From Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“There was a man among the Children of Israel called Jurayj who worshipped in his hermitage. One day his mother came and called out, ‘Jurayj, my son, look down to me so I may speak with you—I am your mother, look down to me!’ He thought, ‘My Lord, my prayer or my mother?’ and continued with his prayer. She returned several times and called, ‘Jurayj, my son, look down to me!’ Each time he pondered, ‘My Lord, my prayer or my mother?’ and kept to his prayer. She then supplicated, ‘O Allah, do not let him die until You show him the prostitute.’

There was a shepherdess who pastured her family’s sheep and would rest in the shade of his hermitage. She committed fornication, became pregnant, and was arrested—for whoever committed fornication among them was put to death. They asked, ‘From whom is the child?’ She answered, ‘From Jurayj, the owner of the hermitage.’

So they came with axes and mattocks, crying, ‘Jurayj, you impostor, come down!’ He refused and remained in his prayer, whereupon they started to demolish the hermitage. When he saw this he descended; they placed a rope around his neck and around hers and paraded them before the people. He put his finger on her belly and said, ‘Infant, who is your father?’ The child replied, ‘My father is So-and-so, the shepherd of the flock.’

They kissed Jurayj and said, ‘If you wish, we will rebuild your hermitage out of gold and silver.’ He answered, ‘Put it back as it was,’ and they restored it to its former state.”

This wording is unusual; its chain of transmission meets the criteria of Muslim, yet none of the authors of the canonical works recorded it through this route.

Thus three spoke from the cradle: Jesus son of Mary—peace be upon him—whose story has already been discussed; the child who vindicated Jurayj, the offspring of the prostitute and the shepherd—his name is Yābūs, as stated explicitly in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; and the third, the infant whom his mother was nursing. She wished for him to resemble a well-dressed nobleman, but he preferred to be like a slave-girl who had been falsely accused of sins from which she was innocent while she kept saying, ‘Allah is sufficient for me, and He is the best Trustee,’ as has been mentioned in the narration of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn from Abū Hurayrah, raised to the Prophet.

Imām Aḥmad also transmitted the story of this suckling child through Hawdhah, from ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, from Khilās, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ, and the chain is sound.

Al-Bukhārī said: ‘Abū al-Yamān narrated to us; Shuʿayb narrated to us; Abū al-Zinād narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aʿraj, that he heard Abū Hurayrah say that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

‘While a woman was nursing her child, a mounted rider passed by her, so she said, “O Allah, do not let my son die until he becomes like this man.” The child said, “O Allah, do not make me like him.” Then he turned back to …’”