We now move onto the period of his life that is his early childhood.

Him growing
up as a young child. The fact is we have little information with regards to his
first 30, 40 years of his life. As we mentioned before if we were to gather the
first 53 years of his life compared to the last 10, it would be less than half.
Of these 53 years most of the information begins after 40 years i.e. when he be
came a prophet. And indeed this is logical - but one thing we believe as muslims
, anything that we need to know Allah must have preseved it.
So the first thing we know of his life after his birth is that his mother gave h
im to be raised away from the house in the desert. This seems strange to us but
it was a custom of the elite of the Quraysh. The custom of the nobility of the Q
uraysh. It was a status symbol done for a number of reasons:
1. They wanted the child to be raised in a pure and healthy environment. The inf
ant mortality was very high back then (and even recently i.e. up to 100 years ag
o) so to preserve and protect the child, they removed him from congregation and
civilisation so that there is only a few people interacting with the child. This
increases the chances of its survival.
2. They wanted to build stamina in the child and make them adjusted to a rough l
ife. Even though life in Mecca was very tough, they wanted to raise their child
in a harder environment so they become accustomed and can adapt easy to the diff
iculties of Mecca. Certainly children adapt much more easily than adults - Allah
has made us like this. When we are adults, if we are used to a standard and are
diminished to a lower standard life would be very difficult to bear, even thoug
h this lower standard is the standard of many people. So it's human nature child
ren adapt to circumstances - and this shows the Quraysh had clever long term pla
nning. They wanted their children to live under difficulty at a young age so Mec
ca appears like luxury.
3. Growing up in a desert will avoid the pampering relatives to. Every parent kn
ows no matter how strict you are with your children, uncles aunts and grandparen
ts will pamper your child and are much more leinient. So this was done to raise
the child in a disciplined environment.
4. The child being raised in the desert amongst certain tribes - these tribes we
re known for fluency in Arabic. The city language was viewed as corrupted and ch
anged. There were word loans from other cultures. An example is that modern arab
ic newspapers have 30% english content. This dosen't occur in the deserts or cit
ies. So the arabs are thinking long term again - they send their children to the
pure areas to tribes known for speaking the pure arabic. And the most famous tr
ibe was the Banu Sa'ad ibn Bukr and it was this tribe that took care of the proh
pet PBUH.
In one authentic hadith the prohpet PBUH was asked "tell us about yourself". He
said "I am the dawah of Ibrahim AS, and I am the glad news of Isa AS". Some musl
ims theoligians say the references to the 'good news' Jesus makes is as Allah an
d the prophet PBUH says is the prophet himself. And then the prophet PBUH said "
And I was foster cared by the Bani Sa'ad ibn Bukr.
We know the story of Halimah bint Sa'adiya. She said that she and her husband we
re suffering from poverty so they wanted money and took a child. Of course deser
t dwellers do not get income - so they went to Mecca and adopted children from t
he noble and rich Quraysh was for money. And this custom was only for the elite
i.e. the Quraysh. So Halima explains why she took the prophet PBUH. She said she
convinced her husband to go to Mecca to obtain a newly born child who was willi
ng to be fostered for 2/3 years. This was an annual event where the mothers choo
se the best people to take care of the child. Halima said she just had a child a
nd already had a daughter around 7/8 years old called Shayma - the new born caus
ed her milk to flow so she is able to foster care her child. So she goes with a

group of women from her clan to Mecca to find babies to adopt. There was a child
known as the 'orphan child'. Some women didn't even go to the house of Aminah a
s they felt they wouldn't get enough money as the father was dead even though th
is child was from the tribe of Abdul Muttalib. Halima also visited the 'orphan c
hild' but she moved on to find another child. When the week finished every one o
f her friends had found a new born baby except for her. And the only one left wa
s the prophet PBUH. She told her husband 'I feel embarrased it's shameful my fri
ends are going back with a child and I don't have one'. So her husband said 'why
don't you take the orphan child? Perhaps Allah will bless us through him'. This
shows they had good manners and good hearts. So they agreed to take care of the
prophet PBUH. As soon as they took him, the miracles began right then and there
- there was one old goat that stopped producing milk but as soon as the prophet
PBUH came into the tent it reproduced milk. And she had a old mount they were r
iding and when they put the prophet PBUH on the mount, it became the fastest ani
mal of all.
