Life of Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) before Starting the Mission
By: Ahmad Rahnamaei
<snip>
The Story of the Splitting of the Prophet’s chest
In several sources from both Sunni and Shi'i traditions, one may find the story of the splitting of the Prophet's chest. although the original narrative comes from Sunni tradition, the story is narrated in some Shi'i books too. Different attitudes are expressed by biographers towards this extraordinary anecdote. On the whole, most Sunni scholarship has agreed upon the authenticity of the story, while to the contrary, most Shi'i scholarship has rejected it.
According to Ibn Ishaq, quoting Halima, the story went like this: Some months after our return, he and his brother were with our lambs behind the tents when his brother came running and said to us, 'Two men clothed in white have seized that Qurayshi brother of mine and thrown him down and opened up his belly, and are stirring it up.' We ran towards him and found him standing up with a livid face. We took hold of him and asked him what the matter was. He said, 'Two men in white raiment came and threw me down and opened up my belly and searched therein for I know not what.' So we took him back to our tent.[37]
This incident was what prompted his foster-mother to return him to his mother. Ibn Ishaq then relates another hadith on the authority of a learned person whom he thinks was khalid b. Ma'dan. This person, on the authority of some of the Apostle's companions, told Ibn Ishaq that the Prophet said: … I was suckled among the B. Sa cd b. Bakr, and while I was with a brother of mine behind our tents shepherding the lambs, two men in white raiment came to me with a gold basin full of snow. Then they seized me and opened up my belly, extracted my heart and split it; then they extracted a black drop from it and threw it away; then they washed my heart and my belly with that snow until they had thoroughly cleaned them. …2
In Sahih of Muslim, the story is narrated through a chain on the authority of Anas b. Malik. According to the hadith of Anas, the extracted black drop was the portion of Satan in the Prophet's heart. At the end of this narrative, Anas mentions that he himself used to see the mark of that splitting on the chest of the prophet.[38]
Citations:
[37] Ibn Ishaq, The Life, pp. 71-72.
[38] Muslim, Sahih, Vol. 1, pp. 165-166, Hadith 261 ; Murtada, Al-Sahih, v.1, pp. 82-83.
Source
Topic: Prophet Muhammad got his heart removed and cleaned with snow???