Table of Contents
Return from the Desert
After several years in the open desert with the tribe of Banu Sa‘d, under the care of his nursing mother Halimah as Sa‘diyyah, the young Muhammad ﷺ was brought back to Makkah to return to his real mother, Aminah bint Wahb. The return marked the end of one phase of his protected childhood and the beginning of another, in which he would now live in the city of Makkah, close to the Sacred House, under his mother’s direct care.
Halimah had first taken him as a very young infant from Makkah, as was the custom of many Makkan families who sent their children to be nursed and raised in the purity of the desert environment. He stayed with her beyond the usual period, due to the blessings that Halimah’s household experienced during his presence. However, after the incident of the opening of his chest, which deeply frightened her and her husband, they decided that it was now best and safest to return him to his mother, fearing for his wellbeing and sensing that a great matter surrounded this child.
Halimah returned him to Aminah and explained what had happened. Authentic narrations mention that the Prophet ﷺ later recalled this transfer back to his mother as a clear point in his early life story. Imām Muslim records the description of the opening of his chest, followed by his return:
عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ أَتَاهُ جِبْرِيلُ وَهُوَ يَلْعَبُ مَعَ الْغِلْمَانِ، فَأَخَذَهُ فَصَرَعَهُ، فَشَقَّ عَنْ قَلْبِهِ...
رواه مسلم
Although this hadith focuses on the miracle itself, Seerah scholars relate that after this event Halimah brought him back to Makkah. The return shows both her deep attachment to him and her fear that something beyond her understanding was happening with this child who was clearly under a special divine care.
The return of the Prophet ﷺ from the desert to his mother in Makkah marks a deliberate shift in his upbringing, from the natural purity of the desert to the spiritual environment of the Sacred House, under the tender care of his mother, yet still under the direct protection of Allah.
Life with His Mother Aminah
Reunited with her son, Aminah now kept the young Muhammad ﷺ with her in Makkah. Although he was still very young, this period allowed a bond of affection, care, and gentle upbringing between mother and child. He lived with her in a modest Makkan home, within the tribe of Quraysh, near the Ka‘bah that his forefather Ibrahim عليه السلام had raised.
Makkah was already recognized as a sacred place. Although idolatry had become dominant in the city, it still retained traces of the legacy of Ibrahim and Ismail عليهما السلام, especially in its rituals of Hajj and in the honor that the people gave to the Ka‘bah and the sanctuary. The young boy was thus raised in a house that respected the Sacred House, even if the society around him had fallen into shirk and ignorance.
The mercy of Allah surrounded him in these early years with his mother. The Quran hints at this constant divine care and protection throughout his life:
أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى
“Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] shelter?”
(Surah Ad Duha, 93:6)
This verse refers in general to his orphanhood and Allah’s care for him, but it also includes this stage, when he was sheltered by his mother after already having lost his father before birth. Though Aminah herself was a human means of care, the true Guardian and Protector was Allah, who arranged every stage of his upbringing in exact measure.
Aminah, as a mother from a noble family of Banu Zuhrah, would have raised him with the dignified manners and customs of Quraysh. Yet he ﷺ, even in childhood, was marked by exceptional purity and good character. The protection of Allah kept him away from the corrupt practices that were common in Makkan society, as would become evident later in his youth and adulthood.
The Journey to Yathrib
When the Prophet ﷺ was around six years old, Aminah decided to travel with him to Yathrib, the city that would later be known as Madinah. She took him on this journey, and with them went Umm Ayman Barakah, the Abyssinian woman who served as a caretaker for the family and who would later be counted among the early Muslims and beloved to the Prophet ﷺ.
The journey to Yathrib was not a casual trip. It carried emotional and historical meaning. Yathrib was the place where her husband, Abdullah, the father of Muhammad ﷺ, had died during a trading journey while she was still pregnant. It was also the home of some of her relatives from Banu Najjar. So this journey was, on one level, a visit to the resting place of her late husband and a visit to family, and on another level it connected the young child to a city that would later become central in his mission.
Seerah scholars report that they stayed in Yathrib for about a month. During this time, the young Muhammad ﷺ is reported to have met some of his maternal relatives and experienced the environment of the oasis town. Later, when he would perform the Hijrah to Madinah, he would pass by some of the same places and families, now as a Prophet and leader, not as an orphan child.
Even though the Quran does not narrate this specific childhood visit, the overall pattern of Allah’s planning is reflected in verses such as:
وَرَبُّكَ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَيَخْتَارُ
“And your Lord creates what He wills and chooses.”
(Surah Al Qasas, 28:68)
By this visit, the Prophet ﷺ was given an early physical connection to Yathrib, the very city that would later become the home of the Ansar and the center of the first Muslim community. What looked outwardly like a simple family visit contained within it a sign of Allah’s future plan for his Messenger.
The Loss of His Mother on the Return
On the way back from Yathrib to Makkah, a further test was decreed. While passing through a place known as Al Abwa, between Makkah and Madinah, Aminah became ill. Her illness worsened until she passed away there, far from her home. The young Muhammad ﷺ, still only about six years old, was now left without father or mother.