Generally speaking this foster care lasted two years. So you don't come back the
next season - you just come back to visit to show the real mother for a month e
tc. During these two years the blessings she had witnessed were so many she was
scared of losing the prophet PBUH so she invented 100 more reasons and persisted
to extend the contract - and Aminah agreed even though she couldn't get the mon
ey her other friends got. It was during the second phase of the foster care that
the famous incident of the cleansing of the heart of the prophet PBUH happened.
This is no question true.
Anas ibn Malik related: "Jibraeel came to the prophet PBUH at 4 years old. The o
ther children got scared and ran away but the prophet PBUH stood his ground. And
Jibraeel came and overpowered him." This shows the bravery and determination of
the prophet PBUH. And Jibraeel forced him onto the ground and opened his chest
and took his heart out. And he took out a black portion of the heart and threw i
t away. And Jibraeel said "This is shaytan's portion that he had in you".
Indeed we know Shaytan pricks any new born baby out of jealousy, anger and the p
rophet PBUH said "this is why babies cry when they come out of the womb". Shayta
n wants to harm the child as soon as it comes out - this is the hatred of Shayta
n. This shows how much of a enemy Shaytan is to us from beginning to end. Allah
created the child pure but Shaytan beings the corruption process from second one
. This causes the black spot in our heart - perhaps this is where the wasaws com
es from. But remember Shaytan can never control us or force us. Indeed on the DO
J mankind will say to Shaytan "why did you to this to us" but he will respond "I
didn't have powers over you, nor did I control you. Except I called you and you
responded - don't come and blame me, go blame ourselves!". When we get a very e
vil though know its from Shaytan - purely from him. And our job is to fight it.
This is the test in this life. Know that he can never control you, it's just a w
hisper. And so this was cut off from the prohpet PBUH at 4 years old. And this i
s proven in a hadith where the prophet PBUH said "Every child that is born, Shay
tab (Iblees) assigns a 'kaleel' to the person". They are with us 24/7 and know u
s better than anyone. And his job is to whisper bad things - they spend their wh
ole lives just to misguide us out of jealousy and anger. This shows Shaytan's ha
tred for us in that he hated the fact Allah chose us over him. The sahaba asked
the prophet PBUH "even you?". The prophet PBUH replied "even me except that Alla
h helped me against him, and now he has accepted Islam and whispers good things
to me". This shows us that the relationship the prophet PBUH had with shaytan ha
s been severed. And so Jibraeel washed the heart in a golden cup of zamzam and t
hen put it back and he sealed it up. So we believe the first open heart surgery
was performed by Jibraeel onto the prophet PBUH.
So when the foster brother and Shayma ran away and saw this, they come screaming
and running "our brother has been killed" and so Halima runs outside and finds
the prophet PBUH sitting with a pale face. Subhan'Allah notice he isn't screamin

g, crying or wailing - this shows how brave he was even at a young age. He is si
tting there with fear and terror but not screaming. And when they saw him they s
aw the line on his chest. And Anas ibn Malik said "I could see the traces on his
chest". And this is Anas relating when prophet PBUH was around 60. And notice i
f Allah willed there was no need for this line - it could have easily been a cle
an cut. But Allah wants to demonstrate that something physical happened. And the
re was a pyhsical line on the chest of the prophet PBUH.
THis incident occured one more time almost 45 years later when the prophet PBUH
went up on the (night) journey of 'Isra' wal-Mi'raj. Jibraeel took the heart out
, washed it in zamzam but there was one difference - there was no black clot the
second time as it had already been removed. This incident was what concerned Ha
lima and then and there she decided let me return this child to Aminah. So she r
eturns the prophet PBUH to Aminah. The spiritual benefits we derive are that the
prophet PBUH is being prepared the most respected and pure life. And this is be
cause it's the sunnah of Allah that the characteristics of the prophets are impe
ccable - they are ma'soom from major sins. They can commit minor sins like Musa
and Yunus AS did but they cannot commit major sins. So this was a spiritual clea
nsing revealed in the Quran. When Allah says "Haven't we opened up your chest?"
- majority opinion is that this is a reference to the heart. Other opinion is th
at this refers to guiding to Islam.
