Sunnahs of the newborn baby

Tahneek
It was reported that Abu Moosa said: I had a baby boy, and I brought him to the
Prophet (PBUH). He named him Ibraaheem, did Tahneek with some dates and
prayed for Allaah to bless him, then he gave him back to me. Tahneek means
putting something sweet, such as dates or honey, in the childs mouth when he is
first born.
It is permissible to name the child on the first day or on the seventh.
Aqeeqah and circumcision
It was reported from Salmaan ibn Aamir (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: For the boy there
should be an aqeeqah. Slaughter (an animal) for him and remove the harmful
thing [i.e., the foreskin] from him.
Thirdly:
Among the Sunnahs for welcoming the newborn, the scholars mentioned that the
Adhaan should be recited into the babys right ear so that the first thing he hears
in this world will be the words of Tawheed, which will have a great and blessed
effect on the child. With regard to reciting the iqaamah in the childs left ear, there
is nothing to prove that this is required. (See al-Silsilat al-Daeefah, 1/491).
Fourthly:
Shaving the childs head then anointing the childs head with saffron is very
beneficial. Then it is prescribed to give in charity gold or silver equal in weight to
the hair. This does not have to be done by actually weighing the hair; if it is too
difficult to do that, it is sufficient to estimate the weight and give paper currency
equivalent to the price of that amount of gold or silver.

Care for animals

Naratted by hazrat Abdullah bin jaffar that "once Prophet Muhammad went to a Muslim's garden. There
was a camel. When that camel saw Prophet Muhammad, it started crying. Prophet Muhammad went close
to him and put his hand over its head and said "where is his master?" an ansari Muslim came forward and
said "oh Prophet! this is my camel" Then Prophet Muhammad said "Allah made you owner of this camel,
dont you fear Allah regarding this poor animal. He complained me that you don't give him enough
to eat and take too much work"
Sunan abi Dawood, no 2549

Masnad Ahamd, 1754

Naratted by hazrat Anas bin malik that. once Prophet Muhammad passed by a group. They had hunted a
deer and it was tied to a poal. That deer said some thing to Prophet Muhammad. Then Prophet Muhammad
asked the group "who is the owner of this dear?". Group replied "we are her owner". Prophet Muhammad
then said "free her, she want to feed her fawns and after that she will come back to you". People asked "oh
Allah's Prophet who will take guarantee of her return?" Prophet Muhammad said "i take her guarantee".
They freed the deer. she went..feed her fawns and came back. when she came back they tied her again.
After some time Prophet Muhammad passed by that group again and then he asked. Who is the owner of
this dear. That group said "we are". Prophet Muhammad asked. "would you sell this dear to me?" . The
group said "oh Allah's Prophet "it is yours". Then Prophet Muhammad freed that deer.
Tabrani, Mojam ul owsat. no 5547
.
Naratted by hazrat Abdullah bin Masood "once we were with Prophet Muhammad during a journey. We
passed by a tree where a sparrow had two hosts (sparrow's babies). Some muslims took those hosts. That
sparrow began circling the group and was saying some thing. Prophet Muhammad then asked "who took
this sparrow's hosts and hurt her?" some people said "we did this". Then Prophet Muhammad ordered
them to put those hosts back. And they did exactly that.

Prophet and forgiveness

1. The Garbage Thrower: (a heart touching story)

She thought till late at midnight and finally decided how to take revenge from him. She could not sleep all
night, because she was too eager to take revenge for the idols she worshiped. Even before the first ray of
sunlight had entered her window, she was busy sweeping her house. She saved all the garbage in a
basket, placed it on the roof of her house and proudly looked at it for a while, then with an impatient look on
her face, she looked at the street that she lived on, and thought, "No one has ever seen him angry.
Everybody will praise me when they will see him shouting at me and getting mad. They will laugh at him
and make fun of him." She looked at the basket again and grinned.

Meanwhile, she heard footsteps, announcing the approach of the end of her waiting. "Finally my prey has
arrived," she thought, as she saw a man dressed in clean, white clothes coming that way. She picked up
the basket in her hands and threw all the garbage on him when he passed by. Much to the woman's
disappointment, he did not say anything and continued on his way.

