Her husband, al-ʿAwwām ibn Khuwaylid, had died and left her with a small child—her son al-Zubayr. She therefore reared him on hardness and valor, schooled him in horsemanship and war, and made his toy sharpening arrows and mending bows. Constantly she would fling him into every intimidating situation (1) and thrust him into every danger (2). If ever she saw him hold back or hesitate, she would beat him severely. One of his uncles once reproached her: “This is no way to strike a child; you are beating him as someone who hates him, not as a mother would.” She thereupon improvised (3), saying:

Whoever claims that I hate him has surely lied.