It's narrated 54 years later, during the battle of Huyayn, when all of the tribe
s are entering into Islam that the tribe of Banu Sa'ad ibn Bukr was also fought
and conquered - and this was the tribe of the prophet PBUH as a young child. And
its narrated that one of the woman of this trible stands up and makes a commoti
on, claiming to be the sister of the prophet PBUH. Of course the sahabah didn't
know what to do so they brought her to the prophet PBUH. And the prophet PBUH sa
id "how do I know this is you?". She said "I still have the marks of the bite th
at you bit me on my back". And so the prophet PBUH realised this indeed in Shaym
a as she said a story nobody would know. So he freed her and gave her many gifts
. It appears that Halima and her husband were not in this occasion. Later on aft
er this battle they came to visit and so Halima and her husband visited the prop
het PBUH when was in his late fifties. And when the prophet PBUH saw Halima he r
ecognised her instantly. And he stood up to greet her; took of his own shawl and
placed it on the ground for her to sit on. And it's said on some of the books H
alima accepted Islam and the prophet PBUH gifted her and they went on their own
ways.
Shortly after the prophet PBUH was returned to Aminah we only have one incident
that is recorded during this time. What else did Aminah do etc we don't know any
thing. There is only thing narrated and that is that Aminah decided to take her
son to Yathrib (Madinah). Recall the prophet PBUH's great grandmother was from Y
athrib. Now surely we see the wisdom in Allah's plan. Out of all the cities it j
ust so happens Abdul Muttalib's father falls in love with a girl in Yathrib. And
thus there was a connection between the prophet PBUH and Yathrib. Indeed this w
as the only city he travelled to as a child. And of course it was a custom of th
e arabs they preserved their lineage. And they would know their generations back
to Ibrahim AS or Adnaan. And they would keep the ties of kinship. Because this
was the society. You are protected by your relatives - you are honoured by the r
elatives you have. And so Aminah decided to take prophet PBUH to Yathrib. And sh
e had one servant Ume Ayman - who lived a long time and became a muslim. And she
even lived after the death of the prophet PBUH. And if only someone asked her s
tories about the prophet PBUH's childhood we would have more stories but Allah k
nows best. So Ume Ayman tells us that Aminah travelled to Yathrib with the proph
et PBUH. Ume Ayman was around 6 years old at the time. Some books of seerah ment
ioned the prophet PBUH recognised some of the cities of Yathrib (Madinah). And s
o Aminah and the prophet PBUH stayed there for a few months but on the way back
in a small village called Abwa Aminah became ill and died then and there. And Um
e Ayman buried Aminah in the same village Abwa and her grave is still there.

It's reported in Sahih Muslim that one time when the prophet PBUH was returning
home he diverted away into the wilderness. All the sahaba just walk with him. No
t even asking a question. Indeed whatever the prophet PBUH did - "we hear and we
obey". So they just walked with him and the sahaba who are narrating this they
say the prophet PBUH found a grave over there and "he sat down and cried like we
never saw him cry before until his beard was wet". And many sahaba never saw hi
m cry before. And its narrated he only cried publically a number of times. The s
ahaba didn't ask one question but when they say the prophet PBUH crying the whol
e congregation is crying with him. This is the love they had for him. And then t
he prophet PBUH said "I have used to forbid you to visiting graves". This was th
e initial ruling that you only enter a graveyard with a dead body. "But I asked
Allah if I could visit my mothers grave". The prophet PBUH does not take one ste
p without Allah's permission - even to visit his mother. This is why he is a rol
e model. So he told them "I used to forbid you for doing so, I asked permission
and Allah allowed me so I am now allowing you". Thus from this we see the permis
sability to visit graves is from Aminah. And so he told us to visit graves becau
se it reminds you of death. The fact that the prophet PBUH is crying in this man
ner - this was his mother after all and the sahaba are just crying with him. So
certainly it's clear the love he felt for his mother.
So the prophet's father died when he is born, and when he is 6 years old he lose
s his mother so he is entrusted to Abdul Muttalib the chief of Quraysh. Now we o
nly have small stories from Ibn Hishaaq, mentioned from the Tabi'un so insh'Alla
h it's ok to mention this - its said Abdul Muttalib would have a raised platform
connected to the Ka'bah. We already said he lived a long life over 80 and is al
ready blind. So around Asr time when the shade would come this platform is where
that shade is. And he would sit and discuss the affairs of the Quraysh. This is
the platform equal to the King's throne so no-one sits on it. Not even his sons
or grandsons. And its recorded that once the prophet PBUH came running and jump
ed onto the platform. His uncles pulled him back down and Abdul Muttalib stopped
them and said "leave him he is allowed to be on the platform". So out of all hi
s grandchildren Abdul Mutallib allowed the prophet PBUH to sit on the platform w
ith him.
