“How can you be sure he is my son? Perhaps some other child was born today.”

The monk replied, “Your son’s name fulfils the prophecy, and God does not confound the knowledge He grants the learned; that is decisive proof. Another sign is that he is now feverish: he will complain of pain for three days, hunger will show on him for those same three days, then he will recover. Guard your tongue, for no one has ever been envied as he will be envied, nor has anyone ever been opposed as he will be opposed. If you live until his word becomes manifest and he begins to call people, you will experience from your own folk what you cannot endure except with patient acceptance of humiliation. So guard your tongue and keep clear of harming him.

He asked, “How long will he live?”

The monk answered, “Whether his span is long or short, he will not reach seventy; he will die at an odd number less than that—either sixty-one or sixty-three—much like the lifespans of most of his community.

“The pregnancy with the Messenger of God ﷺ began on ʿĀshūrāʾ in the month of Muḥarram, and he was born on Monday, twelve nights having passed in Ramadan, twenty-two years after the campaign of the People of the Elephant.”

This is how Abū Nuʿaym narrated it, though the report is unusual.

Nursing-mothers and caregivers of the Prophet ﷺ

Umm Ayman—whose name was Barakah—looked after him; she was among those he ﷺ inherited from his father. When he grew up, he set her free and married her to his freedman Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, and she bore him Usāmah ibn Zayd (may God be pleased with them both). Along with his own mother, he ﷺ was also nursed by Thuwaybah, the slavewoman of his uncle Abū Lahab, before Ḥalīmah al-Saʿdiyyah.

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both record—in the narration of al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, from Zaynab bint Umm Salamah, from Umm Ḥabībah bint Abī Sufyān—that she said: “O Messenger of God, marry my sister, the daughter of Abī Sufyān.” (Muslim’s wording is “ʿIzzah bint Abī Sufyān.”) The Messenger of God ﷺ said, “Do you wish that?” I replied, “Yes. I do not insist on being your only wife, and the person I would most love to share this goodness with me is my sister.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “That is not lawful for me.” I said, “We have heard that you intend to marry Abū Salamah’s daughter”—in another narration: “Durrah bint Abī Salamah.” He said, “The daughter of Umm Salamah?” I replied, “Yes.”