The Prophet Meets Umm Ma'bad: 3 Miracles & Her Famous Narration - Our Prophet 5 - Road To Medina

Something interesting happens on the way. Sunni and Shi'a references have mentioned that a number of miracles happened on the way to Madinah. I will share with you one of them. There are many.

One of them is that the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, was traveling until he reached a village. And there was a well-known tent in that village by the name of 'Khaymat Umm Ma'bad. Umm Ma'bad was a generous woman. Her tent was situated on a pathway of travellers. Whoever would pass by, if she had any food, any water, she would give them.

So now the Prophet is very tired, fatigued. Those Muslims who were with him, they are very tired. They have not had food for a while. And when they arrived at that tent, they asked Umm Ma'bad, can you serve us? Do you have anything to give us? On that day, she had no food. She ran of all provisions and food.

So, the Prophet was examining the landscape and he saw a sheep. There was an old, fatigued, even sick sheep. The Prophet pointed at that sheep and he told Umm Ma'bad, you know, can we take advantage of the sheep? Milk the sheep? She told him,'Oh, man, I wish I could offer that to you, but that sheep cannot produce any milk. It is fatigued, it is old, it is even sick. If it had a drop of milk, I would give it to you. But it does not.'

The Prophet said, 'Bring the sheep, I will take care of it.' Sunni and Shi'a references indicate that when the sheep was presented to the Prophet with his blessed hand, he wiped on the sheep, and especially the udder of the sheep, where you milk the sheep from. And Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, blessing to that sheep and immediately it started to produce milk. In fact, it produced so much milk that the container which they used to collect the milk started overflowing.

So, the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, took a cup and he gave it to Umm Ma'bad, you know, she owns the sheep, she drank until she became full. Then the Muslims drank, then the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, took some milk. So, this was one of the miracles that everyone witnessed there.

The second miracle was that Umm Ma'bad had a son who was paralyzed and deformed, he could not move. When she saw that this man is blessed by Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, she brought her son before the Prophet. She told him, you are a righteous man. And I saw how Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, answered your prayer. Can you do something for my son?

The Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, told her, can you bring me a piece of date, 'tamr'? The Prophet was given the 'tamr'. The Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi took the 'tamr', he chewed the date and then he fed it to that paralyzed boy. As soon as the boy took those dates from the Prophet's mouth, Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, healed him instantaneously. And he was able to move, he was able to talk, and she saw that before her eyes.

Now the Prophet takes the seed of that date and he plants it in the ground. Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, orders a palm tree to grow. That palm tree grows, and it starts giving fruits. Throughout the year, it would offer dates. And it was a well-known palm tree. People would come to the palm tree to seek, you know, the blessings of Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, because the Prophet had planted it.

Now, history tells us the fate of that palm tree. When the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, passed away, that palm tree stopped giving dates. When Imam 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, 'alayhi as-salam, was killed and struck in Kufa, that very palm tree no longer became green, and it dried. And the day on which Imam Husayn, 'alayhi as-salam, was martyred, that palm tree started producing blood, and people would actually see that. So, we see this interesting relationship between this palm tree and the Ahl ul-Bayt, peace be upon them.

The Prophet takes some milk, they are now refreshed, energized. They continue going north. Her husband, Abu Ma'bad, he comes later, and he asked her, was there a gathering here? What happened? So, she told her husband what happened. Abu Ma'bad asks Umm Ma'bad, can you tell me about the description of this man? Describe him to me. I want his physical features. Even tell me how he behaved, how he carried himself, his physical features. I want to know about him. Umm Ma'bad gives a beautiful description that, until today, it serves as one of the most beautiful descriptions of the Prophet.

I would like to read for you excerpts of that description. So, in describing the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, to her husband, Umm Ma'bad says, 'Zahir ul-Wada'a', meaning his 'Cleanliness was apparent.' The first thing you notice about the Prophet is his hygiene and cleanliness. Now, mind you, the Prophet was four days, three days in a cave. He is migrating, he is not in his comfortable house having to shower 24/7. No, the Prophet is in a state of migration. He is moving from desert to desert, from cave to desert. Yet the first thing Umm Ma'bad notices about the Prophet is his amazing cleanliness. And that is truly amazing. The Prophet was very sensitive about his cleanliness in all times and circumstances, he maintained himself very well.

Then she says, 'Ablaju al-Wajh'- 'his face was luminous'. We are not talking about physical light. She says, when you look at his face, it is just luminous. You feel there is this spiritual light around his face.

