and I kept on watching. He asked, “Have you had your fill?” I kept replying, “No,” for I wished to see the extent of his affection for me. Just then ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—arrived, and the people moved away from her. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I can see the devils, both of jinn and of humans, scattering before ʿUmar.”

Khārijah ibn ʿAbd Allāh: Ibn ʿAdī said, “There is nothing objectionable about him.”

Al-Nasāʾī recorded—through Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah—that she said: “The Prophet ﷺ raced me, and by Allah’s will I beat him. Later, when I had grown heavier, he raced me again and this time he beat me; he then said, ‘This victory cancels the other.’ ” The report is sound. Abū Dāwūd also transmitted it in the narration of ʿUrwah, from Abū Salamah, from her, though other wordings exist for its chain of transmission.

Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṭaḥḥān narrated—from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah (other narrators besides Khālid omit Abū Hurayrah)—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would stick out his tongue for al-Ḥusayn; the child, seeing the redness of his tongue, would hurry toward him. ʿUyaynah ibn Baḍr remarked, “I see you doing this. By Allah, a child of mine may reach maturity and I have never kissed him.” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Whoever shows no mercy will be shown no mercy.”

Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn narrated—from Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Muzarrad, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah—that the Prophet ﷺ took the hand of Ḥasan—or Ḥusayn—while chanting, “tarqa, ʿayn baqqah” (Climb up, little one!). The boy would place his foot on the Prophet’s foot and the Prophet would lift him up to his chest, then he kissed his mouth and said, “O Allah, I love him, so love him.”

Khālid ibn al-Ḥārith narrated—from Ashʿath, from al-Ḥasan, from Anas—who said: “I entered upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was lying on his back and Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī was on top of him.”