Holding a child who is dying
He held his son Ibrāhīm as he died, and his eyes overflowed.
إِنَّ الْعَيْنَ تَدْمَعُ، وَالْقَلْبَ يَحْزَنُ، وَلاَ نَقُولُ إِلاَّ مَا يَرْضَى رَبُّنَا، وَإِنَّا بِفِرَاقِكَ يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ لَمَحْزُونُونَ
Inna-l-ʿayna tadmaʿ, wa-l-qalba yaḥzan, wa lā naqūlu illā mā yarḍā rabbunā, wa innā bi-firāqika yā Ibrāhīma la-maḥzūnūn.
“The eye weeps and the heart grieves, and we say nothing except what pleases our Lord. And we are, at parting from you, Ibrāhīm, deeply grieved.”
Where this comes from
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf saw him weeping and said: even you? He answered that this is mercy, and then said these words. He did not stop the tears and he did not complain. He named the grief and named its limit in the same breath.
The full narration
Narrated Anas bin Malik:We went with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) to the blacksmith Abu Saif, and he was the husband of the wet-nurse of Ibrahim (the son of the Prophet). Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) took Ibrahim and kissed him and smelled him and later we entered Abu Saif's house and at that time Ibrahim was in his last breaths, and the eyes of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) started shedding tears. `Abdur Rahman bin `Auf said, "O Allah's Apostle, even you are weeping!" He said, "O Ibn `Auf, this is mercy." Then he wept more and said, "The eyes are shedding tears and the heart is grieved, and we will not say except what pleases our Lord, O Ibrahim ! Indeed we are grieved by your separation
Source
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī · 1303
- Agreed upon as authentic (al-Bukhārī / Muslim)