There's another incident that on one occasion the prophet PBUH was sent to find
some lost camels. And its said he was sent by Ibn Sa'ad (this and Ibn Hishaaq is
considered to be the most ancient sources of Seerah). So Ibn Sa'ad mentions tha
t the reason while his uncle sent the prophet PBUH, a little 7 or 8 year old, wa
s because he never did anything accept that it was successful. So now the uncles
are getting desperate - they can't find the camels. So they decide to the send
this young boy out alone in the desert to find the camels. And when they sent hi
m, the prophet PBUH was delayed in coming back. And so Abdul Muttalib found out
and was furious at his uncles. And he was waiting and pacing around for the prop
het PBUH to return and when he did he said "from now on I will not let you out o
f my sight". This shows the special care and concern Abdul Muttalib had for the
prophet PBUH.
At the age of 8 for the third time the prophet PBUH became an orphan as his gran
dfather Abdul Muttalib died. Ibn Sa'ad mentions a narration in which a sahaba as
ked the prophet PBUH "do you remember Abdul Muttalib?". Recall Abdul Muttalib wa
s the big guy - the chief and legand of Arabia. So he said "Yes I remember him a
nd I was 8 years old when he died". And one of the things Abdul Muttalib did was
to entrust the prophet PBUH to his son Abu Talib. Abdul Muttalib had 5 wives, w
ith one of them he had several daugthers and with another two sons, Abdullah and
Abu Talib. So Abu Talib and Abdullah are full brothers, thus Abu Talib was the
uncle of the prophet PBUH. And he lives a long life and passes away when the pro
phet PBUH is over 50 years old.
Question: why did Allah put so much trials on a young child? Why did he put thre

e orphan situations upon our prophet PBUH? If Allah had willed he could have lov
ing parents and born in luxury. The response is that there are many reasons.
1. Like Allah says about Musa AS "I was the one who took care of you so that you
may be raised under my care". So this applies for our prophet PBUH. Allah took
care of the prophet PBUH directly.
2. It is tough and difficult to be an orphan yet at the same time it gives you m
any qualities the prophet PBUH needed later on. Being loved and pampered would n
ot have prepared the prophet PBUH for a life of hardship and mission of calling
to Allah. Rather being born in a harsh environment, not having your parents to l
ove you - this automatically makes the child stronger, independant, maturity and
gives him wisdom. This is something we notice in every orphan child and further
a child born in difficult circumstances compared to children born in luxury is
much more mature. This is reality. So by putting the prophet PBUH through this d
ifficulty it made him who he was.
3. Going through difficult times makes you understand first hand poverty, living
in hardship etc. This makes you more sensitive, compassionate and merciful.
This is why there is so many hadith of taking care of orphans. When he says "I a
nd the one who takes care of orphan will be together in Jannah". When he says "w
hen you see an oprhan put your hand across their head". That is, treat orphans w
ith love - and surely the prophet PBUH is remembering his own childhood. Thus wa
lahi the least we can do is to sponser an orphan. Make this apart of our life. O
f course our Quran mentions taking care of the weak and poor is very important.
So going through this our prophet PBUH developed the softness and tenderness in
his heart.
4. This facilitated the prophet PBUH being raised in the Banu Sa'ad so that he c
ould be the most elequent of the arabs. And its known the prophet PBUH spoke the
best arabic and there is a hadith that the prophet PBUH said "I have given the
most profound speech". That is, a small phrase can be understood in hours as it
has many deep meanings in it.
The final story we'll mention is the story that the prophet PBUH took a journey
to Syria. Note this story is in Sunan Tirmidhi. Realise most of the seerah is no
t in the books of hadith but in Ibn Ishaaq, Ibn Sa'ad and the standard of authen
ticity of these books are one degree less than the books of hadith, which are th
e most strict. Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i and Ibn Majah etc. T
hese are the 'mother books'. Our fiqh and religion is based on them. The books o
f seerah are a level beneath this. And this is why alot of the stories of the se
erah are not as authentic - but we have no problem in relating them. But sometim
es we get into problems and this is one of those times.
