Five years had passed… In the first year of their marriage our Master’s first son Qasim had passed away which had caused great grief for him… In the same year his uncle Abu Talib had a son whom they called Ali, who brought joy to the family and to our Master…

Meanwhile a serious famine took over Mecca… The prices of everything doubled and tripled leaving Abu Talib in a difficult position in terms of maintaining his large family… Observing this situation, one day our Master went to his uncle Abbas with a suggestion:

“O uncle Abbas! My uncle Abu Talib is having a hard time supporting his large family. I think it may be a good idea if we take two of his children under our care to help him out…”

Hadhrat Abbas agreed and together they went to Abu Talib. 

Abu Talib listened to their offer, kept his son Aqil to himself and gave Ali and Jafar to them. 

Our Master took Ali, and Abbas took Jafar…

Hence at the age of five Hadhrat Ali started living with our Master…

Elsewhere, after marrying our Master, Hadhrat Khadija had asked her nephew Haqim to buy a slave for her from Damascus. Haqim bought a slave child called Zayd ibn Haritha for 400 dirhams from the Arab markets.

Zayd was from the Kelp tribe… He was only 8 years old… One day as he was travelling with mother to visit his relatives he was caught in a raid and taken to the slave market to be sold as a slave… 

Hadhrat Khadija had given Zayd as a gift to our Master after the loss of their son… Upon this our Master had immediately released Zayd from slavery.