This is slightly different than most of my articles.   I ran across these in an unexpected place but found great comfort in them as I am still nursing my 10 month old.  They are sound traditions and so I felt I should share them, for any women currently pregnant, laboring, or nursing–that you too may find some comfort in your struggles:

Tabarani relates in his Mu’jam al-Awsat:

Anas, may God be pleased with him, narrated: Salamah, the wet nurse of Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet, peace of and blessings of God upon him, said, “O Messenger of God. You give tidings of all the good to the men and you don’t give tidings to the women.” He said, “Did your female companions induce you to [ask] this?” She said, “Yes.” He said, “Will one of you not be pleased that when she is pregnant from her husband and he is pleased with her that she has a reward like the reward of the one who fasts and prays in the way of God? Then when she is in labor, none of the people of the heavens or the earth know what is hidden for her of [pleasures], soothing to her eyes. And when she delivers, no mouthful of milk flows from her nor a [child’s] sck except that she has a reward with every mouthful and with every suck. And if [her child] keeps her awake during the night, she has a reward similar to the reward of freeing seventy slaves for the sake of God.”

Also narrated:

Sa’eed ibn al-Jubayr narrated on the authority of Ibn Umar, (may God be well pleased with father and son), saying, “I believe he [i.e. Ibn ‘Umar] raised it to the Prophet, may God bless him and give him peace, “A woman in her pregnancy to the time of her delivery to the time of her weaning is like a soldier in the way of God.”

And God knows best.

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