Why do babies cry?

Name of Questioner: Ameer

Date: 19-3-2021 09:54:44 AM

Consultant: Ask about Islam Editorial Team

Question:

Salaam I heard somewhere that the reason why babies cry is because Shaitan touches them. Is there a source for this or is it just heresay? Jazzakallahu Khair

Thank you very much for your question. It is our pleasure to answer it.

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright.


Abu Hurairah narrated: I heard the Messenger of Allah saying:

No son of Adam shall be born unless that he should be afflicted (touched) by the Satan at the hour of birth, when he initiates his life crying out of the Satan's touch, except Maryam and her son.

While narrating this, Abu Hurairah, recited the following verse about the supplication made by Hazrat Mary’s mother for her child.

O my Lord!.. I commend her and her offspring to Thy protection from the Evil One, the Rejected. (Aal-e-Imran, 3/36) (Bukhari, Anbiya, 44).

Here the Satan’s touching and the child’s crying is interpreted differently. According to some scholars, the crying caused by the Satan’s touch actually originates from the child’s feeling the troubles he will face in the world life. For other scholars, the child cries because of the pain caused by the Satan’s touching.

The fact that the issue is taken into consideration together with Hz. Mary and her son Jesus shows that the touch by the Satan aims at pointing out the existence of satanic prompts, delusions that man faces during his life in the divine test.

The fact that a distinguished mother like Hz. Mary, who gave birth without marrying, and a prominent child like Hz. Jesus, who was born without a father due to a special status, was protected from the touch of the Satan is like a symbol for being away from the harm of evil and remaining pure along their lives.

There can be another evaluation of the subject as follows: According to the science of medicine, the crying of a child is a positive thing. It causes the expansion of lungs. One of the wisdom for children’s crying a lot may be a contribution to develop their reflexes in their new life.

Thus, the touching of the Satan can either be a symbol for the test of life or a symbolic truth expressed – that has not been fully discovered yet – by the science of medicine. So, we think that there is no supportive element for evaluating this crying as an indication for goodness or badness. It is also necessary to regard and evaluate this event as good which is related with children and hope goodness for their future lives.

Jazak Allah Khair