the mercy and the kindness of the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, with children surprised the people in his community for they were not accustomed to such mercy towards children. it was narrated that ‘aa’ishah, may allaah be pleased with her, said, “a group of bedouins came to the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and said, ‘you (people) kiss your boys!’ he said: ‘yes.’ they said, ‘but we do not kiss them.’ the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: ‘i cannot put mercy in your heart after allaah has taken it away from it.’” [al- bukhaari and muslim]

it was also narrated that when al-aqra‘ ibn haabis, may allaah be pleased with him, saw the messenger of allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, kissing al-hasan, he (al-aqra‘) said, "i have ten children and i have never kissed anyone of them." the messenger of allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “whoever is not merciful to others will not be treated mercifully.” [al- bukhaari and muslim]

it was also narrated that shaddaad ibn al-haad, may allaah be pleased with him, said, “the messenger of allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, came out to lead us in either the maghrib or ‘ishaa’ prayer one night, and he was carrying al-hasan or al-husayn (his grandson). the messenger of allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, came forward and put (the child) down, then he said takbeer (i.e., ‘allaahu akbar’) and started to pray. during the prayer, he prostrated and made his prostration long. i raised my head and i saw the child on the back of the messenger of allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, whilst he was prostrating, so i returned to my prostration.’ when the messenger of allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, finished praying, the people said, ‘o messenger of allaah, during your prayer you prostrated for so long that we thought something had happened or that you were receiving revelation.’ he said: ‘none of that happened; rather, my son was riding on my back and i disliked to rush him until he had had enough.’” [an-nasaa’i, ahmad and al-haakim; al-albaani: saheeh (authentic)]

what great mercy and perfect kindness! “i disliked to rush him until he had had enough.”

contemplate this: the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, disliked to disturb or bother the child when he was on his back, until the child had had enough even though he was leading the people in prayer. where are those who love the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and take him as an example of mercy in regard to this?

when the companions of the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, realized his overwhelming compassion and kindness towards children, they would bring their children to him to invoke allaah the almighty to bless them and wipe some dates inside their mouths after chewing them and mixing them with his saliva. they did that without any shyness because of the kindness they witnessed from the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

it was narrated that ‘aa’ishah, may allaah be pleased with her, said, “the boys would be brought to the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and he would invoke the blessings of allaah upon them. once, a baby boy was brought to him and the baby urinated on his clothes.

he asked for water and poured it over the place of the urine but did not wash his clothes.” [al- bukhaari and muslim]

it was also narrated that umm qays bint mihsan, may allaah be pleased with her, went to the messenger of allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, with one of her sons who had not yet eaten any solid food and the boy passed urine on him whereupon he asked for some water and sprinkled it over the place of the urine. [al-bukhaari and muslim]

the boy urinating in his lap did not annoy the prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and he did not complain or scorn the one who brought the boy to him.

it was narrated that usaamah ibn zayd, may allaah be pleased with him, said, “the messenger of allaah would put me on his thigh and put al-hasan ibn ‘ali on his other thigh, and then embrace us and say: ‘o allaah, bemerciful to them as i am merciful to them.’” [al-bukhaari]

this was the extent of the kindness and compassion of the prophet of mercy with children and there was much more in addition to this.