Orphanhood

the grandson was to become the object of yet greater endearment to his grandfather. his mother, aminah, took him to madinah in order to acquaint him with her uncles, the banu al najjar. she took with her on that trip umm ayman, the servant left behind by her husband 'abdullah. in madinah, aminah must have shown her little boy the house where his father died as well as the grave where he was buried. it was then that the boy must have first learned what it means to be an orphan. his mother must have talked much to him about his beloved father who had left her a few days after their marriage, and who had met his death among his uncles in madinah. after his emigration to that city the prophet used to tell his companions about this first trip to madinah in his mother's company. the traditions have preserved for us a number of sayings, which could have come only from a man full of love for madinah and full of grief for the loss of those who were buried in its graves. after a stay of a month in yathrib, aminah prepared to return to makkah with her son and set out on the same two camels, which carried them thither. on the road, at the village of abwa’ [a village located between madinah and jahfah, twenty-three miles south of madinah.] aminah became ill, died, and was buried. it was umm ayman that brought the lonely and bereaved child to makkah, henceforth doubly confirmed in orphanhood. a few days earlier he must have shared his mother's grief as she told him of her bereavement while he was yet unborn. now he was to see with his own eyes the loss of his mother and add to his experience of shared grief that of a grief henceforth to be borne by him alone.