A
Special
Child

Amina, Muhammad's mother, was still a teenager but already a widow when Muhammad was born.

Her husband Abdullah, Muhammad's father, had died not long after they were married,

and it was left to Abdullah's father, 'Abd al-Muttalib, to protect and take care of Amina and her new baby.

Amina had always known that her baby was special because of the strange visions that she had seen when she was having him.

In those visions a voice told her that her child would grow up to be the leader of his people,

and that she should ask the One God to protect him from anyone who tried to harm him.

Then, when the baby was born, Amina saw a light shining from him that brightened all the sky,

just like Muhammad's Message that would spread around the world.

But Makkah was a crowded and dirty place, and babies raised there often became sick and died.

So any parents who could afford it would try to find a nurse from a tribe that lived out in the pure air of the desert to care for their children while they were babies.

The people of Makkah also thought that the language the desert Arabs spoke was the best kind of Arabic,

rather than the mix of different languages and accents that a child would learn in the city.

So every year, women from the desert tribes would visit Makkah to see if they could find any parents with new babies.

They knew that the rich people of Makkah would pay well to have their babies nursed for them outside of the city.

But when they saw Muhammad, they said "His father is dead and his mother is poor, so we will not get much money for looking after him",

and they would not take the baby.

All of them turned away from the baby except for one young woman from the clan Banu S'ad, known as Halima, who took the baby and nursed him along with her own child.

Halima cared for Muhammad until he was five years old, when he was returned to Makkah to live with his mother, Amina.

His father may no longer have been there to look after them, but his grandfather, 'Abd al-Muttalib, loved him greatly, and protected Muhammad and his mother.

But Death had not finished with the young Muhammad when it took away his father.

When he was six, Amina decided to take Muhammad to Yathrib to visit his father's family, and to visit the grave of the father he had never known.

They stayed with Abdullah's family for several weeks, and then set off to return to Makkah.

But when they reached the village of al-Abwa, just a few miles from Yathrib, Amina fell sick and very quickly died.

After the death of Amina, Muhammad had neither a father or mother,

so it was his mother's servant, Umm Ayman, who travelled with him back to Makkah

and placed him in the care of his grandfather 'Abd al-Muttalib.

But even that loving relationship was not to last too long,

for his grandfather lived for only two more years before he also died.

But before he died, 'Abd al-Muttalib had placed Muhammad in the care of his son, Abu Talib, Muhammad's uncle.

Abu Talib was not very rich, but was noble in character, and respected by all of the tribe.

He was a good man, and loved the young Muhammad, and supported him through all the trials that were to come.

And as the boy Muhammad grew older, all those around him loved him.

They saw that he was kind-hearted and cared greatly about the sufferings of other people.

In fact, Muhammad was so good a person that his friends called him "al-Amin",

which means "the truthful and trustworthy one",

for Muhammad would never ever tell a lie.

And in all his life, Muhammad was never known to speak anything but the truth.

Halima told some very strange stories of what happened while she was caring for the infant Muhammad.

Abu Talib also told a very strange tale of what happened when he took the young Muhammad on a journey North.

The story of how Muhammad proved his wisdom when the tribes needed to rebuild the Ancient House.