This event affected him deeply, and traces of this sorrow remained with him even in later years. Authentic narrations show that he remembered his mother and the place of her passing. Imām Muslim reports:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ زَارَ قَبْرَ أُمِّهِ، فَبَكَى وَأَبْكَى مَنْ حَوْلَهُ...
رواه مسلم
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ visited the grave of his mother, and he wept and made those around him weep. Then he said that he had asked permission from his Lord to seek forgiveness for her, but it was not granted, and that he was allowed only to visit her grave. This hadith shows both his human emotion and his continued remembrance of the mother who had cared for him briefly in childhood before leaving the world.
The passing of Aminah meant that Muhammad ﷺ now entered a new stage of orphanhood. Yet even here, the divine care remained. The verse mentioned earlier becomes more vivid when we see its application at each stage:
أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى
“Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] shelter?”
(Surah Ad Duha, 93:6)
He had lost his father before his birth, now his mother at the age of six, but he was not abandoned. He was soon taken under the care of his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, the respected leader of Quraysh. The loss itself was a test and a preparation, but the care that followed was a mercy.
The loss of his mother at Al Abwa completed the orphanhood of the Prophet ﷺ, but it never meant abandonment. Allah deprived him of parents to show that his true Guardian was his Lord alone, and then surrounded him with other means of care, as a sign of continuous divine protection.
The Role of Umm Ayman in This Transition
After Aminah’s death at Al Abwa, the one who physically brought the young Muhammad ﷺ back to Makkah was Umm Ayman Barakah. She had accompanied them on the journey, and now she took responsibility for returning him safely to his family.
This early act of loyalty and care linked Umm Ayman to the Prophet ﷺ in a special way for the rest of her life. He ﷺ later said about her, as reported in authentic narrations:
عَنْ أَنَسٍ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ كَانَ يَقُولُ: «هِيَ أُمِّي بَعْدَ أُمِّي»
رواه ابن ماجه وصححه الألباني
Anas reported that the Prophet ﷺ used to say about Umm Ayman: “She is my mother after my (own) mother.” This statement shows how deeply he valued the care she gave him, beginning with times like the return from Al Abwa after his mother’s passing.
Her strong presence at this painful moment softened the hardship that he faced. She delivered him safely back to Makkah, to the care of Abdul Muttalib, and thus became a living symbol of continuity and protection in his life. She would later accept Islam and migrate, bearing witness to the completion of the mission of the child she had once carried back as an orphan.
Divine Preparation Through Orphanhood
The return to his mother, the brief period of life under her care, the journey to Yathrib, and then the sudden loss of Aminah at Al Abwa, were not random or meaningless. For the believer studying the Seerah, these connected events show a clear pattern of divine preparation.
Orphanhood came to him ﷺ in stages, and in each stage the worldly support was lightened so that his heart would be more directly tied to Allah. The Quran expresses this theme not by listing all the events separately, but by reminding him, and through him all believers, of Allah’s favors:
مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَى
وَلَلْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَّكَ مِنَ الْأُولَى
وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَى
أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى
وَوَجَدَكَ ضَالًّا فَهَدَى
وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَى
“Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor has He detested you. And surely the Hereafter is better for you than the first [life]. And your Lord will surely give you, and you will be satisfied. Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] shelter? And He found you unaware [of the Book] and guided [you]. And He found you poor and made [you] self sufficient.”
(Surah Ad Duha, 93:3 8)
In these verses, Allah does not recount each detail of his return to his mother or the death of Aminah, yet all of it is contained within the statement that he was an orphan whom Allah sheltered. That sheltering included the tenderness of Aminah, the service of Umm Ayman, and the care of Abdul Muttalib after her.
The emotional dimension of these events is also part of his human experience as a Prophet. He knew the pain of losing parents, which made him more compassionate to the weak and to orphans. Later in life, he strongly emphasized the care of orphans and attached great reward to it. In one authentic hadith, he ﷺ said:
أَنَا وَكَافِلُ الْيَتِيمِ فِي الْجَنَّةِ هَكَذَا
وَأَشَارَ بِالسَّبَّابَةِ وَالْوُسْطَى، وَفَرَّجَ بَيْنَهُمَا شَيْئًا
رواه البخاري
“I and the one who sponsors an orphan will be in Paradise like this,” and he joined his index and middle fingers with a slight gap. Although this hadith relates to later teachings, it is deeply connected to his own early life as an orphan, including the period around the return to his mother and her passing.
Every stage of the Prophet’s early life, including his return to his mother and the loss that followed, was a form of divine preparation. His orphanhood was not a sign of neglect, but a means to shape in him perfect reliance on Allah and deep mercy for the vulnerable.
In this way, the simple phrase “return to his mother” in the Seerah opens into a sequence of events that connect Makkah and Yathrib, mother and caretaker, loss and shelter, all arranged by Allah to prepare the heart of His chosen Messenger ﷺ for the great mission that lay ahead.