By universal consent the number of the male children of the intercessor on the day of the resurrection amounted to three, namely, Qâsim, A’bdullah, and Ebrâhim.
Qâsim was born by Khodayjah—A. r. h.—in Mekkah, before the mission.* He lived only two years, and then hastened to the eternal world.
A’bdullah, who was surnamed ‘the agreeable,’ was born of Khodayjah after the mission, and died in infancy.
Ebrâhim was the son of Mâryah the Coptess, and was born at Madinah in the eighth year of the exile [A.D. 629-30]. On the seventh day after his birth the apostle —b., etc.—slaughtered a sheep to celebrate his nativity, got his head shaved, and distributed as alms a sum of gold equal in weight to his hair. According to a certain tradition, Omm Sayf, the wife of Abu Sayf the blacksmith, was appointed to nurse Ebrâhim, who lived almost one year and a half, and died in the tenth year of the exile [A.D. 631-32]. After his death Ebrâhim was washed by his nurse, but according to another tradition, Fadzl B. A’bbas —A. r. t.—performed that duty. A’bdu-r-rahman B. A’wuf —A. r. t.—poured the water on his corpse, and his lordship the seat of prophecy was present at the ablution. In the Raudzatu-l-âhbâb it is, however, stated that, according to the most correct tradition, the prophet—b., etc.—prayed over his body, and sat at the head of his grave until he was interred. Fadzl, the son of A’bbâs, and Asâmah, the son of Zayd, entered the sepulchre, and when they had finished the burial, they arranged the surface of the grave and poured water over it; and the first grave in Islâm over which water was poured was that of the lord Ebrâhim; but the knowledge is with God, whom we adore.