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had won him the respect of the people of Mecca. However, he only had one son, Harith,
whereas his cousins Umayyah, chief of the tribe of Abdu Shams and Mughirah, chief of
the tribe of Makhzum had many.

The fact he had just one son had not concerned Abd Al Muttalib greatly until he met with
resistance from his fellow Meccans during the excavation of Zamzam. At that time he felt
weaker than at any other and wished he had more sons to support him.

He felt humble to be chosen as the one to be honored to restore the well and was
grateful to Allah for His blessings to him, but his heart prompted him to supplicate to Him
for ten sons. As he supplicated in earnest, he promised Allah if He would favor him with
ten sons who reached the age of manhood, he would sacrifice one of them at the
Ka’bah. Allah accepted his supplication and as the years passed he had to his great
pleasure, nine more sons. He never forgot the promise he made to Allah and as his sons
reached manhood the matter pressed hard upon his mind, especially as the youngest of
his sons, Abdullah had now reached maturity.

Abdullah had grown into a handsome, fine, upstanding young man like his father and
although Abd Al Muttalib loved his other sons, Abdullah had become his favorite.