” He said, “I will be with you in a minute.” He put
down the tool in his hand (with which he had been marking the animals) and took
the child, then he said, “Do you have something for him?” They said, “Yes,
dates.”
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) took
some of the dates and chewed them, mixing them with his saliva (and the saliva
of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was blessed by
Allaah). Then he opened the child’s mouth and gave him some of the dates,
wiping them inside his mouth (this is called Tahneek and is one of the customs
among Muslims when a baby is born). The infant began to smack his lips, sucking
some of the sweetness of the dates and the saliva of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). Thus the first thing that entered that
child’s stomach was mixed with the saliva of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). He said, “See how much the Ansaar (the
Muslims who were living in Madeenah when the Prophet migrated there) love
dates!” I [Anas] said, “O Messenger of Allaah, name him.” He wiped his face and
named him ‘Abd-Allaah. There was no young man among the Ansaar who was better
than him, and when he grew up he had a lot of sons, and was martyred in Persia
(he died as a martyr when the Muslims conquered Persia; all of this happened as
a result of the Prophet’s blessed du’aa’).
(The story was reported by Imaam al-Bukhaaree, Muslim, Ahmad and
al-Tayaalisee; this version was reported by al-Tayaalisee and others.
Al-’Allaamah Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaanee collected all its isnaads in
his book Ahkaam al-Janaa’iz, p. 20).
