❖ The Incident of Shaqq al-Sadr (Chest Splitting) During the Prophet’s ﷺ Childhood in the Care of Halimah
Authored by: Hafiz Muhammad Anwar Zahid حفظه الله
✿ The Narration:
Hafiz Ibn Kathir رحمه الله reports:
Abu ʿAmr ibn Ḥamdān (from Ḥasan ibn Nufayr → ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān → Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd → Buḥayr ibn Saʿīd → Khālid ibn Maʿdān → ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr al-Sulamī → ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd Allah) narrates:
A Companion once asked the Prophet ﷺ:
"O Messenger of Allah! How were your early days?"
The Prophet ﷺ replied:
*"My nursing mother was from Banu Saʿd, Banu Bakr. I once told my foster brother to go ask our mother for some food. While he was gone, I was near the herd when suddenly two white birds resembling vultures descended. One said to the other, ‘Is this the one?’ The other replied, ‘Yes.’
They then seized me and laid me flat on my back. They split open my chest and extracted my heart. They split the heart and removed two black clots from it. One of them then said, ‘Bring cold water from snow,’ with which they washed my chest. Then they said, ‘Bring water from hailstones,’ and with that, they washed my heart.
After that, one said, ‘Bring tranquility and contentment,’ and he sprinkled it into my heart.
Then one said, ‘Place him on one side of a scale, and place one thousand people of this Ummah on the other.’
I saw that the side with one thousand people rose high, as it was lighter. I feared the scale might tip over onto me. Then they said, ‘Even if all of the Ummah were weighed against him, he would still outweigh them.’
Then they left me, and I was terrified. I informed my mother about the incident. She feared for my sanity and said, ‘I seek Allah’s protection for you.’ She then prepared the mount, placed me on it, and took me back to Makkah.
When we reached there, she said to my mother, ‘I have returned the trust and fulfilled my responsibility.’ She also narrated the incident.
My (biological) mother showed no concern and replied, ‘I saw a dream in which a light emerged from my body that illuminated the palaces of Syria.’"*
❖ Authentication of the Narration:
Status of the Chain: Its chain is weak.
- Reported in:
- Musnad Ahmad (4/184–185, Hadith 17798)
- Sunan al-Dārimī, Hadith no. 13
- Tārīkh al-Islām by al-Dhahabi (Vol. 2, pp. 48–49)
- Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (8/222)
- Mustadrak al-Ḥākim (2/616)
Reasons for Weakness:
① The narration depends on Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd, who is a known mudallis.
— In none of the levels of the chain does he specify that he heard (samiʿa) the narration directly; he only reports using ʿanʿanah, which is not acceptable from a mudallis unless a direct hearing is affirmed.
② There is no clear evidence of direct transmission between Buḥayr ibn Saʿīd and Khālid ibn Maʿdān, which further weakens the continuity of the chain.
Due to these factors, the narration is classified as weak.
✿ Conclusion:
Although the incident of Shaqq al-Ṣadr (chest splitting) is established through multiple authentic chains in other narrations (such as in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim), this particular version — which includes extended details and dialogue — is weak due to the defects in its chain of narration. Therefore, it should be presented with caution, making clear its weak status in academic and religious contexts.