She did the same the following day thinking, "Maybe this time I will be able to annoy him." But he was too
gentle to shout at a woman. She misinterpreted his attitude as fear and decided to repeat the same
mischief everyday in order to keep him frightened, so that he might stop preaching the Oneness of God.

This gentleman whom the woman hated so much was Muhammad (pbuh), the last prophet of Allah
Almighty. He did not want to disappoint the woman and so continued to walk down the street everyday,
instead of picking an alternate route, and prayed for the woman to recognize the Truth.

One day, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not find the woman to be on the roof of her house with
the basket. This worried him, because he thought something must have happened to her for not being over
there. So he knocked at the door. "Who is it?" asked a feeble voice. "Muhammad bin Abdullah," was the
reply, "can I come in?" The woman feared, "I am sick, and too weak to fight or talk back, therefore
Muhammad has come to take revenge for what I have been doing to him." But the permission to enter her
house was in such a gentle voice that she allowed him in.

Muhammad (pbuh) entered the house and told the woman that not finding her on the roof had worried him
and he thus wanted to inquire about her health. On finding out how ill she was, he gently asked if she
needed any help. Hypnotized by the affectionate tone in the Holy Prophet's (pbuh) blessed voice, she forgot
all fear and asked for some water. He kindly gave her some in a utensil and prayed for her health, while she
quenched her thirst. This made her feel very guilty for being so cruel to him in the past and she apologized
for her mean behavior. He forgave her and came to her house everyday to clean it, to feed her and to pray
for her, till she was on her feet again. The kind attitude of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) inspired her into the
recognition of the Truth, and his prayers were answered in the form of yet another addition into the growing
number of Muslims.

Prophet and the poor

2. THE HOLY PROPHET (PBUH) AND THE SOUR GRAPES

One day a poor man brought a bunch of grapes to the holy prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) as a
gift.
The holy prophet (pbuh) ate one, two, three and then the whole bunch of grapes by himself. He did not offer
grapes to anyone present. The poor man who brought those grapes was very pleased and left. One of the
companions asked, "O prophet of Allah (peace be upon Him)! How come you ate all the grapes by yourself
and did not offer to any one of us present?
The holy Prophet (peace be upon Him) smiled and said, "I ate all the grapes by myself because the grapes
were sour. If I would have offered you, you might have made funny faces and that would have hurt the
feelings of that poor man. I thought to myself that it's better that I eat all of them cheerfully and please the
poor man. I did not want to hurt the feelings of that poor man."
Such were the manners of this most noble prophet of Allah.

5. HELPING HAND

Once Muhammad (peace be upon him) saw a slave grinding some grain on a grinding mill driven by hand.
As he ground the grains he was crying. On seeing this Prophet became anxious. He asked the slave the
reason why he was weeping. The slave said, "I am sick. I cannot grind the grain. My master is very cruel
and he will beat me if I cannot finish my job." At this, the Prophet stepped forward and ground the rest of
the grain saying, "Always call me if you have any grain to grind. I will do it for you."
...

Another time, the Prophet (peace be upon him) saw an old man walking and trembling under the weight of
water which he carried in a leather jacket. The old man walked a few steps and rested a bit. Seeing this, the
Prophet took the load and carried it to his place.

Prophet and the environment

The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) recognized the importance of looking after the
environment. He taught that human beings were Gods agents on the earth and it is their duty to protect it.
On one occasion, he said: The world is green and beautiful, and God has appointed you his
guardian over it. (Sahih Muslim).
He encouraged believers to plant trees and regarded it a sin to destroy them without a valid reason. He
said: There is none amongst the believers who plants a tree or sows a seed and then a bird, a
person or an animal eats from it, except that it is regarded as a charity [for which he can expect
Gods pleasure and reward]. (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Prophet and children

Allahs Messenger sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) was particularly
compassionate towards children. When he saw a child crying, he sat beside him or her and shared his or
her feelings. He felt the pain of a mother for her child more than the mother herself. Once he said: I stand
in prayer and wish to prolong it. However, I hear the cry of a child and cut the prayer short for the
anxiety which the mother is feeling. [Al-Bukhaari]