the prophet peace be upon him was the most merciful of people to children. abu hurayrah may allah be pleased with him reported that the messenger of allah peace be upon him once kissed al-hasan may allah be pleased with him, the son of `ali may allah be pleased with him, while al-aqra` ibn habis at-tamimi may allah be pleased with him  was seated with him. al-aqra` may allah be pleased with him said, "i have ten children and have not kissed one of them." the messenger of allah peace be upon him looked at him and said,

"he who does not show mercy will not receive mercy." (al-bukhari and muslim)

and `a'ishah reported: some bedouins came to the messenger of allah peace be upon him and said, "do you kiss your little boys?" he said, "yes." they said, "but we, by allah, do not." so, the messenger of allah peace be upon him said,

"can i do anything if allah has taken mercy away from you?" (al-bukhari and muslim)

these two narrations are evidence of the prophet's peace be upon him compassion toward children, and that kissing them is a sign of mercy and compassion. his words:

"he who does not show mercy will not receive mercy"

show that the consequence is of the same type as the deed, for one who deprives children of mercy and compassion will himself be deprived of them by allah on the day of resurrection.

another illustration of the prophet's peace be upon him mercy toward children is when he came to his son, ibraheem, as he was dying and his eyes filled with tears.

he peace be upon him said, "indeed, the eye sheds tears and the heart grieves, but we will not say except what pleases our lord. indeed, o ibraheem, we are grieved by parting with you." (al-bukhari)

the prophet peace be upon him showed due submission to his lord through patience and acceptance of his decree. and he showed due compassion for his son by his tears and sadness at parting with him, and that is of the most complete illustrations of servitude to almighty allah.

and when the son of his daughter died, and his eyes filled with tears, sa`d ibn `ubadah may allah be pleased with him said to him, "what is this, o messenger of allah peace be upon him ?"

he peace be upon him said, "it is mercy which allah has put in the hearts of his servants, and allah shows mercy to his merciful servants." (al-bukhari and muslim)

another example is when he peace be upon him visited a jewish boy who was ill and who had served him. he peace be upon him told him, "say, 'la ilaha ill-allah.' " the boy looked at his father, who said to him, "obey abul-qasim," so he said it. the prophet peace be upon him said, "praise be to allah who saved him from the hellfire." (al-bukhari)

another is in his kindness to the young brother of anas ibn malik may allah be pleased with him. he used to play with a small bird, and it died. the boy was sad, so the prophet peace be upon him of mercy went to visit him, console him and cheer him up. he peace be upon him said to him, "o abu `umayr, what has it done – the nughayr?" ¹ (al-bukhari and muslim)

`abdullah ibn shaddad heard this report from his father: that the messenger of allah peace be upon him once came out to lead us in the `ishaa' prayer carrying [either] hasan or husayn may allah be pleased with him. he stepped up, put him down and said, "allahu akbar" to begin the prayer. during the prayer, he prostrated for a long time and i lifted my head and saw the small boy on his back. after he finished the prayer, the people were saying, "o messenger of allah peace be upon him, you prostrated during the prayer for such a long time that we thought something had happened, or that revelation had come to you."

he peace be upon him replied, "it was none of that, but my grandson climbed onto my back and i did not want to stop him from fulfilling his need." (an-nasa'i – graded saheeh by al-albani)

and when the prophet peace be upon him used to visit the ansar he would greet their children and stroke their heads. (an-nasa'i – graded saheeh by al-albani) and he used to go to the small children and bless them and chew dates for them. (muslim) blessing them means that he would put his noble hand on them and supplicate for them.

he peace be upon him also used to pray while carrying [his granddaughter] umamah bint zaynab. when he prostrated, he would put her down, and when he stood, up he would carry her. may the blessings and peace of allah be upon this noble and merciful prophet.

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