Al-Ḥāfiz̤, on the authority of Mak͟hzūm (quoted by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ, p. 59), says that on the night that Muḥammad was born, the palace of Chosroes was shaken, and fourteen of its turrets fell; the fires of the Persians were extinguished, which had not been extinguished before for a thousand years; and the lake Sāwah sank.
It was not the custom of the better class of women amongst the Arabians to nurse their children, and consequently the infant, soon after his birth, was made over to S̤uwaibah, a slave-girl of his uncle Abū Lahab. S̤uwaibah had a son, whose name was Masrūḥ, whom she nursed at the same time, and she had also nursed Ḥamzāh, Muḥammad’s uncle, and Abū Salimah; so that these three men were his foster-brothers. S̤uwaibah only suckled Muḥammad for a few days, when the child was made over to Ḥalīmah, a woman of the tribe of the Banū Saʿd. Ḥalīmah was the daughter of ʿAbdu ʾllāh Abū Zuʾaib, the son of al-Ḥāris̤, and she took Muḥammad to her desert home, amongst the Banū Saʿd, where he remained for a period of two years. The foster-brother suckled by Ḥalīmah was ʿAbdu ʾllāh, and his foster-sisters Anīsah and Ḥarāmah.
The following story connected with Muḥammad’s stay with Ḥalīmah is related by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ (p. 64). When some time passed, Muḥammad and his foster-brother went out to a distance from the house, when Ḥalīmah’s son came to his mother and said, “Two men clothed in white raiments have taken hold of the Quraish boy, and have thrown him down and have ripped open his belly.” So Ḥalīmah and her husband went to the place where the child was, but found him standing on his feet. And they said, “What has happened to thee child?” And he answered and said, “Two men came to me, and threw me down and ripped up my belly.” Then Ḥalīmah’s husband said to her, “I greatly fear that this boy has got the epilepsy.” So they took him to his mother Āminah. And Ḥalīmah said to Āminah, “I am afraid he is possessed of a devil.” But Āminah said, “What in the world can Satan have to do with my son that he should be his enemy?”
This circumstance has been regarded as the miracle when Gabriel came and took out the heart of the child and washed it from the stains of original sin. And some commentators say the first verse of the XCIVth Sūrah of the Qurʾān alludes to it: “Have we not opened thy breast?”
Muḥammad ever retained a most grateful recollection of the kindness he had received from the Banū Saʿd, and, in after years, he used to say, “Verily I am the most perfect Arab amongst you. My descent is from the Quraish, and my speech is the tongue of the Banū Saʿd.”
In his sixth year, Muḥammad was taken by his mother to al-Madīnah, but on the return journey she fell sick, and died at a place called al-Abwāʾ, where her body was buried. In subsequent years, Muḥammad visited his mother’s tomb at al-Abwāʾ, and wept over it, saying, “This is the grave of my mother; the Lord hath permitted me to visit it, and I sought leave to pray for her salvation, but it was not granted. So I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her overcame me, and I wept.”
The little orphan was then carried on to Makkah by Umm Aiman, who, although young in years, became his faithful nurse and companion. The charge of Muḥammad was now undertaken by ʿAbdu ʾl-Mut̤t̤alib, but the old chief died two years afterwards, and the child was committed to the care of his paternal uncle, Abū T̤ālib. When Muḥammad was twelve years old, he was taken by his uncle on a mercantile journey to Syria, and proceeded as far as Buṣrā. The expedition lasted for some months. According to the Muslim historian, Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ, it was at Buṣrā that Muḥammad met the Christian monk Buḥairaʾ, who is related to have said to Abū T̤ālib, “Return with this youth, and guard him from the hatred of the Jews; for great dignity awaits this your brother’s son.” It was on this journey that Muḥammad was brought in contact with the profession of Christianity in Syria, and had an opportunity of obtaining some information as to the national and social customs of Christians. He must have also passed through many Jewish settlements. It is, therefore, highly probable that it was on the occasion of this journey that Muḥammad’s mind became first impressed with the absolute necessity of reforming, not only the gross idolatry of Makkah, but the degrading social habits of the Arabian people.
After this journey, the youth of Muḥammad seems to have been passed uneventfully, but all authorities agree in ascribing to him a correctness of manner, and a purity of morals, which were at that time rare amongst the people of Makkah. The fair character and honourable bearing of the unobtrusive youth won the approbation of the citizens of Makkah, and by common consent he received the title of al-Amīn, “The Faithful.”
Between the years A.D. 580–590, the sacrilegious war broke out between the Quraish and the Banū Hawāzin, which lasted for nearly ten years. In two of the contests, Muḥammad, though only a lad, accompanied his uncles in their local wars. They were called “sacrilegious” because they were carried on during the sacred months, when fighting was forbidden.
The youth of Muḥammad passed away without any other incidents of interest. At this period he was employed, like other lads, in tending the sheep and goats of Makkah upon the neighbouring hills and valleys. He used afterwards to allude to his shepherd life, and say it comported with his prophetic office, even as it did with that of Moses and David: “Verily there hath been no prophet who hath not performed the work of a shepherd.”