Some of the most powerful teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) come through stories that are remarkably brief. They do not require a long explanation to capture our attention, yet the more carefully we consider them, the more we begin to notice. A few lines can teach us about justice, mercy, human nature, and the kind of wisdom that sees beyond what is immediately apparent. One such narration takes us to a dispute from the time of two prophets who are deeply honored in Islam: Prophet Dawud (as), and his son Prophet Sulayman (as). Our Prophet (SAW) told of two women, each with her infant son, when a wolf came and carried one of the children away. Suddenly, what had already become a terrible tragedy turned into a dispute. Only one child remained, and both women claimed that he belonged to her. One insisted that the world had taken the other woman’s son, while the other made exactly the same claim. With no witness mentioned in the narration and no obvious evidence to distinguish one claim from the other, the question was painfully simple: whose child was still alive?
The case would eventually be brought before Prophet Dawud (as) and then Prophet Sulayman (as). What makes the narration so fascinating is not simply the disagreement between the two women, but the way Prophet Sulayman (as) approached a situation in which the truth seemed inaccessible. His response demonstrated an extraordinary understanding of human behavior and brought something hidden within the dispute to the surface. Although the entire account can be told in only a few sentences, its lessons reach far beyond the courtroom. It asks us to think about what real wisdom and intellect looks like, and how genuine love may reveal itself at the moment a person is asked to surrender what matters most. It is also another beautiful example of how the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) connect Muslims to the prophets who came before him and to a shared history of revelation stretching across generations.
So, what happened in this hadith?
Abu Hurayrah (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) told of two women, each of whom had a son. While they were together, a wolf came and carried away one of the children. The older woman then said to the younger woman, “It was your son that the wolf took.” The younger woman replied, “No, it was your son that the wolf took.” With only one child remaining, each woman claimed that the surviving boy was hers. Unable to resolve the dispute themselves, the two women brought their case before Prophet Dawud (as). After hearing them, Prophet Dawud (as) judged that the child belonged to the older woman. The women then left and passed by Prophet Sulayman (as), the son of Prophet Dawud (as). They told him what had happened and explained the judgment that had been given. Prophet Sulayman (as) listened to their dispute and then called for a knife. He said that he would divide the child between them, giving half to each woman.
At that moment, the younger woman cried out. She pleaded with Prophet Sulayman (as) not to harm the child and said, in effect, “May Allah have mercy upon you! He is her son.” She was willing to surrender her claim entirely if doing so meant that the child would remain alive. Prophet Sulayman (as) then judged that the child belonged to the younger woman. The Prophet (SAW) related this remarkable account to his companions, and Abu Hurayrah (ra) even remembered an interesting linguistic detail from the occasion. When the Prophet (SAW) used a particular word for “knife,” Abu Huraryrah (ra) remarked that he had previously only heard his people use a different word for it. The narration is recorded in both Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, giving it a firmly established place within the authentic Sunnah.
What appears at first to be a simple story about two competing claims contains a remarkably sophisticated act of judgment. Prophet Sulayman (as) did not actually need to harm the child. His proposal brought forth something that testimony alone had not revealed—the response of a mother when the life of her child was placed before her own claim to him.
What was the reasoning behind the judgment of Prophet Sulayman (as)?
At first glance, Prophet Sulayman’s (as) response can sound shocking. Why would a prophet call for a knife and propose dividing a child between two women? The answer becomes clear from what happened next. His words were not simply about the child, they created a situation in which the women’s reactions could reveal what their competing claims could not. The younger woman immediately abandoned her claim. If insisting that the child was hers meant that he might be harmed, she would rather lose him than see him killed. She was even prepared to allow the other woman to take him. Her response revealed a kind of evidence that had previously been hidden. Her concern for the child’s life was greater than her concern for winning the dispute.
Prophet Sulayman (as) recognized what that reaction meant and awarded the child to her. There is remarkable insight in this judgment. Prophet Sulayman (as) did not merely listen to what each woman said, he created a situation that revealed what each woman valued. Both could say, “The child is mine.” Words alone had reached an impasse. However, when possession of the child was placed against the child’s survival, one woman immediately chose his survival.
The hadith also gives us an important lesson about judgment itself. A judge, leader, parent, teacher, or anyone responsible for resolving disputes may sometimes need to look beyond the most obvious presentation of a problem. People can make identical claims while having very different motives. Wisdom involves listening carefully, recognizing what is missing, and understanding human behavior without rushing to conclusions. At the same time, the narration should not be used to diminish Prophet Dawud (as) and his judgment. Islam honors both Prophet Dawud (as) and Prophet Sulayman (as) as prophets of Allah (SWT).
In another account involving their judgments, The Quran tells us that Allah (SWT) gave Prophet Sulayman (as) a particular understanding of the matter while affirming, “We guided young Sulayman to a fairer settlement, and granted each of them wisdom and knowledge. We subjected the mountains as well as the birds to hymn Our praises along with Dawud. It is We Who did it all.” (The Clear Quran®, 21:79)
A person may possess wisdom and still have another person perceive an aspect of a particular case that was not initially apparent. The beauty of Prophet Sulayman’s (as) judgment, then, was not simply that he reached the correct conclusion. It was how he caused the truth to reveal itself. Instead of relying upon two contradictory claims, he exposed the difference between wanting to possess the child and wanting to protect him. And in that moment, a mother’s willingness to lose her son became the very thing that helped return him to her.
