Guardianship of ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib

After the demise of his mother, Muḥammadsa reached Makkah with his slave Ummi Aiman. This is the same Ummi Aiman who was given to Muḥammadsa as a female slave through inheritance when his father passed away. When Muḥammadsa matured, he freed her and would always treat her with much kindness. Ummi Aiman was later married to a freed slave of the Holy Prophetsa named Zaid bin Ḥārithah and from this relationship Usāmah bin Zaid was born. Ummi Aiman lived even after the death of the Holy Prophetsa. In any case, after the death of his mother, the young Muḥammadsa returned to Makkah with Ummi Aiman and upon reaching there, ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib took Muḥammadsa directly into his own custodianship. ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib kept Muḥammadsa very dear to himself. While performing Ṭawāf of the Ka‘bah, ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib would place the young Muḥammadsa upon his shoulders. Muḥammadsa gradually became quite informal with ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib as well. It was the habit of ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib to sit in the courtyard of the Ka‘bah upon a carpet and none had the courage to sit upon it with him, so much so that even the sons of ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib would sit at some distance. But the young Muḥammadsa, due to his sentiments of love, would sit right beside ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib and he would always be pleased to see Muḥammadsa. At times, the paternal uncles of Muḥammadsa would attempt to restrain him from sitting upon their father’s carpet, but ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib would always stop them saying, “Reproach him not.”