some people had lent a family a borrowed article and then came to reclaim it—would the borrowers be entitled to keep it from them?”
“No,” he replied.
She said, “Then seek your reward for (the loss of) your son.”
He became angry and exclaimed, “You left me until I had rendered myself unclean and only then told me about my son?!” He hurried off to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and informed him of what had happened. The Prophet said, “May Allah bless the night you two spent together.” Thereafter she conceived.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ later set out on a journey and she accompanied him. Whenever the Prophet ﷺ returned to Madinah from a journey he would not enter it at night. As they approached the city, she was seized by labor pains, so Abu Talhah remained behind with her while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went on ahead. Abu Talhah prayed, “O Lord, You know that nothing pleases me more than to depart with the Messenger of Allah when he departs and to enter with him when he enters, yet I have been detained for the reason You see.”
Umm Sulaym said, “O Abu Talhah, I no longer feel what I was feeling; go on.” So they set out, but as soon as they reached the city she was again overtaken by labor and gave birth to a boy. My mother then said to me, “O Anas, do not let anyone nurse him until you take him to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” When morning came I carried him and brought him to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the rest of the narration follows.
[Explanation]
In this hadith Anas ibn Malik relates that Abu Talhah had a son who was “complaining,” that is, he was ill. Abu Talhah was the husband of Umm Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with them. The child remained sick, and Abu Talhah went out on an errand; while he was away the boy passed away. When he returned he asked his wife about him, saying, “How is my son?” She replied, “He is calmer now than he has ever been.” She spoke the truth, for he was indeed at perfect rest—he had died, and no stillness is greater than the stillness of death. Abu Talhah, however, understood her words to mean that the boy was now resting more peacefully than