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In Rajab[Tareekh Al-Islam
1/120], the tenth year of the Prophethood, Abu Talib fell ill and passed away, six
months after leaving the confinement at Ash-Sh‘ib. In another version, Abu Talib
breathed his last in Ramadan, three days prior to the death of Khadijah [R] . On the
authority of Al-Musaiyab, when Abu Talib was on the death bed, the Prophet [pbuh] entered
the room where he saw Abu Jahl and ‘Abdullah bin Abi Omaiyah. He requested his uncle:
"My uncle, you just
make a profession that there is no true god but Allâh, and I will bear testimony before
Allâh (of your being a believer)".
Abu Jahl and ‘Abdullah bin Abi Omaiyah
addressing him said: "Abu Talib, would you abandon the religion of
‘Abdul-Muttalib?" The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] constantly requested him (to
accept his offer), and (on the other hand) was repeated the same statement (of Abu Jahl
and ‘Abdullah bin Abi Omaiyah) — till Abu Talib gave his final decision and he
stuck to the religion of ‘Abdul-Muttalib and refused to profess that there is no true
god but Allâh. Upon this the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] remarked:
"By Allâh, I will
persistently beg pardon for you till I am forbidden to do so (by Allâh)".
It was then that Allâh, the Magnificent and
Glorious revealed this verse:
"It is not
(proper) for the Prophet and those who believe to ask Allâh’s forgiveness for the Mushrikûn
(polytheists, idolaters, pagans, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allâh) even though they
be of kin, after it has become clear to them that they are the dwellers of the Fire
(because they died in a state of disbelief)." [Al-Qur'an 9:113]
And it was said to the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]:
"Verily! You (O
Muhammad [pbuh]) guide not whom you like." [Al-Qur'an 28:56] [Bukhari 1/548]
It goes without saying that Abu Talib was very much
attached to Muhammad [pbuh] . For forty years, Abu Talib had been the faithful friend
— the prop of his childhood, the guardian of his youth and in later life a very tower
of defence. The sacrifices to which Abu Talib exposed himself and his family for the sake
of his nephew, while yet incredulous of his mission, stamp his character as singularly
noble and unselfish. The Prophet [pbuh] did his best to persuade his octogenarian uncle to
make profession of the true faith, but he remained obdurate and stuck to the paganism of
his forefathers, and thus could not achieve complete success. Al-‘Abbas bin
‘Abdul-Muttalib narrated that he said to the Prophet [pbuh] "You have not been
of any avail to your uncle (Abu Talib) (though) by Allâh, he used to protect you and get
angry on your behalf." The Prophet [pbuh] said: "He is in a shallow fire, and
had it not been for me, he would have been at the bottom of the (Hell) Fire." [Bukhari 1/548]
Abu Sa‘id Al-Khudri narrated that he heard the
Prophet [pbuh] say, when the mention of his uncle was made, "I hope that my
intercession may avail him, and he be placed in a shallow fire that rises up only to his
heels." [Bukhari 1/548]
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Only two months after the death of his uncle, did
the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] experience another great personal loss viz., the Mother of
believers, his wife Khadijah passed away in Ramadan of the tenth year of his
Prophethood,
when she was sixty-five years old, and he was fifty [Talqeeh Fuhoom
Ahl-al-Athar p.7; Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen 2/164]. Khadijah was in fact a blessing of
Allâh for the Prophet [pbuh] . She, for twenty-five years, shared with him the toils and
trials of life, especially in the first ten years of his ministry of Prophethood. He
deeply mourned over her death, and once he replied in an honest burst of tender emotions:
"She believed in me
when none else did. She embraced Islam when people disbelieved me. And she helped and
comforted me in her person and wealth when there was none else to lend me a helping hand.
I had children from her only."[Musnad
Imam Ahmad 6/118]
Abu Hurairah reported that Gabriel came to
Allâh’s Messenger [pbuh] and said: "Allâh’s Messenger, lo, Khadijah is
coming to you with a vessel of seasoned food or drink. When she comes to you, offer her
greetings from her Lord, and give her glad tidings of a palace of jewels in Paradise where
there is no noise and no toil." [Bukhari 1/539]
These two painful events took place within a short
lapse of time and added a lot to his grief and suffering. The Makkans now openly declared
their campaign of torture and oppression. The Prophet [pbuh] lost all hope of bringing
them back to the right path, so he set out for Al-Ta’if seeking a supportive
atmosphere. But there too, he was disappointed and he sustained unbearable tortures and
maltreatment that far outweighed his miserable situation in his native town.
His Companions were on equal footing subjected to
unspeakable torture and unbearable oppression to such an extent that his closest friend,
Abu Bakr, to escape pressure, fled out of Makkah and wanted to leave for Abyssinia
(Ethiopia) if it were not for Ibn Ad-Daghanah who met him at Bark Al-Ghamad and managed to
dissuade him from completing his journey of escape and brought him back under his
protection. [Bukhari 1/552; Ibn Hisham 1/372]
The death of Abu Talib rendered the Prophet [pbuh]
vulnerable, and the polytheists availed them of that opportunity to give free rein to
their hatred and highhandedness and to translate them in terms of oppression and physical
tortures. Once an insolent Quraishite intercepted him and sprinkled sand on his head. When
he arrived home, a daughter of his washed the sand away and wept. "Do not weep, my
daughter. Allâh will verily protect your father." The Prophet [pbuh] said. [Ibn Hisham 1/416]
Rapid succession of misfortunes, led the Prophet
[pbuh] to call that period, ‘the year of grief and mourning’. Thenceforth, that
year bore that appellation.
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The death of Khadijah left the Prophet [pbuh]
lonely. The name of Sawdah was suggested to him for marriage which he accepted. This lady
had suffered many hardships for the sake of Islam. She was an early convert to the Islamic
Faith and it was by her persuasion that her husband had embraced Islam. On the second
emigration to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Sawdah had accompanied her husband As-Sakran bin
‘Amr. He died on their way back to Makkah leaving her in a terrible state of
destitution. She was the first woman for the Prophet [pbuh] to marry after the death of
Khadijah. Some years later she granted her turn with the Prophet [pbuh] to her co-wife,
‘Aishah. [Talqeeh Fuhoom Ahl-al-Athar p.10;
Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen 2/165]
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