Source: http://www.resulullah.org/en/comment/reply/1633
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 22:05:12+00:00

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Zaid ibn Harithah belonged to the Kalb tribe. When he was only eight years old and a small shepherd, he had gone with his mother to one of their relative’s homes where he was captured as a slave during the raid of another tribe. He was purchased by Hazrat Khadija’s nephew, Hakim, for 400 dirhams at the slave market and was brought to Mecca. (1) Khadija took him from her nephew and sheltered him in her home.
During this time, Hazrat Khadija and our Holy Prophet (PBUH) were a married couple.
Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) loved this child. For this reason, he wanted the child to be handed over to him. His venerable wife complied with our Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) wish.
He was a great man who always adopted freedom. He always showed respect to people of all ages and their indispensable rights and freedoms. This unique lofty feeling and character was always manifest in him in a perfect degree until the last moments of his life.
As mentioned before, Zaid was a small child.
His parents did not know where he was taken and whom he was sold to. The Harithah family cried for their missing child every day.
His father, Harithah, could not stay put in his home. He traveled from region to region. He had visited every tribe to ask if they knew the whereabouts of his son and there had been no ground that he had not traveled. He continuously recited poems while he madly searched for his son.
It was as if little Zaid had forgotten all about his parents. The bliss of this happy family had embraced his soul with all its power and had virtually made him to become an inseparable part. He was comfortable and had become close with our Holy Prophet (PBUH); he was happy and peaceful under our Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) wings of compassion.
One day, a few people from the Kalb tribe visited the Kaaba. During this time, they saw Zaid and recognized him once they began conversing with him.
They told Zaid that his father and mother were continuously crying for him and that they were inflamed with longing.
In this way, little Zaid had proven his loyalty and attachment to our Holy Prophet (PBUH). Fate was preparing him for a bright and shining future. This condition was his first good tiding.
The Meccans would do this whenever they wanted to adopt someone. And by conforming to this custom, our Holy Prophet (PBUH) had adopted Zaid as his son.
Our Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) beautiful gesture caused a breeze of happiness to stir in Harithah’s heart. This meant that his son was in safe hands.
After this, everyone began to refer to Zaid as, “Zaid-the Son of Muhammad”.
However, after our Holy Prophet (PBUH) was appointed as a Messenger, he received a revelation calling for those who had been adopted to be referred to by the names of their biological fathers. (7) Thereupon, Hazrat Zaid was referred to as “Zaid-the Son of Harithah”.
Furthermore, the revelation of this verse abolished inheritance by virtue of adoption.
After our Holy Prophet (PBUH) was assigned the duty of Prophethood, and following Hazrat Khadija’s and Hazrat Ali’s conversion to Islam, Hazrat Zaid attained the glory of being the third person to have become a Muslim.
At a much later time, our Holy Prophet (PBUH) married this esteemed individual whom he loved dearly off to his nanny, Umm Ayman. Hazrat Usama was the result of this union; our Holy Prophet (PBUH) loved him wholeheartedly and would carry him on his saddle most of the time.
 Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, V. 1, p. 497; Ibn Athir, Usdu’l-Ghaba, V. 2, p. 224; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, V. 1, p. 563.
 Ibn Hisham, Sirah, V. 1, p. 264; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, V. 1, p. 497.
 Ibn Sa’d, ibid, V. 3, p. 41; Ibn Athir, ibid, V. 2, p. 225; Ibn Hajar, ibid, V. 1, p. 523.
 Ibn Sa’d, ibid, V. 3, p. 42; Ibn Athir, ibid, V. 2, p. 225; Ibn Hajar, ibid, V. 1, p. 523.
 Ibn Sa’d, ibid, V. 3, p. 42; Ibn Athir, ibid, V. 2, p. 225.
 Ibn Sa’d, ibid, V. 3, p. 42; Ibn Athir, ibid, V. 2, p. 225; Ibn Hajar, ibid, V. 1, p. 563.
 Ibn Sa’d, ibid, V. 3, p. 43; Bukhari, Sahih, V. 3, p. 174; Muslim, Sahih, V. 3, p. 131.
 Bukhari, ibid, V. 3, p. 303.

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