Jibril laid him down, then cut open his chest to remove his heart

والصَّلَاةُ والسَّلاَمُ عَلَى سَيّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ أَشْرَفِ اْلمُرْسَلِيْنَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ الطَّيّبِيْنَ الطَّاهِرِيْن

The birth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ occurred on Monday, the twelfth of the month of Rabi^uni l-‘Awwal in the Year of the Elephant, in the well-known place up to now in Mecca.

When the Prophet ﷺ migrated, ^Aqil ibnu ‘Abi Talib took the house, and it remained between him and his descendants until his son sold it to Muhammad ibnu Yusuf ath-Thaqafiyy, the brother of Al-Hajjaj ath-Thaqafiyy, who then incorporated it into his own house, known as Al-Bayda’. And that house remained in the dwelling until Al-Khayzuran, the mother of the two Abbasid caliphs, Musa and Harun, performed the pilgrimage.

At that point, she decided to convert it into a mosque, designating it as a place for prayer. She removed it from the dwelling of Muhammad ibnu Yusuf and arranged for it to overlook the alley that originally belonged to that house, known as Zuqaq al-Mawlid. The people of Mecca do not diverge in opinion about that; they know this place well even today.

His mother, ‘Aminah, was approached during her pregnancy, and it is said she had a vision instructing her to name him ‘Ahmad and Muhammad.

His grandfather performed the ^aqiqah for him on the seventh day after his birth and named him Muhammad, as Allah had inspired him to do so. When asked why he chose that name, since it was not from the names of his ancestors, he responded that he wished for him to be praised in both the heavens and the earth, as the name Muhammad means 'the one who is praised a lot.' No one before him had combined the two names, ‘Ahmad and Muhammad. Moreover, none of the few who bore the name Muhammad prior to him had claimed prophethood. Thus, both names — Muhammad and ‘Ahmad, along with the attribute of prophethood — were firmly established for him ﷺ, without any contention whatsoever."

The first to nurse him ﷺ was Suwaybah, the slave woman of his uncle ‘Abu Lahab. She nursed him for a span of days with the milk of her own son, Masruḥ, until his family found him another wet nurse, as was customary at that time. It was common for families to send their children to be nursed outside of Mecca during their early years due to concerns about epidemics in the city. Suwaybah had previously nursed Hamzah ibnu ^Abdi l-Muttalib and later nursed ‘Abu Salamah ibnu ^Abdi l-‘Asad, making the Prophet ﷺ, Hamzah, and ‘Abu Salamah siblings through nursing."

Then a group of women from the tribe of Banu Sa^d ibnu Bakr arrived in Mecca, seeking infants to nurse. Among them was a woman named Halimah, who hoped to find a child to care for. She recounted: "I set out with a group of women [from Banu Sa^d ibnu Bakr], seeking infants to nurse in Mecca, riding a grey she-donkey. It was a harsh year [marked by severe drought that had left nothing behind]. My husband accompanied me, and we had an old she-camel with us that, by Allah, did not provide a single drop of milk. I also had a small son, and we could hardly sleep at all due to his crying, as I did not have enough milk in my breasts to suffice him [because of the drought and hardship]. When we arrived in Mecca, not a single woman among us was offered the Messenger of Allah ﷺ without declining."

She said: "In seeking nursing, we hoped for the generosity of the child's father; however, he was an orphan. We thought, 'He’s an orphan; what might his mother do for us?' [i.e., how much she would honour me if I took him]. None of my companions remained without taking a child except for me, and I disliked the idea of returning empty-handed while my friends had taken children. So, I said to my husband, 'By Allah, I will return to that orphan and take him.'

I went back, took him, and then returned to my camp. My husband exclaimed, 'You’ve taken him!' I replied, 'Yes, by Allah, I took him because there was no alternative.' He said, 'You have made a good choice. At least we have this boy, and perhaps Allah will grant us some goodness through him.'

She said: "By Allah, as soon as I placed him in my lap to nurse him, my breast was filled with whatever Allah willed of milk [i.e., the milk was abundant]. He drank until he was satisfied, and so did his brother [his brother from nursing; meaning her biological son].

Then at night, my husband went to our she-camel to see if there was any milk in her udder. To his surprise, it was full and swollen with milk. He milked her until we had as much milk as we desired. He drank his fill, and I drank mine, and we spent that night fully sated and quenched. Our children, who had not been satiated or quenched for a long time, finally slept peacefully.