'Hasan al-khulq', we see that the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, is very handsome. We have also another way of pronouncing it. 'Hasan ul-khuluq', we have Khulq or Khalq, and we have Khuluq. Khuluq means your 'Akhlaq and behaviour. That means his manner was perfect. But if we say 'Hasan al-Khalq', it means that his creation was very beautiful and that he was a handsome man.

'Lam tu'ibhu thujlatun'- she says, 'he did not have a protruding stomach' like many of those Arabs did, right? The Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, would not eat, he would barely eat. So, she made a note of that, that the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi was you could tell from his body that he was not a man who would eat. He was very, very humble when it came to his food.

'Fi 'aynayhi Da'jun'-'His eyes had wideness.' They were very wide eyes. 'Wasimun qasim'-'he is very handsome, well proportioned.' 'Wa fi Ashfarihi Watafun'-'his eyelashes were long.' She is describing the Prophet. 'Wa fi sawtihi sahalun' she said, 'and in his voice, there is that crackle, raspiness.' Now, I am not exactly sure what she meant by this phrase, but basically the Prophet had a very pleasant-sounding voice. 'Wa fi unuqihi sata'un..

[Sahal means the sound of a horse?] Yes, the 'Sahal', if you just use it to describe a horse, yes, it is the sound of a horse. So, she says that the Prophet, his voice was very unique and it had that crackle to it, such that when you hear it, it is very pleasant, it is very profound, like he grabs your attention. That is what she means. She is not comparing that voice, of course, to the sound of a horse. She is just saying that it would grab your attention. He has a very unique sound, a very unique voice.

And, 'wa fi unuqihi sata'un'-'his neck was relatively long.' 'Ahwarun', meaning 'the white of his eyes is extremely white and the blackness of his eyes is extremely black.' So, you have that very beautiful contrast when you look at his eyes. 'Ak-halun', meaning the Prophet naturally, his eyes were so beautiful, it is like he had put eyeliner. Yes, there are some people like that. He had not necessarily put any eyeliner, even though in Islamic law it is Mustahabb [recommended] even for men to put the actual eyeliner, the 'Kuhl' not the one that they are doing these days with the pencils or whatever it is, the actual 'Kuhl'.

Have you seen the powder? That powder has many medical benefits. It protects from many diseases, especially if you live in a desert environment. The eye is susceptible to many types of disease. The 'Kuhl' actually protects you from that and it strengthens your eyesight. So, it is Mustahabb. I know now society has changed and it is awkward these days for a man to do that. But in the past it was normal. This was part of normal Arabic custom to do that, so it was nothing unusual.

But she is saying that naturally his eyes looked like that. They had that special feature. It is as if he had some eyeliner in it. And then 'Azajjun', which means 'natural arching of his eyebrows.' 'Shadid al-sawadi al-sha'r'-'the blackness of his hair was extreme.' And, you know, for the Arabs, that was a sign of beauty. 'Idha samita 'Alahul waqar'- 'when he was silent, he would be enveloped in this aura of respect.' 'Wa in takallama, 'Alahul Baha'. She was very eloquent, by the way, when she describes the Prophet. 'And when he spoke, it is like this light is protruding from him.' 'Ajmal al-nasi wa abhahun min ba'eed'-'when you would see him, he was so glorious, the most beautiful of people.' 'Wa ahsanahu wa Ahla min qarib hulwu al-mantiq'-'his speech was so sweet.'

Then she says, 'La nazrun wa La Hadar', in describing the Prophet, she says 'he was not too brief, such that he would be cold', you know, some people like you talk to them, they just give you yes, no answers, right? That is it. They do not show you that warmth and that friendship. And then there are some people, Allahu Akbar, you ask them a question, they will give you an essay. She says, The Prophet was not like that. 'He was not too brief to be cold and he was not too loquacious where he is talking too much. He just had that perfect balance.' He says a few words, but they are very beautiful words.

And then look at her description. She says, 'Kana mantiquhu kharazatun nudhimna yatahaddarna' She says, 'his speech were like the beads of a necklace.' Have you seen a necklace? How the beads are perfectly arranged. The words of the Prophet would fall into place like a necklace. That is how beautiful and organized his words were.

Then she mentions a number of descriptions which are very beautiful in the Arabic language. If you know Arabic, read the words. And her description historically has been a source for us to understand kind of the physical qualities of the Prophets, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi.

So, her husband is amazed when he hears, who could this man be? Who has these features? So, he responded upon hearing this description, he says, I swear by Allah, he is the one Quraysh mentioned to us about in Makkah. He is the man! All Quraysh, they are chasing him. He is the one and he is the Prophet. And then he says, 'I am now determined to accompany him.' He makes the intention to support the Prophet if he would have that opportunity.