July 21, 2004
They Spoke In The Cradle
Abu Huraira radhiallahu `anhu narrated that the Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said:
None spoke in the cradle but three - (the first was) `Eesa `alayhis salaam, (the second child was): There was a man from Bani Israel called Juraij. While he was offering prayer, his mother came and called him. He said (to himself), "Shall I answer her or keep on praying?" (He went on praying and did not answer her.) His mother said, "O Allah! Do not let him die till he sees the faces of prostitutes."
So while he was in his hermitage, a lady came and sought to seduce him, but he refused. So she went to a shephard and presented herself to him to commit illegal sexual intercourse with her and then later she gave birth to a child and claimed it belonged to Juraij. The people, therefore, came to him, dismantled his hermitage and expelled him out of it and abused him. Juraij performed the ablution and offered prayer and then came to the child and said, "O child! Who is your father?" The child replied, "The shephard." (After hearing this), the people said, "We shall rebuild your hermitage of gold," but he said, "No, of nothing but mud."
(The third was the hero of the following story): A lady from bani Israel was nursing a child at her breast when a handsome rider passed by her. She said, "O Allah! Make my child like him." On that, the child left her breast, and, facing the rider, said, "O Allah! Do not make me like him." The child then started sucking at her breast again.
[Abu Huraira radhiallahu `anhu furhter said, 'As if I were now looking at the Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam sucking his finger (in a way of demonstration).' The Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam continued...]
After a while, they (some people) passed by with a lady-slave and she (i.e., the child's mother) said, "O Allah! Do not make my child like this (slave-girl)!" On that, the child left her breast and said, "O Allah! Make me like her!" When she asked why, the child replied, "The rider is one of the tyrants while this slave-girl is falsely accused of theft and illegal sexual intercourse."
~ Sahih Bukhari