Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
3. Exemplary Conduct
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Towards the end of the Prophet’s life Mariah
Qibtiyah bore him a beautiful and vivacious son.
The Prophet named him Ibrahim, 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, Ibrahim was
given to a wet nurse, Umm Burdah bint al-
Mundhir ibn Zayd Ansari, to be breast-fed. She
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. Ibrahim, was just one and half years old
when, in the tenth year of the Hijrah (January A.D.
632), he died. The Prophet wept on the death of his
only son, as any father would: on 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:
