Before Islam, killing daughters was a common custom among Arabs. It was one of the social customs that Islam severely prohibited at once. A friend of the Prophet narrated how he applied that custom in the presence of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) as follows:

“O Messenger of Allah! I buried my daughters with my own hands. Once, I took my daughter, who was about to be a young girl, by her hand. I walked as much as I could into the desert. We reached a dry well. I started to look into the well as if I was looking for something.”

At that moment, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) started to cry. The man went on narrating:

“Suddenly, I kicked her at the back. She started to roll down to the well headfirst, screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy!’

Hz Muhammad was crying his eyes out. Thereupon, his friends had to intervene and silenced the man, taking him out of the mosque.