Episode 13: Splitting of his Chest
Welcome to Seerah Pearls, which aims to highlight some tantalising learning points from each episode of the Seerah- Life of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam).
This episode recounts the story of the splitting of the Prophet Muhammad’s (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) chest. His brother Abdullah came running one day to his parents looking petrified, crying ‘My brother, my brother!’ He mentions that two men came wearing white clothes, lay the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) down on his back and split his chest open. It was at this point Abdullah went running for help.
A cut was made from the hollow of his neck to his navel. They removed the heart, split it open, and took a black blood clot out and threw it away. They had a dish made of gold, and they washed the heart in ZamZam with ice. The heart was then returned again to the chest.
These men were actually angels: they were seen to come from the sky. A conversation takes place between the two angels, which reports that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) would outweigh the whole Ummah.
Halimah and her husband were very worried by this event, and thus they immediately set out to Makkah to return the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) to his mother. His mother realised something had occurred, and reassured them that Shaytaan would never be able to get a hold of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). She recounts the miraculous events during her pregnancy e.g. she did not feel any burden whatsoever during the pregnancy.
In respect of the the heart being cleansed, the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) encounters a similar event at the time of Isra and Mi’raj.