The story is that when the prophet PBUH was still young and had not yet reached
puberty (so 11/12 years old) his uncle, Abu Talib, took him to Syria. And the ha
dith says it was long with Abu Bukr and Bilal. And they passed by a monostery wh
ere a monk called Buhayra used to live who would never give them the time of the
day. But this time Buhayra went out searching for them and greeting them and in
viting them to his house for a feast. When they asked him why? He said "you have
in your midst a boy who will become a prophet. I saw the clouds shelter him, I
saw the trees shelter him and the stones prostrate to him". And while they were
eating, they saw seven roman soilders appear, and they allegadly who are trying
to find the prophet to come. And so Buhayra hid them and told them to immediatel
y go back to Mecca.
Some of the scholars have accepted this story at face value. However, some of ou
r more critical scholars such as Imam Az-Zahabi and Ibn Kathir said something is
wrong. Imam Az-Zahabi, one of the greatest scholars of Islam, had a very critic

al mind and didn't accept everything at face value. This showed his intellectual
prowess. He thought deeply about these things and we should do so aswell. He sa
id that "how can this story be true - Abu Bukr was just a kid and why would he g
o on a caravan with Abu Talib where there is no relation? As for Bilal, he hasn'
t even been born yet! And he was not aquired by Abu Bukr until after Islam. Why
would the trees shelter him if the clouds are already sheltering him? And why do
n't we find the prophet PBUH reminding Abu Talib of this incident? Why did the Q
uraysh find it difficult to accept the prophet PBUH if Buhayra already announced
he would be a prophet. And why did the prophet PBUH himself not know what was h
appening when Jibraeel came to him? He should have been waiting for the time and
told Jibraeel "how come you are so late?" Why is he so scared and terrified? Kh
adija had to take him to Wariqah to explain. Why why why?" Some scholars say ok
Bilal and Abu Bukr are incorrect so then let's forget them and take the rest of
the story as truth. But firstly, if you reject Bilal and Abu Bukr then you have
to reject it all - you can't pick and choose. Secondly the problem that comes wi
th this story is that most of the non muslims have found the missing link they a
re looking for in this story. They say "aha this is where the prophet PBUH got a
ll his information about jews and christians". Because there was no information
about jews or christians in Mecca. There was no library of books, no old or new
testemant. Indeed the Quraysh have nothing to do with Yusuf, Moses, Jesus etc. T
he bani Ishaaq and bani Isreal. And the prohpet PBUH comes along in the middle o
f an uneducated history and recites the history of these people. And this is som
ething they don't an answer to. And Allah mentions this in the Quran that "you d
idn't recite novels before where did you get this from?" Allah says further "the
se are the stories you tell to the people, you didn't know this before, nor you
or your people". So orientalists say this is where he got his information. Even
if this story is true this is a ridiculous statement. How could he memorise the
entire history in just 1 hour and then relate it 40 years later? No way impossib
le. But we don't even say that - we just say that this story dosen't make sense
and we take the stance of some of our scholars that this story is fabricated.
Unfortunately throughout our history many people fabricated hadith - some with g
ood intentions and some with evil. There is a commonly known fabricated hadith t
hat every surah has a blessing. This isn't true. When Imam Ahmed captured this f
abricator he said "I wanted the people who were busy in fiqh and history to go b
ack to the Quran". So there is some good intentions but certainly fabricating ha
dith is not allowed. This is why there is a whole study called the 'science of h
adith' - and this is a whole specialisation. We must understand when it comes to
the seerah alot of people want to add things to make things seem better than th
ey were. You have stories that the prophet PBUH didn't have a shadow - you don't
found this in Ibn Hishaaq but instead in books written hundereds of years later
. We don't need these stories - the prophet PBUH is the best of all creation wit
hout them. And certainly it gives our religion our bad name. People look at us a
nd think "what type of Islam is this?". Allah has told us what we need to know.
In the authentic blessings there is plenty we can stick to. We don't need to res
ort to such fables and it's disservice to us anyway. So in our opinion this stor
y is most likely a fabrication. It's common sense that this story appears to be
weak and fabricated. And Allah knows best.