Later accounts relate that he—peace and blessings be upon him—also set free their children, some six thousand boys and girls in all, and bestowed upon them large herds of livestock together with many captives. Abū al-Ḥusayn Ibn Fāris estimated that what he released to them that day was worth five hundred thousand thousand dirhams—five hundred million in all. Such was only a portion of his immediate, worldly blessing; how much greater, then, will be his blessing for those who follow him in the life to come?

Section

Ibn Isḥāq, after mentioning the Prophet’s return—peace and blessings be upon him—to his mother Āminah once Ḥalīmah had finished nursing him, says:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained with his mother Āminah bint Wahb and his grandfather ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, safely guarded by Allah and under His protection. Allah caused him to grow in the finest manner in preparation for the honor He had destined for him. When he reached six years of age, his mother Āminah bint Wahb died.”

Ibn Isḥāq also relates: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm told me that the Messenger of Allah’s mother Āminah died when he was six, at al-Abwāʾ—between Mecca and Medina. She had taken him to visit his maternal uncles of the Banū ʿAdiyy ibn al-Najjār, and she passed away on the return journey to Mecca.

Al-Wāqidī, through his chains of transmission, reports that the Prophet’s mother travelled with him to Medina, accompanied by Umm Ayman, when he was six years old and visited his maternal relatives there. Umm Ayman said:

“One day two men from the Jews of Medina came to me and said, ‘Bring out Ahmad so that we may look at him.’ They examined him closely, turning him this way and that, and one of them said to the other, ‘This is the Prophet of this nation; this is the land of his migration, and here there will one day be great killing and captivity.’ When his mother heard this she became frightened and hurried back with him, but she died at al-Abwāʾ on the way.”

Imām Aḥmad recorded: Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad told us, Ayyūb ibn Jābir told us, from Simāk, from al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Ibn Buraydah, from his father, who said:

“We set out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and when we reached Waddān he said, ‘Stay where you are until I return to you.’ He went off and later came back to us, his demeanor heavy with sorrow, and said, ‘I have just come from the grave of Muḥammad’s mother. I asked my Lord for permission to intercede on her behalf, but He did not grant it. I had forbidden you to visit graves—so visit them now. And I had forbidden you to keep the meat of your sacrificial animals for more than three…’”