Then, Halîma-i Sa’diyya suckled him for two years. He stayed in the village of Banî Sa’d bin Bakr for two years; then, when he was four years old, he was brought to the city of Mecca. When he began to walk, he used to watch children play; he wouldn’t join the playing. When he was six years old, his mother Âmina passed away, and when he was eight, his grandfather ’Abdul-muttalib passed away. When he was twentyfive years old, he married Hadrat Hadîjah ‘radiy-Allâhu anhâ’. When he was forty years old, in the month of Ramadân on a Monday, as he was in a cave on a mountain that was called Jabali-hirâ and Jabal-i-nûr and which was an hour’s walk north of the city, the angel appeared to him and he was informed that he was the Prophet for all human beings and genies. First, Hadrat Jabrâil came. Then, for three years Hadrat Isrâfil kept coming to teach him. Yet, Isrâfil didn’t bring the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Then, Hadrat Jabrâil began to come and conveyed all of the Qur’ân al-kerîm in twenty years. Jabrâil ‘’alaihis-salâm’ came to him twenty-four thousand times. [By comparison, he had descended to Hadrat Âdam twelve times, to Hadrat Nûh (Noah) fifty times, to Hadrat Ibrâhim forty times, to Hadrat Mûsâ (Moses) four hundred times, and to Hadrat Îsâ ten times.] He didn’t manifest his prophethood for three years, and then, with the command of Allâhu ta’âlâ, he declared it.

A hadîth sharîf reported by Ibn Habbân, Ibn Mâja and Abu Dâwûd (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ) says, “On Fridays recite the salawât for me repeatedly! The salawât will be conveyed to me.” When it was asked whether it would be conveyed to him after his death, too, the Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) answered, “Soil does not rot prophets’ bodies. Whenever a Muslim says the salawât for me, an angel informs me of it and says, ‘So-and-so’s son, so-and-so of your umma sent his salâm and prayed for you.’ ” This hadîth sharîf shows that our Prophet is alive in his shrine in a life which a man of this world cannot understand. Hadrat Zaid ibn Sahl (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) said, “One day, I was enjoying Rasûlullâh’s company. His blessed face was cheerful. I asked why he smiled. ‘Why should I not be happy? Jabrâ’îl gave me good news just a moment ago: Allâhu ta’âlâ has declared that whenever my umma recite a salawât for me once, Allâhu ta’âlâ will send a salawât ten times in reply to them,’ he answered.