A report in Malik’s al-Muwatta records that, during his final illness, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, told Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that the unborn child carried by Bint Kharija was, in his judgment, a girl, saying: “araha jariyatan” — “I think she is a girl.” An early recension of the Muwatta adds that a girl was later born, while al-Lalaka’i identifies her as Umm Kulthum and explicitly treats the fulfilled intuition as a karamah. The report should remain a fulfilled intuition, not be presented as Prophetic revelation, independent knowledge of the unseen, or a medical prediction.
Abu Bakr then referred to the unborn child being carried by Bint Kharija and said: “araha jariyatan” — “I think she is a girl.” Malik’s al-Muwatta preserves this statement through Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, from Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, from Aisha. The report is therefore an early stopped narration from Aisha about Abu Bakr’s own words, and Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut later graded its chain sahih.
The significant point in the report is what happened afterward. In the recension of the Muwatta transmitted by Muhammad al-Shaybani, the narration continues by stating that a girl was born. Al-Lalaka’i preserves the same event in his section on the karamat of the Companions. He identifies Bint Kharija as Habiba bint Kharija, states that she was pregnant when Abu Bakr died, and says that she later gave birth to Umm Kulthum. Classical biographical material also identifies Umm Kulthum bint Abi Bakr as the daughter of Habiba bint Kharija and notes that Abu Bakr died while her mother was pregnant with her.
Al-Lalaka’i does more than preserve the outcome. He explicitly describes Abu Bakr’s accurate judgment and its fulfillment as a karamah granted by Allah. Ibn Abd al-Barr, commenting on the wording, describes Abu Bakr’s statement as a judgment or supposition so strong that it was like certainty. That classical interpretation helps define the event without changing Abu Bakr’s own wording.
The evidence therefore supports a clear sequence: during his final illness, Abu Bakr expressed the judgment that the unborn child would be a girl; early and classical sources preserve that a girl was subsequently born; and later Sunni scholarship treated the fulfilled intuition as a karamah. The sources do not record Abu Bakr claiming Prophetic revelation, independent knowledge of the unseen, or any medical method for determining the child’s sex. The public account should preserve that distinction: the extraordinary feature is the accurately fulfilled pre-birth intuition as transmitted and interpreted within the classical sources.
Conclusion
The verified sources preserve Abu Bakr al-Siddiq’s pre-birth judgment that the child carried by Bint Kharija would be a girl, followed by reports that a girl was indeed born. Classical Sunni scholarship treated this fulfilled intuition as a karamah while preserving it as Abu Bakr’s judgment rather than revelation.