Musnad Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili 227:1

Masruq ibn al-Marzuban al-Kufi and al-Hasan ibn Hammad narrated to us—and his copy is from the hadith of Masruq—Yahya ibn Zakariya ibn Za’idah narrated to us, Muhammad ibn Ishaq narrated to us, from Jahm ibn Abi Jahm, from ‘Abdullah ibn Ja’far, from Halimah bint al-Harith, the foster mother of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), the Sa’diyyah who nursed him. She said: I went out among women of Banu Sa’d ibn Bakr seeking infants in Makkah, upon a grey she-ass of mine that had become exhausted, and it lagged behind the caravan. She said: We went out in a year of drought that left nothing behind. With me was my husband, al-Harith ibn ‘Abd al-‘Uzza. She said: We had with us an old she-camel, and by Allah, it did not drip a single drop of milk for us. I had a young son of mine, and we would spend our night with his crying; there was nothing in my breast to satisfy him, and nothing in our she-camel to nourish him, except that we were hopeful. When we arrived in Makkah, there was not a woman among us to whom the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was not offered, but she would refuse him. We were only hoping for the honor of nursing from the father of the newborn, and he was an orphan, so we would say, "What can his mother possibly do?" Until there was not a woman among my companions who did not take an infant except for me. I hated to return without having taken anything while my companions had taken [infants]. So I said to my husband, "By Allah, I will return to that [orphan] and take him." She said: So I went to him and took him, then I returned him to my camp. My husband said, "Have you taken him?" I said, "Yes, by Allah, that is because I did not find anyone else." He said, "You have done well; perhaps Allah will place goodness in him." She said: By Allah, it was only that I placed him in my lap, and my breast turned toward him with whatever milk it wished. She said: He drank until he was satisfied, and his brother—meaning her son—drank until he was satisfied. My husband stood up to our she-camel in the night, and behold, it was full, so he milked for us what we wished, and he drank until he was satisfied. She said: And I drank until I was satisfied. We spent that night of ours in goodness, full and quenched, and our children slept. She said: His father—meaning her husband—said, "By Allah, O Halimah, I do not see you but that you have obtained a blessed soul. Our child has slept and is satisfied." She said: Then we went out, and by Allah, my she-ass went out ahead of the caravan, having outpaced them, to the point that they could not reach it. They would even say, "Woe to you, O daughter of al-Harith, wait for us! Is this not your she-ass that you went out upon?" I would say, "Yes, by Allah," and it was ahead of us until we arrived at our dwellings in the settlements of Banu Sa’d ibn Bakr. We arrived at the most barren land of Allah. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Halimah, they would send out their sheep when they woke, and my shepherd would send out his sheep, and my sheep would return full, with milk and udders, while their sheep would return hungry and perishing, with no milk in them. She said: We would drink what we wished of milk, and there was no one in the settlement who could milk a drop or find it. They would say to their shepherds, "Woe to you! Do you not graze where the shepherd of Halimah grazes?" So they would graze in the valley where our shepherd grazed, yet their sheep would return hungry, with no milk in them, and my sheep would return with milk and full udders. She said: He (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would grow in a day as a child grows in a month, and he would grow in a month as a child grows in a year. He reached six [years of age] and was a sturdy boy. She said: We arrived at his mother and said to her—and his father said to her—"Return our son to us so that we may take him back, for we fear for him the plague of Makkah." She said: We were more attached to his affair because of the blessing we had seen. She said: He did not cease [persisting] with her until she said, "Take him back." So we took him back, and he stayed with us for two months. She said: While he was playing with his brother one day behind the houses, tending to our animals for us, his brother came running to us and said to me and to his father, "Catch up with my brother, the Qurayshi! Two men have come to him, laid him down, and split open his stomach." We went out toward him running, and we reached him while he was standing, his color changed. His father embraced him, and I embraced him, then we said, "What is the matter with you, O my son?" He said, "Two men came to me wearing white clothes, laid me down, then split open my stomach. By Allah, I do not know what they did." She said: We carried him and returned with him. She said: His father said, "By Allah, O Halimah, I do not see this boy but that he has been afflicted. So depart, let us return him to his family before what we fear for him becomes apparent." She said: So we returned him to her. She said, "What has brought you back with him, when you were so eager for him?" She said: I said, "No, by Allah, except that we have fulfilled our responsibility and performed the right that is due upon us regarding him. Then I feared the events for him, so we said, 'Let him be among his family.'" She said: Aminah said, "By Allah, that is not the reason for you two. Tell me your news and his news." She said: By Allah, she did not cease [questioning] us until we told her his news. She said: "You feared for him? No, by Allah! This son of mine has a status. Shall I not tell you about him? I became pregnant with him, and I never carried a pregnancy that was lighter or of greater blessing than him. Then I saw a light as if it were a shooting star that came out of me when I delivered him, which illuminated for me the necks of the camels in Busra. Then I delivered him, and he did not fall as children fall; he fell placing his hand on the ground, raising his head to the sky." "Leave him, and go about your business."