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Seerah 03 · 615–617 · before the move to Madinah · Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib, Makkah
The boycott and the Year of Sorrow
His whole clan was cut off from food and trade for about three years, and soon after it ended he lost his wife and his uncle.
8 events · the Prophet ﷺ aged 46–49
What happened
From ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm
Standard — the chapter told properly, in paragraphs
This is the chapter of collective punishment and personal loss. Quraysh cut off a whole clan for about three years, and when that failed the Prophet ﷺ lost, in one year, both the wife who believed first and the uncle who shielded him.
The pact of boycottUnable to reach him while his uncle protected him, Quraysh wrote a pact: no trade, no marriage, no contact with his whole clan until they handed him over. They hung it inside the Kaʿbah, and Banū Hāshim withdrew into a narrow valley.
Three years in the valleyFor about three years they lived shut in, buying only what sympathisers smuggled in at night at cruel prices, sometimes eating tree leaves. The call did not pause: he ﷺ used the Ḥajj seasons, when the boycott lifted, to keep meeting pilgrims.
Five men break the pactHishām ibn ʿAmr and four others tear up the boycott while the document is already eaten.
The document is annulledA handful of Quraysh, ashamed of what was being done to their own relatives, agreed to tear the pact up. He ﷺ told his uncle that Allah had sent termites to eat the document, leaving only the words 'In Your name, O Allah'. It was brought out exactly as he said, and the boycott ended.
The three questions from YathribQuraysh sent to the rabbis of Yathrib for a test, and came back with three questions: the youths who disappeared, the man who travelled to the ends of the earth, and the soul. He ﷺ said 'tomorrow' without saying 'if Allah wills', and revelation was withheld for a time before Sūrat al-Kahf came with the answers — and with that correction.
The death of Abū ṬālibAt his uncle's deathbed he ﷺ asked him for one word he could plead with before Allah. Abū Jahl kept asking him whether he would leave the religion of his fathers, and he died on that. He ﷺ said he would keep asking forgiveness for him until he was told not to — and it was revealed that guidance is not in his hand.
The death of Khadījah رضي الله عنهاKhadījah رضي الله عنها died soon after Abū Ṭālib, about three years before the Hijrah. She had believed first, spent her wealth on the call and never once doubted him. Jibrīl brought her greetings of peace from her Lord and news of a house in Paradise. He remembered her for the rest of his life.
ʿĀm al-Ḥuzn — the Year of SorrowWith his wife and his protector both gone in one year, Makkah closed around him. Dust was thrown on his head; filth was put on his back while he prayed; his new clan chief, Abū Lahab, withdrew protection. The sīrah writers call this the Year of Sorrow.
ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm, al-Mubārakpūrī
- What the boycott was
- A written pact of total social and economic cut-off, hung in the Kaʿbah
- Where
- Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib, a ravine on the edge of Makkah
- How long
- About three years, roughly 7–10 of the call
- How it ended
- Quraysh with kinship ties annulled it; the document had been eaten away
- The Year of Sorrow
- Abū Ṭālib and Khadījah رضي الله عنها both die, about 3 years before the Hijrah
Narration by narration (8)
- Strong report615 · Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib
Quraysh write a document banning trade and marriage with Banū Hāshim.
Unable to reach him while his uncle protected him, Quraysh wrote a pact: no trade, no marriage, no contact with his whole clan until they handed him over. They hung it inside the Kaʿbah, and Banū Hāshim withdrew into a narrow valley.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa-n-Nihāyah
- Traditional ordering615–617 · Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib
Hunger in the Shiʿb; the believers eat leaves and hide the cries of children.
For about three years they lived shut in, buying only what sympathisers smuggled in at night at cruel prices, sometimes eating tree leaves. The call did not pause: he ﷺ used the Ḥajj seasons, when the boycott lifted, to keep meeting pilgrims.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; al-Mubārakpūrī, ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm
- Traditional ordering617 · Makkah
Hishām ibn ʿAmr and four others tear up the boycott while the document is already eaten.
Hishām ibn ʿAmr had been secretly bringing loaded camels to the mouth of the valley at night. He went to Zuhayr ibn Abī Umayyah, whose mother was of Hāshim, and shamed him: 'You eat and dress while your uncles are starving?' They gathered al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, Abū al-Bakhtarī and Zamʿah, and next morning Zuhayr circled the Kaʿbah and announced that the document would be torn. Abū Jahl objected and was overruled. Al-Muṭʿim went to tear it and found the termites had eaten it already, exactly as the Prophet ﷺ had told Abū Ṭālib.
Ibn Hishām; ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm, al-Mubārakpūrī
- Traditional ordering617 · Makkah
Five men of Quraysh move to break the pact, and the parchment is found eaten away.
A handful of Quraysh, ashamed of what was being done to their own relatives, agreed to tear the pact up. He ﷺ told his uncle that Allah had sent termites to eat the document, leaving only the words 'In Your name, O Allah'. It was brought out exactly as he said, and the boycott ended.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah (via Ibn Isḥāq)
- Strong report617 · Makkah / Yathrib
Quraysh send to the rabbis of Yathrib for tests, and receive three questions.
Quraysh sent to the rabbis of Yathrib for a test, and came back with three questions: the youths who disappeared, the man who travelled to the ends of the earth, and the soul. He ﷺ said 'tomorrow' without saying 'if Allah wills', and revelation was withheld for a time before Sūrat al-Kahf came with the answers — and with that correction.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; Ibn Kathīr, introduction to Sūrat al-Kahf
- Established619 · Makkah
His uncle and protector dies refusing the shahādah.
At his uncle's deathbed he ﷺ asked him for one word he could plead with before Allah. Abū Jahl kept asking him whether he would leave the religion of his fathers, and he died on that. He ﷺ said he would keep asking forgiveness for him until he was told not to — and it was revealed that guidance is not in his hand.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3884; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 24
- Established619 · Makkah
The first believer, and the shelter of his home, dies within the same year.
Khadījah رضي الله عنها died soon after Abū Ṭālib, about three years before the Hijrah. She had believed first, spent her wealth on the call and never once doubted him. Jibrīl brought her greetings of peace from her Lord and news of a house in Paradise. He remembered her for the rest of his life.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3820, 3818; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah
- Strong report619 · Makkah
With both protections gone, Quraysh grow bolder and Makkah closes around him ﷺ.
With his wife and his protector both gone in one year, Makkah closed around him. Dust was thrown on his head; filth was put on his back while he prayed; his new clan chief, Abū Lahab, withdrew protection. The sīrah writers call this the Year of Sorrow.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa-n-Nihāyah