#2770 Nu'aym ibn Hammad informed us, Baqiyyah narrated to us, from Bahir, from Khalid ibn Ma'dan, Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Amr al-Salami narrated to us, from 'Utbah ibn 'Abd al-Salami, that he narrated to them—and he was from among the companions of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh): that a man said to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), "How was the beginning of your affair, O Messenger of Allah?" He said: "My foster-mother was from the Banu Sa'd ibn Bakr. I went out, I and a son of hers, with some lambs of ours, and we had not taken any provisions with us. I said, 'O my brother, go and bring us some provisions from our mother.' So my brother departed and I remained with the lambs. Then two white birds, as if they were vultures, approached. One of them said to his companion, 'Is it he?' The other said, 'Yes.' They both rushed toward me, took me, and threw me down on the back of my neck. They split open my belly, then they extracted my heart and split it. They took out from it two black clots. One of them said to his companion, 'Bring me snow water,' and he washed my insides with it. Then he said, 'Bring me hail water,' and he washed my heart with it. Then he said, 'Bring me tranquility (as-Sakinah),' and he sprinkled it into my heart. Then one of them said to his companion, 'Sew it up,' so he sewed it and sealed it with the seal of prophethood. Then one of them said to his companion, 'Place him in one scale and place a thousand of his nation in the other scale.'" The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: "And there I was, looking at the thousand above me, fearing that some of them might fall upon me. Then he said, 'If his nation were weighed against him, he would outweigh them.' Then they departed and left me." The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: "And I was struck with intense fear. Then I went to my [foster] mother and informed her of what I had encountered. She feared that I had been possessed, and she said, 'I seek refuge for you with Allah.' She readied a camel of hers, placed me on the saddle, and rode behind me until we reached my [biological] mother. She said, 'I have fulfilled my trust and my duty,' and she informed her of what I had encountered. But that did not alarm her, and she said, 'I saw when he came out of me something—meaning a light—from which the palaces of Sham were illuminated.'"