Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If three minor children of a Muslim husband and wife pass away, Allah Almighty, out of His great mercy, will admit them into Paradise along with their children. When it will be said to those children, "Enter Paradise," they will say, "Let our parents come (and then we will enter)." This will be said to them three times, and each time they will give the same reply. Finally, it will be said to them, "You and your parents, all of you, enter Paradise."

Abu Hassan says: My two sons passed away, so I said to Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): Narrate to us any hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that would comfort our souls regarding our deceased. He said: Yes, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The young children (of the believers) will be the little birds of Paradise (meaning, they will come and go in Paradise without restriction). Such a child will meet his father or his parents, will take hold of his hand, just as I have taken hold of the edge of your garment, and will not let go, until Allah, the Exalted, admits him and his father both into Paradise.

Sayyiduna Qurrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that a man used to come to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and his child would be with him. One day, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Do you love him?" He replied: "O Messenger of Allah! May Allah love you as I love him." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) missed him and asked: "What happened to the son of so-and-so?" The people said: "O Messenger of Allah! He has passed away." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to his father: "Do you not like that whenever you come to any door of Paradise, you find your child waiting for you there?" A man asked: "O Messenger of Allah! Is this only for him or for all of us?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied: "Why not, it is for all of you."

Hassan bin Kareeb says: A child among us passed away, and his parents were deeply grieved. The Companion of the Messenger of Allah, Sayyiduna Hoshab (may Allah be pleased with him), said: Shall I tell you what I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say regarding a son like your son? The details are as follows: There was a Companion who had a son; he had taught him manners, or the child was still crawling on the ground, dragging his hands and feet. That child used to come with his father to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Then it happened that the child passed away, and his father felt so much grief that he did not come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for six days. One day, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: What is the reason that so-and-so is not seen? The people said: O Messenger of Allah! His child has passed away, and he is distressed because of it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O so-and-so! Tell me, do you wish that your child was with you now and was the most active among the children? Or do you wish that your child was the most courageous among the children? Or do you prefer that your child was a strong youth of thirty to fifty years? Or do you wish that on the Day of Resurrection it will be said to you: Enter Paradise as a reward for the child who was taken from you?

Narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: My maternal aunt’s son, Sayyiduna Haritha (may Allah be pleased with him), went with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the day of Badr. This boy had gone to watch the battle, not to fight, but suddenly an arrow struck him and he was killed. So my aunt came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! My son Haritha (may Allah be pleased with him), if he is in Paradise, then I will be patient seeking reward, otherwise Allah will see what I do. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Umm Haritha! There are many gardens in Paradise, and indeed Haritha is in the highest Firdaus.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the son of Sayyiduna Abu Talha and Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with them both) passed away. Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) said to her family: Do not inform Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) about his son; I will tell him myself. So when he came, she presented him with the evening meal; he ate and drank. Then Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) prepared herself well for her husband, as she used to do before, and he had relations with her. When Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) saw that her husband was satisfied and had fulfilled his marital right, she said: O Abu Talha! What is your opinion about people who are given something on loan by the people of a household, and then when they ask for it back, can they withhold it? He said: No, they cannot withhold it. Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Then seek reward by being patient over the death of your son.

Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) set out until he reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him of the whole matter. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: May Allah bless you in your night just passed. Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) became pregnant.

Once, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was on a journey and Umm Sulaym was with him. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would return from a journey to Madinah, he would not enter the city at night. When they neared Madinah, Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) began to experience labor pains. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went ahead, but Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) stayed with his wife and said: O my Lord! You know that I love to go out on a journey with Your Messenger and to enter Madinah with him, but now You see that I have stayed behind. Then Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) said: What I was feeling before, I am not feeling now. So we set out, and when we reached Madinah, the labor pains started again and she gave birth to a child.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) says: My mother said to me: O Anas! Let no one nurse him until you take him to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the morning. He says: I took the child to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and found him with an iron branding tool in his hand for marking animals. When he saw me, he said: Perhaps Umm Sulaym has given birth? I said: Yes. He put down the tool, I brought the child forward and placed him in the lap of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called for some dates of Madinah’s ‘Ajwah variety, chewed them in his blessed mouth until they became soft, then put them in the child’s mouth, and the child began to move his tongue and swallow it. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: See how much the Ansar love dates! Then he passed his hand over the child’s face and named him Abdullah.

