Life-of-Muhammad

216Life of Muhammad sathat she would distribute something among her ownchildren, leaving out their little cousin. If Abu Talibchanced to come into the house on such an occasion hewould find his little nephew sitting apart, a perfectpicture of dignity and without a trace of sulkiness orgrievance on his face. The uncle, yielding to the claimsof affection and recognizing his responsibility, would runto the nephew, clasp him to his bosom and cry out: "Dopay attention to this child of mine also! Do pay attentionto this child of mine also!" Such incidents were notuncommon and those who were witnesses to them wereunanimous in their testimony that the youngMuhammad sa never gave any indication that he was inany way affected by them or that he was in any sensejealous of his cousins. Later in life when he was in aposition to do so, he took upon himself the care andupbringing of two of his uncle's sons, ‘Ali ra and Ja‘far ra ,and discharged this responsibility in the most excellentmanner.The Holy Prophet sa , throughout his life, had toencounter a succession of bitter experiences. He wasborn an orphan, his mother died while he was still asmall child and he lost his grandfather at the age ofeight years. After marriage he had to bear the loss ofseveral children, one after the other, and then hisbeloved and devoted wife Khadija ra died. Some of thewives he married after Khadija's ra death, died during hislifetime and towards the close of his life he had to bearthe loss of his son Ibrahim. He bore all these losses andcalamities cheerfully, and none of them affected in theleast degree either his high resolve or the urbanity of hisdisposition. His private sorrows never found vent inpublic and he always met everybody with a benigncountenance and treated all alike with uniform benevolence.On one occasion he observed a woman who hadlost a child occupied in loud mourning over her child'sgrave. He admonished her to be patient and to acceptGod's will as supreme. The woman did not know thatshe was being addressed by the Holy Prophet sa and