The love of a mother in Islam
Few relationships illustrate selfless love as clearly as the relationship between a mother and her child. A mother begins caring for her child before she ever sees his or her face. She carries the child through pregnancy, experiences the pain of childbirth, and then enters years of feeding, protecting, teaching, worrying, and sacrificing, often in ways the child will not fully understand until much later in life. The Quran draws our attention to this reality when explaining why parents deserve such extraordinary treatment.
Allah (SWT) says in The Quran, “We have commanded people to honor their parents. Their mothers bore them in hardship and delivered them in hardship. Their period of bearing and weaning is thirty months. In time, when the child reaches their prime at the age of forty, they pray, ‘My Lord! Inspire me to always be thankful for Your favors which You blessed me and my parents with, and to do good deeds that please You. And instill righteousness in my offspring. I truly repent to You, and I truly submit to Your Will.” (The Clear Quran®, 46:15)
In another verse, Allah (SWT) has said, “And We have commanded people to honor their parents. Their mothers bore them through hardship upon hardship, and their weaning takes two years. So be grateful to Me and your parents. To Me is the final return.” (The Clear Quran®, 31:14)
These verses do something beautiful—they remind the child of a period of life he or she cannot even remember. Before we were capable of recognizing our mother’s sacrifices, those sacrifices had already begun. The Prophet (SAW) also gave mothers a remarkable position when a man came to him asking who was most deserving of his good companionship. The Prophet (SAW) replied, “your mother.” The man asked who came next, and again he replied, “your mother.” When the man asked a third time, the Prophet (SAW) again said, “your mother.” Only after that did he say, “then your father.” The narration, recorded in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, has become one of the best-known Prophetic teachings concerning the rights of parents. There is also a profound connection between motherhood and rahmah, or mercy.
In another authentic narration, the Prophet (SAW) saw a woman desperately searching among captives until she found her child. She immediately took the child, held him close, and nursed him. The Prophet (SAW) asked his companions whether they thought this woman could willingly throw her child into a fire. They replied that she could not. He then taught them that Allah (SWT) is even more merciful to His servants than this woman is to her child.
That comparison tells us something extraordinary. The Prophet (SAW) took one of the strongest forms of mercy human beings recognize, the tenderness of a mother toward her child, and used it to help his companions understand something of the vastness of Allah’s (SWT) mercy. This is why the love seen in the story of the two women resonates so deeply. The hadith belongs to a much larger pattern within Islamic teaching in which motherhood is associated with hardship, sacrifice, tenderness, and mercy. Islam does not ask us merely to acknowledge those sacrifices, it asks us to respond to them with gratitude, gentleness, companionship, and ihsan—excellence in the way we treat our parents.
Many of us will never know everything our mothers gave up for us. Islam teaches us not to wait until we understand the full cost before becoming grateful.
Lessons from this hadith
- Listen carefully before making a judgment: We do not always have the full story, especially when two people are in conflict. Sometimes there is more going on than what we hear at first.
- Pay attention to what people do, not only what they say: Both women could make the same claim, but when the child was in danger, words were no longer enough. One woman’s reaction told Prophet Sulayman (as) what he needed to know.
- A mother will often choose her child over herself: The younger woman was prepared to walk away without her son as long as he remained alive. She was willing to live with that pain rather than see harm come to him.
- Be good to your mother while you still have the opportunity: We know some of what our mothers have sacrificed for us, but there is probably much more that we will never know. Don’t wait for a special occasion to call her, help her, thank her, or tell her that you love her.
- Being smart and being wise are not always the same thing: Prophet Sulayman (as) did not simply know facts, he understood people. That kind of wisdom matters in families, friendships, workplaces, and communities just as much as it matters when settling a dispute.
- Not every disagreement needs an immediate response: There are times when we need to slow down, ask another question, observe a little longer, and resist the urge to decide who is right before we understand what actually happened.
- Love becomes clearest when it costs us something: It is easy to speak about how much we care for someone. Sacrifice is harder. The moments when we put another person’s needs before our own often say more about our love than words ever could.
The story of the two women and the world does not take long to tell, yet it leaves us with a great deal to think about. In just a few moments, we see grief, disagreement, a difficult judgment, the wisdom of Prophet Sulayman (as), and the instinct of a mother who cared more about her child’s life than about winning her case. Perhaps that is part of the beauty of the stories preserved in the Sunnah.
These stories can be simple enough to remember and deep enough to return to throughout our lives. It also reminds us why these narrations deserve more than a passing reading. The Prophet (SAW) shared stories of those who came before us because there was something in them worth carrying forward. They teach us how to deal with one another, how to think carefully when the truth is not immediately clear, and how much can be revealed through a single act of mercy. The circumstances of our lives may look very different from those of the two women, but the human heart has not changed nearly as much.
Dua
May Allah (SWT) grant us wisdom when matters are unclear, fairness when we are asked to judge between others, and the patience to seek the truth before reaching conclusions. May He fill our hearts with rahmah, protect us from allowing anger or selfishness to overcome what is right, and make us people whose actions are sincere for His sake.
May Allah (SWT) have mercy upon our mothers, reward them for every sacrifice we know about and every sacrifice we never saw, and grant us the ability to honor them as they deserve. May He protect our children, place mercy between our families, and grant us hearts that choose what is pleasing to Him even when doing so requires something from us.
Ameen, ya Rabb!