(Second chain) It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) married Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her), who was the mother of Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik and Sayyiduna Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with them both). Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) gave birth to a beloved son for him, whom Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) loved very much. But it happened that the child became very seriously ill. Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) had a routine: he would get up for Fajr prayer, perform ablution, go to the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), pray with him, and stay with him until about midday. Then he would return, take a nap, and eat food. After preparing for the Zuhr prayer, he would leave and would not return until after the Isha prayer. One day, when he returned at night, the child had passed away. Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) (initially to conceal his death) covered him with a cloth and left him. When Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) returned, he said: O Umm Sulaym! How did my beloved son spend the night? She said: O Abu Talha! Your son, since the day he became ill, tonight was the most peaceful for him. Then she brought food, he ate, and his soul became pleasant. Then he went to his bed and laid his head down to sleep. Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) says: I applied perfume and came to him, entering the bed with him. When he sensed the fragrance, what happens between husband and wife happened. Then, when morning came, he began to prepare as per his routine, as he did every day. Now Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) said: O Abu Talha! What do you think about this: if a man entrusted something to you, you benefited from it, then he asked for it back and took it, would you be impatient in this matter? He said: No. She said: Then your son has passed away. He became very anxious and distressed and went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him of the whole matter: that his wife had fed him in this way, applied perfume, and then what happened. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: You have fulfilled the right of marriage, and the child was between your sides? He said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah! The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: May Allah bless you in this night of yours. Thus, Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) conceived that very night. Later, when she gave birth to a child, in the morning Sayyiduna Abu Talha (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me (Anas, may Allah be pleased with him): Take him in a cloth and bring him to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and also take some Ajwa dates. So I wrapped him in a cloth and carried him; he had not been given anything to eat, nor had he tasted anything. When I arrived, I said: O Messenger of Allah! Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) has given birth to a child. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (happily) said: Allahu Akbar! What has she given birth to? I said: A boy. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Alhamdulillah, bring him to me. So I handed him to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to perform tahneek for him, so he asked me: Do you have any Ajwa dates? I said: Yes, I do. Then I took out the dates. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took a date, put it in his blessed mouth, and chewed it until it was mixed with his saliva. Then he gave it to the child, and immediately it seemed as if the child was tasting the sweetness of the date; he began to suck the sweetness of the date and the saliva of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The first thing that opened this child’s intestines was the saliva of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The favorite thing of the Ansar is dates. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) named the child Abdullah. Many children were born to this Abdullah, and this Abdullah was martyred in Persia.

It is narrated from Thabit Banani that Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say to a woman from his household, "Do you know such-and-such woman? Her story is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by her while she was crying at a grave. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her: Fear Allah and be patient." She replied, "Go away from me; what concern do you have with my calamity?" In fact, the woman did not recognize the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). When she was informed that it was the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), it was as if she was overtaken by the state of death. Then she reached the door of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and found no guard there. She came and said, "O Messenger of Allah! I did not recognize you." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, patience is at the first stroke of calamity."

Sayyiduna Abu Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated to Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: When anyone is afflicted by a calamity, he should say: {اِنَّا لِلّٰہِ وَاِنَّا اِلَیْہِ رَاجِعُوْنَ} "O Allah! With You I seek reward for my calamity, so reward me for it and grant me something better in exchange for it." (Indeed, we belong to Allah and indeed to Him we shall return. O Allah! I seek reward from You for my calamity, so grant me reward in it and give me something better in exchange for it.) Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) says: So when Sayyiduna Abu Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him) passed away, Allah Almighty gave me a better husband in exchange for him.

It is narrated from Sayyida Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whoever, after being afflicted by a calamity, recites this supplication: {اِنَّا لِلّٰہِ وَاِنَّا اِلَیْہِ رَاجِعُوْنَ} "O Allah, reward me in my calamity and grant me something better in exchange for it." (Indeed, we belong to Allah and indeed to Him we shall return. O Allah! Reward me in my calamity and grant me a better substitute for it), then Allah Almighty grants him reward in his calamity and gives him a better substitute. So when my husband, Sayyiduna Abu Salama (may Allah be pleased with him), passed away, I said: Who can be better than the Companion of the Messenger of Allah, Abu Salama (may Allah be pleased with him)? But then Allah Almighty granted me strength and patience, and I recited this supplication: O Allah! Reward me in my calamity and grant me a better substitute for it. Thus, I married the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).