My husband remarked, 'By Allah, Halimah, I see only that you have found a blessed being; our child has slept and been satiated.' We then set out to return to our home. By Allah, my she-donkey led the way ahead of the group, to the point that they would say, 'Oh, slow down! Wait for us! Isn't this the same she-donkey you rode out on [For when they departed from their land toward Mecca, she had lagged behind the caravan]?' I would respond, 'Yes, by Allah, this is indeed her.'"

She said: "Until we reached our dwellings in the settlement of Banu Sa^d ibnu Bakr. We came upon the most barren land of Allah [a place devoid of greenery, utterly desolate]. By the One Who owns the soul of Halimah, if they released their flocks at dawn, the shepherd of my sheep would do the same. Their flocks returned hungry and devoid of milk, while mine came back laden with milk. She continued: 'We would drink as much milk as we desired, while none among the inhabitants could manage to milk even a drop. This led them to say: "Woe to you! Why do you not let your livestock graze where Halimah 's shepherd grazes?" Consequently, they would direct their flocks to the ravine where hers grazed. Their sheep would return starving, devoid of milk, while mine would return full, brimming with milk."

He ﷺ matured in a single day as a youth does in a month, and in a month as a youth does in a year. By the time he reached two years of age, he was a robust and capable boy. When we returned to his mother [after the customary two years had elapsed], I said to her—alongside his father— “Let him come back with us, for we harbour concerns regarding the epidemics in Mecca.” She added, “We are most reluctant to part with him,” [as they were loath to forfeit the blessings they had witnessed in him]. We continued to implore her until she [relented], saying, “Take him back.” Thus, we returned with him, and he remained with us for two months.

She said: "While he was playing with his brother behind the houses, tending to our lambs, his brother suddenly came running to us. He said to me and his father, 'Hurry to my Qurashiyy brother! Two men have come, laid him down, and cut open his chest.' We rushed over, and when we reached him, he was standing, his complexion pale and altered. His father embraced him, and I did as well. Then we asked, 'O my son, tell us what happened.' He replied, 'Two men came to me dressed in white garments, laid me down, and cut open my chest. By Allah, I do not know what they did.'

These two men were angels—one of whom was Jibril (Gabriel) ﷺ—both in white attire. They brought a basin of gold; Jibril took him and laid him down, then cut open his chest to remove his heart. From it, he extracted a black clot and threw it away, saying, 'This is the portion of the devil from you.'

Then they washed his chest and heart, returned his heart to its place, and sutured the incision, closing it up as it was, bringing one side over the other. One of them then said to the other, 'Weigh him against one hundred of his ‘Ummah.' They did so, and he outweighed them. Then he said, 'Leave him, for had you weighed him against his ‘Ummah, he would have outweighed them, for he is superior to them all.'"

Halimah said: "We brought him back with us." She continued: "His father remarked, 'O Halimah, I fear this boy may have been affected [in his mind]. Let us return him to his family before anything becomes apparent, and we are blamed for negligence.' So, we took him back. His mother, surprised, asked, 'Why are you bringing him back? You were both so eager to keep him.' Halimah responded, 'There is nothing wrong. We have cared for him and fulfilled our duty, but we now fear for him due to unforeseen events, so we thought it best for him to be with his family.'"

His mother did not believe them and said, "By Allah, this is not the real reason. Tell me what truly happened to you and to him." By Allah, She persisted until we disclosed the full story to her. ‘Aminah responded, "So, you feared for him? No, by Allah! This son of mine is destined for greatness. Shall I not tell you about him? I never experienced a lighter or more blessed pregnancy when I carried him. Then, when I gave birth to him, no pregnancy was ever lighter or more blessed than his. And when I delivered, I beheld a light, like a falling star, emerging from me, illuminating the necks of the camels in Busra, in the land of Sham. he did not fall as other children do; instead, he placed his hands on the ground, lifting his head towards the sky. Leave him with me, and go tend to your matters."

May Allah’s blessings be upon our master Muhammad, and upon his family and companions. O Lord, send Your blessings upon him as You sent them upon ‘Ibrahim and the family of ‘Ibrahim. Indeed, You are Praiseworthy, Glorious.