Babies who spoke in the cradle
1-11-2004 | IslamWeb
Question:
I wanted to know how many babies spoke in the cradle other than E'esaa, may Allaah exalt his mention, and the Hadeeth to support that.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
Abu Hurayrah 
narrated that the Prophet 
said: "None spoke in the cradle but three: (the first was) 'Eesaa (Jesus), (the second was), a man from the Israelites (Banu Israa'eel) called Jurayj. While he was offering his prayers, his mother came and called him. He said (to himself), 'Shall I answer her or keep on praying?" (He went on praying) and did not answer her. His mother said, "O Allaah! Do not let him die till he sees the faces of prostitutes." So while he was in his hermitage, a lady came and sought to seduce him, but he refused. So she went to a shepherd and presented herself to him to commit illegal sexual intercourse with her and then later she gave birth to a child and claimed that it belonged to Jurayj. The people, therefore, came to him and dismantled his hermitage and expelled him out of it and abused him. Juraij performed ablution, offered prayer, and then came to the child and said, 'O child! Who is your father?' The child replied, 'the shepherd.' (After hearing this) the people said, 'We shall rebuild your hermitage of gold,' but he said, 'No, of nothing but mud.' (The third was the hero of the following story) A lady from the Israelites (Banu Israa'eel) was nursing her child at her breast when a handsome rider passed by her. She said, 'O Allaah! Make my child like him.' On that the child left her breast, and facing the rider said, 'O Allaah! Do not make me like him.' The child then started to suck her breast again. (Abu Hurayrah further said, "As if I were now looking at the Prophet sucking his finger (in way of demonstration.") After a while the people passed by, with a lady slave and she (i.e. the child's mother) said, 'O Allaah! Do not make my child like this (slave girl)! On that the child left her breast and said, 'O Allaah! Make me like her.' When she asked why, the child replied, 'the rider is one of the tyrants while this slave girl is falsely accused of theft and illegal sexual intercourse." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
It is said that the saying of the Prophet "None spoke in the cradle but three'' does not mean that this is restricted to everyone who spoke while he was young, but rather it refers to those who spoke while in the cradle.
It addition to this, it is reported in the book of Imaam Muslim
that Suhayb narrated regarding the narration about the people of the trench: "A woman was brought to be thrown in the fire, or to disbelieve (in Allaah), and she had a suckling baby, so she lagged behind, then the baby told her: ''O, mother! Be patient, you are indeed upon the truth." Thus, with this narration, the people who spoke in the cradle are more than three.
Ibn Hajar said: 'Al-Dhahaak claimed in his interpretation (of the Qur'aan) that Yahyaa 
spoke in the cradle.' [Ath-Tha'labi] If this is confirmed, then this increases the number of the children who spoke in the cradle. Moreover, Al-Baghawee said: 'Ibraaheem spoke in the cradle.'
Al-Waakidee it is mentioned that the Prophet spoke at the very early days after his birth.
Additionally, at the time of the Prophet an infant whose name was Mubaarak Al-Yamaamah spoke while he was in the cradle. His story is reported by Al-Bayhaqi . The Prophet asked the infant: "Who am I?" The infant replied: 'You are the Prophet of Allaah.' So the Prophet told him: "Indeed, you have spoken the truth, may Allaah bless you."
Allaah knows best.