and she said, “Jurayj!” He replied, “My Lord—my mother or my prayer?” and turned back to his prayer. The following day she again came while he was praying and said, “Jurayj!” He answered, “My Lord—my mother or my prayer?” and resumed his prayer, whereupon she supplicated, “O Allah, do not let him die until he has gazed upon the faces of the prostitutes.”

The Children of Israel spoke about Jurayj and his devotion. There was a well-known courtesan who prided herself on her beauty (1). She said, “If you like, I can tempt him.” She tried to approach him, but he paid her no heed. So she went to a shepherd who used to shelter near Jurayj’s hermitage, gave herself to him, and he lay with her. She became pregnant, and when she gave birth she claimed, “The child is Jurayj’s.” They came, forced him down, demolished his hermitage, and began to beat him. He asked, “What is the matter with you?” They said, “You fornicated with this prostitute and she has borne your child.” He said, “Where is the baby?” When they brought him, Jurayj said, “Leave me until I pray.” He prayed, then came to the infant, prodded him in the stomach and said, “Boy, who is your father?” The child replied, “So-and-so, the shepherd.” The people turned to Jurayj, kissing him and wiping themselves on him, and said, “We shall rebuild your hermitage in gold.” He said, “No—restore it from clay as it was,” and so they did.

While an infant was suckling at his mother’s breast, a man rode past on a fine mount, splendidly dressed. The mother said, “O Allah, make my son like this man.” The child left the breast, looked at the man and said, “O Allah, do not make me like him,” then returned to the breast and resumed nursing. I can almost see the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as he illustrated the child’s suckling by putting his forefinger in his mouth and sucking it.

The Prophet ﷺ continued: “They passed by a slave-girl whom the people were beating and saying, ‘You have committed fornication, you have stolen,’ while she kept saying, ‘Allah is sufficient for me, and He is the best Trustee.’ The mother said, ‘O Allah, do not make my son like her.’ The child left the breast, looked at her and said, ‘O Allah, make me like her.’ At that point mother and child spoke together. She said, ‘A handsome man passed by and I said, O Allah, make my son like him, yet you said, O Allah, do not make me like him. And they passed by this slave-girl while they were beating her and saying, You committed fornication, you stole, and I said, O Allah, do not make my son like her, yet you said, O Allah, make me like her?’ He replied, ‘That man was a tyrant, so I said, O Allah, do not make me like him. As for this girl, they say, You committed fornication—but she did not; You stole—but she did not…”