and from those who hide within; we ask Him to bring the hypocrites and the unbelievers to ruin and to make their schemes recoil upon them. Indeed, He is Most Generous, Most Noble.

Umm Sulaym—may Allah be pleased with her—said, “Tell me: if some people loaned one of their possessions to a household and later came to reclaim their loan, would that household have any right to keep it from them?” He answered, “No.” She replied, “Then seek reward for your son.” Her point was that our children are merely a loan in our hands; they belong to Allah, and He reclaims them whenever He wills. She offered this example so that he would accept the decree and hope for reward from Allah.

This shows her keen intelligence and that she was a sensible, patient, and ever-expectant woman. A mother feels the same grief over a child as a father does—indeed, her sorrow is often greater because of her tenderness and the limits of her endurance.

The ḥadīth also highlights the blessing of the Prophet’s supplication, peace and blessings be upon him, for Abu Ṭalḥah was subsequently granted nine children, all of whom recited the Qur’an—by virtue of that prophetic prayer.

It further contains an honor bestowed upon Abu Ṭalḥah. He had set out with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, on a journey while Umm Sulaym was pregnant. As they neared Madinah on the return, her labor pains began. Now the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “did not like to enter upon his family by night,” meaning he preferred not to come home suddenly in the dark without notifying them. Abu Ṭalḥah therefore prayed, “O Allah, You know I dislike the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, to head out or return from a journey without me, yet You see the predicament I am in.” Thus he confided in his Lord. Umm Sulaym said, “Then I no longer felt what I had been feeling before,” meaning the pain became light.