Boreal

1,001 Sayings and Deeds of the Prophet

Babies

Every child is born a Muslim without defects.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "Every child is born with a true faith of Islam (i.e. to worship none but Allah Alone) and his parents convert him to Judaism or Christianity or Magianism (sic), as an animal delivers a perfect baby animal. Do you find it mutilated?"

Bukhari 23.467

It is not the slap of the doctor or the midwife that makes a baby cry after exiting the birth canal, but Satan.

Narrated Said bin Al-Musaiyab:

Abu Huraira said, "I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'There is none born among the off-spring of Adam, but Satan touches it. A child therefore, cries loudly at the time of birth because of the touch of Satan, except Mary and her child.'"

Bukhari 55.641

The sex of an individual is decided by higher powers when the gestation process is well advanced.

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

The Prophet said, "Allah has appointed an angel in the womb, and the angel says, 'O Lord! A drop of discharge (i.e. of semen), O Lord! a clot, O Lord! a piece of flesh.' And then, if Allah wishes to complete the child's creation, the angel will say. 'O Lord! A male or a female? O Lord! wretched or blessed (in religion)? What will his livelihood be? What will his age be?' The angel writes all this while the child is in the womb of its mother."

Bukhari 55.550

Islamic scholars often point to the words, "He created man from a clot" in the following hadith as proof that Allah knew more about conception than was known at the time of Muhammad (although not unknown to the Greeks of antiquity). God's spokesperson, in the following hadith, explains what Allah meant by clot, and it is not a zygote by any stretch of the imagination; it is something completely alien to what we know about the gestation process.

Narrated Abdullah bin Mus'ud:

Allah's Apostle, the true and truly inspired said, "(The matter of the Creation of) a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period.

Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write four things. He is ordered to write down his (i.e. the new creature's) deeds, his livelihood, his (date of) death, and whether he will be blessed or wretched (in religion). Then the soul is breathed into him.

So, a man amongst you may do (good deeds till there is only a cubit between him and Paradise and then what has been written for him decides his behavior and he starts doing (evil) deeds characteristic of the people of the (Hell) Fire.

And similarly a man amongst you may do (evil) deeds till there is only a cubit between him and the (Hell) Fire, and then what has been written for him decides his behavior, and he starts doing deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise."

Bukhari 54.430

The mother's sperm, if she ejaculates before her husband, is what causes a child to resemble its mother instead of the father.

Narrated Um Salama:

Um-Sulaim came to Allah's Apostle and said, "Verily, Allah is not shy of (telling you) the truth. Is it necessary for a woman to take a bath after she has a wet dream (nocturnal sexual discharge)?"

The Prophet replied, "Yes, if she notices a discharge."

Um Salama then covered her face and asked, "O Allah's Apostle! Does a woman get a discharge?"

He replied, "Yes, let your right hand be in dust (an Arabic expression you say to a person when you contradict his statement meaning ‘you will not achieve goodness’), and that is why the son resembles his mother."

Bukhari 3:132

Um Salama, wife number six, was thirty when she accepted an offer of marriage from Muhammad after her husband died from wounds sustained in battle. Muhammad’s answer about a woman’s ejaculate probably brought a smile to the face of a mature woman, who may have known better, the possible reason for covering her face in the preceding hadith. Why she does not in the following recollection of the same event is anyone’s guess.

Narrated Abu Salama:

Um Salama said, "O Allah's Apostle! Allah does not refrain from saying the truth! Is it obligatory for a woman to take a bath after she gets nocturnal discharge?"

He said, "Yes, if she notices the water (i.e. discharge)."

Um Salama smiled and said, "Does a woman get discharge?"

Allah's Apostle said. "Then why does a child resemble (its mother)?"

Bukhari 55.545

Wild snakes can trigger a spontaneous abortion, but perhaps not the domesticated ones.

Narrated Ibn Umar:

That he heard the Prophet delivering a sermon on the pulpit saying, "Kill snakes and kill Dhu-at-Tufyatain (i.e. a snake with two white lines on its back) and ALBATROSS (i.e. a snake with short or mutilated tail) for they destroy the sight of one's eyes and bring about abortion."

(Abdullah bin Umar further added): Once while I was chasing a snake in order, to kill it, Abu Lubaba called me saying: "Don't kill it."

I said. "Allah's Apostle ordered us to kill snakes."

He said, "But later on he prohibited the killing of snakes living in the houses."

(Az-Zubri said. "Such snakes are called Al-Awamir.")

Bukhari 54.518

The price of an aborted fetus could be steep:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Two women from the tribe of Hudhail (fought with each other) and one of them threw (a stone at) the other, causing her to have a miscarriage and Allah's Apostle gave his verdict that the killer (of the fetus) should give a male or female slave (as a Diya i.e. blood-money).

Bukhari 83.41