so his mother prayed, “O Allah, make my son like this man.” The child released the breast, turned toward the rider, looked him up and down, and said, “O Allah, do not make me like him.” He then leaned back to the breast and resumed suckling. It is as though I can still see the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, illustrating the baby’s suckling by putting his forefinger in his own mouth and drawing on it.

They next passed by a slave-girl whom people were beating while shouting, “You have committed fornication! You have stolen!” Yet she kept saying, “Allah is sufficient for me, and He is the best disposer of affairs.” The mother prayed, “O Allah, do not make my son like her.” The infant left the breast, looked at the girl, and said, “O Allah, make me like her.”

Mother and child then exchanged words. She said, “A handsome, well-dressed man rode past, and I prayed, ‘O Allah, make my child like him,’ but you said, ‘O Allah, do not make me like him.’ Then we came upon this bond-woman while they were beating her and accusing her of fornication and theft. I prayed, ‘O Allah, do not make my child 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 claim she fornicated when she did not, and that she stole when she did not; therefore I said, ‘O Allah, make me like her.’” Agreed upon (al-Bukhari and Muslim).

As for the word al-mūmsāt, the first mīm is pronounced with ḍamma, the wāw is silent, the second mīm with kasra, and the sīn is un-dotted; it refers to prostitutes. A single prostitute is al-mūmsa. The phrase “a fine mount (dābbah fārihah)”—with an initial fā—means a well-trained, high-quality animal. “Al-shārah,” with a dotted shīn and a softened rā, denotes outward elegance in appearance and dress. The expression “they exchanged speech (tarājaʿā al-ḥadīth)” means that the infant spoke to her and she spoke to him. Allah knows best.