Halima Bint Abi Thawayb

The Story of the Shade  ✨ 5 min read✨

‘This is one of my children’s favourite stories...’

(adapted with permission from Qalam Podcast; Seerah, Life of The Prophet by Sh Abdul Nasir Jangda Episode 112) 

Narrated by Ibn Ishaq (R.A)

Halima Bint Abi Thawayb, the wet-nurse of Prophet Muhammad (S) recalls that from the very moment she collected the Prophet (S) from his mother, miraculous blessings began to unfold such as; her breast-milk flowing abundantly, their mule suddenly becoming fit and active; the camel producing milk; their land becoming green and their livestock grazing  to their fill, also producing abundant milk.

Halima said, ‘We had come to realise that it was because of this child that we had been blessed. However, asides from us receiving all the blessings there was something unique about this child. This child had a noor (light)to his face, he had this magnetic quality to him. Even as a baby you just wanted to sit around him and just look at him all the time. People would come over and just sit there and want to hold him and not put him down. When he was two years old, he didn’t look or behave like your average two-year-old. He was taller than an average two-year-old, healthier and seemed stronger. He was certainly a lot more intelligent too. There was something special about this child, he seemed emotionally,  intelligently, gifted. He wouldn’t cry, he wouldn’t wail, there was a calming, serene quality that this child had about him. 

So because there was something special about this child, and we believed that he was the source of all this blessing that had come in our life, we had instructed our daughter Shayma to look after and take care of her younger brothers when they were out playing, especially Muhammad (S). 

We explained to Shayma that, ‘Your brothers, Mohammad and Abdullah, they are little kids. They run around, do crazy things..like boys do. We want you to always keep an eye on Muhammad (S) especially, watch out for him. We want you to take care of him when he is in your company. He is your responsibility, we want you to keep an eye on him. Be a good older sister’ 

One day I looked around the house and I couldn’t find any of the children. I walked outside and was aware that the sun was at its peak. This was the time of day that even animals would have run to find shade. They would go and huddle up underneath a tree or sit underneath a shadow that was cast by the wall of any buildings, and there they would sleep. They would rest until the day cooled a little and then they would come back out. 

So if you can imagine, it’s that time of day when even the animals were not out, even they were hiding from the sun. 

I certainly didn’t expect to see my children outside at such a time during the day, but as I looked out towards the horizon I caught sight of Shayma. I could see her sitting outside with Mohammed (S) in the open on the grass, not underneath a tree or next to a wall, they were sitting in the open, directly under the heat of the sun! I was very upset, I had specifically told Shayma to look after her brothers and warned her about not going out during certain times of the day. Furiously, I charged out towards them, shouting out, ‘What are you guys doing out there? Get inside. You know how hot it is. You’re going to get sick, don’t sit underneath the sun like this’. 

As I got closer to them, I noticed that Muhammad (S) was actually laying down on the grass, like kids do, and Shaima was sitting next to him, and both of them were simply chilling. They didn’t seem to be sweltering in the heat as I expected.  I began to scold Shayma telling her that she should know better then to be sitting out in the scorching sun with her poor little brother. ‘You are both going to get sick’ I said.

‘No mum’, replied Sharma, ‘Everything is okay’. 

‘What do you mean everything is okay?!’ I snapped. 

‘I’ve been watching my little brother, and one thing that I noticed was that as he walks around during the daytime outside, he is oblivious to the heat. I was baffled how the heat doesn’t bother him. Until I noticed something, I looked up at the sky above and noticed that there is always a cloud above him, casting a shade over him, protecting him. Everytime he moves the cloud and the shade moves. It’s always there. And so I realised that he just comes out here, into the open and chills because he is not affected by the heat. And I actually come and deliberately sit right next to him, so that I get some of that shade too.’ :)

Subhan’Allah! 

I had already believed that there was something amazing about this child. And this miracle reassured me even more.’ 

May Allah SWT grant us the love, the understanding, the implementation of the seerah within our lives Aameen.