Mohammad: The Prophet of Islam Vol

Mohammad: The Prophet of Islam Part I, Chapter IV The Prophet was a man like other men. Joyous things would please him while sad things would sadden him. Realization of the fact that he was first and foremost God’s servant, however, prevented him from exceeding the limits set by God. Towards the end of the Prophet’s life Maria Qibtiya bore him a beautiful and vivacious son, The Prophet named him Abraham, after his most illustrious ancestor. It was Abu Rafi who broke the good news to the Prophet. He was so overjoyed that he presented Abu Rafi with a slave. He used to take the child in his lap and play with him fondly. According to Arab custom, Abraham was given to a wet nurse, Umm Burda bint Mundhir Ibn Zaid Ansari, to be breast fed. This lady was the wife of a blacksmith, and her small house was usually full of smoke. Still, the Prophet used to go to the blacksmith’s house to visit his son, putting up—in spite of his delicate disposition—with the smoke that used to fill his eyes and nostrils. Abraham was just one and half years old when, in the tenth year of the Hijra (January 632AD), he died. The Prophet wept on the death of his only son, as any father would. In this respect the Prophet appears like any other human being. His happiness and his grief were that of a normal father. But with all that, he fixed his heart firmly on the will of God. Even in his grief, these were the words he uttered: “God knows, Abraham, how we sorrow at your parting. The eye weeps and the heart grieves, but we will say nothing that may displease the Lord.” It so happened that the death of Abraham coincided with a solar eclipse. From ancient times people had believed that solar and lunar eclipses were caused by the death of some important person. The people of Madinah began attributing the eclipse to the death of the Prophet’s son. This caused the Prophet immense displeasure, for it contradicted man’s humble position in the world. He collected the people and addressed them as follows: