Fath al-Rabbani

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the son of Sayyiduna Abu Talha and Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with them both) passed away. Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) said to her family: Do not inform Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) about his son; I will tell him myself. So when he came, she presented him with the evening meal; he ate and drank. Then Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) prepared herself well for her husband, as she used to do before, and he had relations with her. When Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) saw that her husband was satisfied and had fulfilled his marital right, she said: O Abu Talha! What is your opinion about people who are given something on loan by the people of a household, and then when they ask for it back, can they withhold it? He said: No, they cannot withhold it. Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Then seek reward by being patient over the death of your son.

Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) set out until he reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him of the whole matter. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: May Allah bless you in your night just passed. Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) became pregnant.

Once, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was on a journey and Umm Sulaym was with him. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would return from a journey to Madinah, he would not enter the city at night. When they neared Madinah, Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) began to experience labor pains. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went ahead, but Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) stayed with his wife and said: O my Lord! You know that I love to go out on a journey with Your Messenger and to enter Madinah with him, but now You see that I have stayed behind. Then Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) said: What I was feeling before, I am not feeling now. So we set out, and when we reached Madinah, the labor pains started again and she gave birth to a child.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) says: My mother said to me: O Anas! Let no one nurse him until you take him to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the morning. He says: I took the child to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and found him with an iron branding tool in his hand for marking animals. When he saw me, he said: Perhaps Umm Sulaym has given birth? I said: Yes. He put down the tool, I brought the child forward and placed him in the lap of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called for some dates of Madinah’s ‘Ajwah variety, chewed them in his blessed mouth until they became soft, then put them in the child’s mouth, and the child began to move his tongue and swallow it. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: See how much the Ansar love dates! Then he passed his hand over the child’s face and named him Abdullah.

(Second chain) It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) married Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her), who was the mother of Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik and Sayyiduna Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with them both). Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) gave birth to a beloved son for him, whom Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) loved very much. But it happened that the child became very seriously ill. Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) had a routine: he would get up for Fajr prayer, perform ablution, go to the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), pray with him, and stay with him until about midday. Then he would return, take a nap, and eat food. After preparing for the Zuhr prayer, he would leave and would not return until after the Isha prayer. One day, when he returned at night, the child had passed away. Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) (initially to conceal his death) covered him with a cloth and left him. When Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) returned, he said: O Umm Sulaym! How did my beloved son spend the night? She said: O Abu Talha! Your son, since the day he became ill, tonight was the most peaceful for him. Then she brought food, he ate, and his soul became pleasant. Then he went to his bed and laid his head down to sleep. Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) says: I applied perfume and came to him, entering the bed with him. When he sensed the fragrance, what happens between husband and wife happened. Then, when morning came, he began to prepare as per his routine, as he did every day. Now Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) said: O Abu Talha! What do you think about this: if a man entrusted something to you, you benefited from it, then he asked for it back and took it, would you be impatient in this matter? He said: No. She said: Then your son has passed away. He became very anxious and distressed and went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him of the whole matter: that his wife had fed him in this way, applied perfume, and then what happened. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: You have fulfilled the right of marriage, and the child was between your sides? He said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah! The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: May Allah bless you in this night of yours. Thus, Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) conceived that very night. Later, when she gave birth to a child, in the morning Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me (Anas, may Allah be pleased with him): Take him in a cloth and bring him to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and also take some Ajwa dates. So I wrapped him in a cloth and carried him; he had not been given anything to eat, nor had he tasted anything. When I arrived, I said: O Messenger of Allah! Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) has given birth to a child. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (happily) said: Allahu Akbar! What has she given birth to? I said: A boy. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Alhamdulillah, bring him to me. So I handed him to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to perform tahneek for him, so he asked me: Do you have any Ajwa dates? I said: Yes, I do. Then I took out the dates. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took a date, put it in his blessed mouth, and chewed it until it was mixed with his saliva. Then he gave it to the child, and immediately it seemed as if the child was tasting the sweetness of the date; he began to suck the sweetness of the date and the saliva of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The first thing that opened this child’s intestines was the saliva of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The favorite thing of the Ansar is dates. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) named the child Abdullah. Many children were born to this Abdullah, and this Abdullah was martyred in Persia.