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In the period Muhammad was born, poor Bedouins from the desert flocked, from time to time, to Mecca to collect alms from those few who could afford to give it. Following the tradition, Haleema, a poor Saadite shepherd woman, came and knocked at Amina’s door. Being herself a poor widowed woman, Amina had nothing to offer Haleema; instead, she wished to unload her own burden by putting her newborn son into her lap.
The assertion that Muhammad was given in Haleema’s care in keeping with the tradition of the noblemen of Mecca for breastfeeding them by Bedouin wet nurses is false. We do not have any record that tells us that any of Muhammad’s grandfathers, uncles and even his own father-all of whom were Meccan noblemen- were nursed by the Bedouin wet nurses. Nor do we know of a normal Meccan mother who, before Amina, handed over her child to a stranger to nurse him or her, without knowing who she was, where she lived and if she would, at all, return her child to her after a certain period of time.
Muslim historians made up the story of a “tradition” that never existed in order to hide a truth of gigantic proportion from Muslims as well as from the rest of the world.
Haleema was dumbfounded, for, in her judgment, no mother would ever dispose of her baby in the manner Amina wanted hers disposed. Knowing well her own situation, Haleema, at first, refused to accept the custody of the child, but when she considered the fact that she would have, in due course of time, two more hands to help her family out in its dire circumstances, she took the baby and left for her home.
Haleema’s tribe lived in one of the pastoral valleys of Northern Arabia. Though they were poor, yet they always maintained their industrious and bold characters. Unlike the people of the Quraish tribe, the people of the Saadite tribe excelled in the use of sword and lances. Their dexterous use of the sinews of war always earned them triumphs in the struggles that they had to face almost regularly, and perpetually, in order to survive in the harsh conditions and environments of their surroundings.
The people of the Saadite tribe were also renowned for speaking the most refined Arabic in all of Arabia. The similarity of the Quran’s language with that of the Saaditic Arabic is the indication that the writer of the Quran must have been one of the Saadites, or that he must have lived among them during his formative years.
The entire population of the Arabian Peninsula believed in the existence of angels. They also believed that angels pay visits to people who were destined to receive special favors from Allah. This deity lived in and around the Ka’aba along with other 359 gods. Because the Arabs believed in the angels’ closeness to Allah, many of them took up their worship with the hope that once pleased, the angels would have no difficulty in convincing God to grant them relief from their endless sufferings.
Haleema’s son, Masroud, was almost of Muhammad’s age. She began rearing up both the infants to the best of her ability. She suckled both of them and cared for them equally. She looked forward to the day when those two infants would grow up and provide her with the help she always aspired for to make her life somewhat pleasant.