The Story of the Mother Who Lost Her Child

• The captives in this hadith were women and children of the Arab tribe of Hawazin. Ibn Hajar, the great scholar who explained al-Bukhari's collection, says so plainly (Fath al-Bari, vol. 10, p. 445), and al-Durar al-Saniyya also mentions it. Al-Durar al-Saniyya gives the background in its explanation of another hadith of al-Bukhari (no. 4318): in the eighth year after the Prophet had moved from Mecca to Medina, after Mecca had opened to him, the tribes of Hawazin and Thaqif gathered at Hunayn to fight him. They brought their wealth, their women and their children with them, so that no man would run away and leave his family behind. Allah gave the Prophet (peace be upon him) victory, and many captives were taken. Later, when people of Hawazin came to him as Muslims, he decided to give them back their captives.[8][6][7]
• Among the captives was a woman whose breasts were full of milk. Whenever she found a baby boy among the captives, she took him, held him close against her and fed him. Ibn Hajar (vol. 10, p. 445) explains what the words show: she had lost her own baby, and the milk building up in her breasts hurt her, so she fed any baby she found to ease the pain; then she found her own son, took him and held him close. In Muslim's version she was searching, and al-Nawawi, the great scholar who explained Muslim's collection, says both wordings are right: she was hurrying and searching for her son. Ibn Hajar adds that he found no name for the boy or for his mother.[1][2][8][10]
• The Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions saw her. He asked them: "Do you think that this lady can throw her son in the fire?" They answered: "No, if she has the power not to throw it", that is, as long as she is able not to, she never would. Ibn Hajar (vol. 10, p. 445) explains: she would never throw him in of her own free will. In Muslim's version the companions begin with an oath: "By Allah, so far as it lies in her power, she would never throw the child in Fire."[1][2][8]
• Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Allah is more merciful to His slaves than this lady to her son." Here slaves means servants: the people who belong to Allah and worship Him. Ibn Hajar (vol. 10, p. 445) notes that in Arabic the sentence begins with a letter that gives it extra force, like saying: truly, Allah is more merciful. He explains (p. 446) that the Prophet used something people could see with their own eyes to help them understand something they cannot see: the mind cannot grasp Allah's mercy, so he brought it close to his listeners through this mother. Al-Durar al-Saniyya explains it the same way.[1][8][6]
• Who are His servants here? Ibn Hajar (vol. 10, p. 445) says it seems to mean, above all, those who die as believers, and he cites another narration in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that Allah will not throw someone He loves into the Fire; al-Durar al-Saniyya also explains it as the believers. Ibn Hajar also reports from the scholar Ibn Abi Jamra a second possible meaning: nothing is like the mercy of Allah, for anyone who has received a share of it, even animals. Ibn Abi Jamra draws a lesson from this: a person should rely on Allah alone in all his affairs, because whatever mercy we hope to find in anyone, Allah is more merciful than him, so a wise person takes his needs to the One whose mercy for him is greatest.[8][6]
• In the second hadith of the film, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Allah divided Mercy into one hundred parts." He kept ninety-nine of them with Him and sent down one part to the earth, and from that one part all creatures are merciful to one another, so that even a mare lifts her hoof away from her foal so as not to step on it. Ibn Hajar (vol. 10, p. 447) reports Ibn Abi Jamra's explanation of why the mare is named: it was the animal people knew best and saw with its young, and although it is light and quick on its feet, it takes care not to hurt its foal. In another version, recorded by Muslim from the companion Salman, each one of these mercies fills all that is between the sky and the earth (p. 446). And the scholar al-Kirmani explains (p. 447) that the number one hundred is given to help us understand: to show how little of mercy is with all creatures, and how much is with Allah.[3][4][9]
• What are the ninety-nine parts kept for? Another version in Muslim says: "Allah has reserved ninety nine parts of mercy with which He would treat His servants on the Day of Resurrection", the day when all people are brought back to life and judged. In Salman's version, on that day Allah adds the one part of this world to them, to make a hundred (Ibn Hajar, vol. 10, p. 447). Al-Nawawi (vol. 17, p. 226) calls these hadiths words of hope and good news: if one single mercy in this world, a world full of troubles, gives people faith, the Quran, prayer and mercy in their hearts, then imagine a hundred mercies in the next life. Ibn Hajar (p. 448) adds that the hadith encourages faith and widens our hope in the mercy Allah has kept, and he quotes another narration: if a disbeliever knew all the mercy that is with Allah, he would not lose hope of Paradise.[5][9][11]
• The film ends with the first words of a verse of the Quran (Az-Zumar 39:53), in which Allah tells the Prophet to say to people who have wronged themselves by sinning that they must not lose hope in Allah's mercy, because Allah forgives all sins. Ibn Kathir, in his commentary on the Quran, explains that this verse is a call to every sinner, whether a believer or not, to repent and turn back to Allah; and that one must never lose hope in Allah's mercy, even if one's sins are many and great, because "the door of repentance and mercy is expansive", that is, wide open. He reports that the companion Ibn Mas'ud called it the verse of the Quran that brings the most relief. The scholar as-Sa'di explains: do not lose hope and say that your sins are too many to be wiped away; know that Allah forgives all sins, great and small, and that the way to His forgiveness and mercy is to turn back to Him sincerely and ask Him.[12][13][14]

• The greatest mercy we know on earth, a mother's love for her child, is only a small sign of Allah's mercy, which the mind cannot fully grasp.[1][8]
• Take your needs to Allah first: whatever mercy you hope to find in people, Allah is more merciful than them.[8]
• The mercy people and animals show one another, and the mercy in your own heart, are gifts from the one part of mercy Allah sent down to the earth.[3][11]
• Live with hope: Allah has kept ninety-nine parts of His mercy for the Day of Resurrection, and the scholars call these hadiths good news.[5][11][9]
• Never lose hope in Allah's mercy, however many your mistakes: the door back to Him is wide open.[12][13][14]
• Hope is not a reason to stay where you are: the way to Allah's forgiveness is to turn back to Him sincerely and ask Him.[14]
• A good teacher explains what cannot be seen with what can be seen: the Prophet (peace be upon him) taught about Allah's mercy through a mother in front of his companions.[8][6]

These questions are written by Qabas Anime to help you reflect. They are not part of the hadith, the Quran or their commentaries.

1. Think of the most loving person in your life. What changes in you when you remember that Allah is more merciful to you than they are?
2. The mother fed every crying baby she found while she searched for her own. When you are in pain, what helps you still be kind to others?
3. All the mercy in the world comes from one part out of a hundred. Where did you see that mercy this week, in a person or even in an animal?
4. Is there a mistake that has made you feel too far from Allah to come back? What would it mean for you to hear: do not lose hope in His mercy?