The First Wet-Nurse
“Initially, after his birth, Thuwayba, the freed slave girl of Abu Lahab ibn Abd al-Muttalib, suckled him for seven days. She had suckled Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet also. Thus both Masruh ibn Thuwayba and Hamza were his foster brothers. According to the custom of the Arab nobles, on the eighth day he was entrusted to lady Halima of the Banu Sa’d clan of the Hawazin tribe to suckle him and bring him up.” 1 History of Islam · Vol 1 · pp. 94 — Najeebabadi — Thuwayba suckles the Prophet ﷺ; foster brothers Hamza and Masruh.
Virtues in the Hadith
ثُوَيْبَةُ مَوْلاَةُ أَبِي لَهَبٍ كَانَ أَبُو لَهَبٍ أَعْتَقَهَا فَأَرْضَعَتِ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ … قَدْ سُقِيتُ فِي هَذِهِ بِعَتَاقَتِي ثُوَيْبَةَ
”Thuwayba was the freed slave girl of Abu Lahab whom he had manumitted, and then she suckled the Prophet ﷺ. When Abu Lahab died, one of his relatives saw him in a dream in a very bad state and asked him, ‘What have you encountered?’ Abu Lahab said, ‘I have not found any rest since I left you, except that I have been given water to drink in this (the space between his thumb and other fingers), and that is because of my manumitting Thuwayba.’”
Sahih al-Bukhari 5101 · Book 67 (Wedlock), Hadith 39 · USC-MSA: Vol. 7, Book 62, Hadith 38 · narrated by Urwa ibn al-Zubayr
Life Timeline
Suckles the Prophet ﷺ for seven days after his birth
References
- History of Islam — Najeebabadi — Thuwayba suckles the Prophet ﷺ for seven days; she had also suckled Hamza Vol 1 · pp. 94
- Sahih al-Bukhari — Thuwayba the freed slave girl of Abu Lahab — Abu Lahab seen in a dream rewarded with a drop of water for freeing her pp. 5101 (Book 67, Hadith 39)