Abū Ṭālib and Khadījah رضي الله عنها die, Ṭāʾif rejects him, and he returns under a stranger's protection.
His age
50
Where
Makkah and Ṭāʾif
Counted as
3 BH
The year
Abū Ṭālib died having refused the shahādah at the last moment, saying he would not have Quraysh claim he said it out of fear of death. The Prophet ﷺ said he would keep asking forgiveness for him until he was told not to. Weeks later Khadījah رضي الله عنها died, after twenty-five years of marriage. He lost his outer protection and his inner support in the same year, and Quraysh became bolder immediately — one of them threw dust on his head in the street.
He walked to Ṭāʾif, about sixty miles, and put the message to Thaqīf. They refused, and set their slaves and boys to line the road and stone him until his sandals filled with blood. He stopped in a vineyard and made the duʿāʾ of a man with nothing left but his Lord: 'If You are not angry with me, I do not care.' The angel of the mountains offered to crush the town between the two hills; he refused, and hoped for their children instead.
He came back into Makkah under the protection of al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, an idolater who kept his word. Later that year the household was rebuilt: he married Sawdah رضي الله عنها and was betrothed to ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها.
What happened, event by event
The death of Abū Ṭālib
c. 3 BH · Makkah
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.
At his uncle's deathbed the Prophet ﷺ said, 'O uncle, say lā ilāha illā Allāh — a word by which I may plead for you before Allah.' Abū Jahl and ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Umayyah kept repeating, 'Will you leave the religion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib?' He died on that word. The Prophet ﷺ said he would seek forgiveness for him until he was forbidden, and Allah revealed that it is not for the Prophet ﷺ to ask forgiveness for the polytheists.
— 'Indeed you do not guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He wills.'
— The prohibition on seeking forgiveness for those who die upon shirk.
Guidance is not in the Prophet's ﷺ hand — 'you do not guide whom you love' was revealed about this.
Loyalty and love are not the same as faith; the seerah refuses to soften this.
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.
Khadījah bint Khuwaylid رضي الله عنها died shortly after Abū Ṭālib, around three years before the Hijrah, aged about sixty-five. She had spent her wealth on the daʿwah and never once doubted him. Jibrīl brought her greetings of peace from her Lord and news of a house in Paradise of hollowed pearl, with no noise and no fatigue in it. Years later ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها said she was never jealous of any woman as she was of Khadījah رضي الله عنها, for how often he would remember her.
The Prophet ﷺ grieved openly and kept her memory for the rest of his life — loyalty does not end at death.
Her contribution was belief, counsel and wealth: the three things a daʿwah cannot run without.
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.
The sīrah writers name this the Year of Sorrow. After Abū Ṭālib's death the harassment became physical in public: dust thrown on his head, filth placed on his back in prayer. Abū Lahab, now clan chief, withdrew protection. It is from this pressure that the journey to Ṭāʾif and then al-Isrāʾ follow.
The hardest year of his life came after ten years of work — difficulty is not a sign of being off course.
The consolation that followed (al-Isrāʾ) was proportionate to the loss that preceded it.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah; Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa-n-Nihāyah
He ﷺ walked some sixty miles to Ṭāʾif and spent ten days offering Islam to its leaders. They mocked him and set their slaves and children to stone him along the road until his sandals filled with blood. The angel of the mountains offered to crush the town; he refused, and hoped instead that their children would one day worship Allah alone.
He ﷺ walked some sixty miles to Ṭāʾif and spent ten days presenting Islam to the leaders of Thaqīf, who mocked him and set their slaves and children to line the road and pelt him until his sandals filled with blood. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrates that he said no day was harder on him than the day of ʿAqabah at Ṭāʾif. The angel of the mountains came and offered to crush the town between the two hills; he ﷺ said, 'No — rather I hope that Allah will bring from their loins those who worship Allah alone.'
Power was offered and declined; mercy for the descendants outweighed justice against the fathers.
His du'ā that day complains of his own weakness before Allah, not of the people.
He sat in a vineyard and made the du'ā of Ṭāʾif, complaining of his own weakness and not of the people. A Christian slave named ʿAddās brought him grapes, heard him say 'Bismillāh', and found that this stranger knew of Yūnus ibn Mattā عليه السلام from his own town of Nineveh. On the hardest day of his life, one man believed.
Withdrawing to a vineyard belonging to ʿUtbah and Shaybah, he ﷺ made the du'ā of Ṭāʾif. Their slave ʿAddās brought grapes; hearing him say 'Bismillāh', he asked what land he came from. 'From Nineveh.' 'The town of the righteous man Yūnus ibn Mattā?' ʿAddās was astonished that he knew of him, and accepted Islam there.
On his worst day one man believed — outcomes are not measured by the size of the crowd.
He spoke of Yūnus عليه السلام as a brother prophet, at the exact moment he was himself rejected by a town.
He could not re-enter Makkah without protection. Several men refused before al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī agreed, armed his sons and stood with him at the Kaʿbah until he had made ṭawāf. He never forgot it: after Badr he said that if al-Muṭʿim had been alive and asked for the captives, he would have released them for him.
He ﷺ sent word to several men before al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī agreed. Al-Muṭʿim armed his sons and stood with them at the Kaʿbah announcing his protection, and the Prophet ﷺ entered, made ṭawāf and prayed. He never forgot it: after Badr he said that had al-Muṭʿim been alive and asked him for these captives, he would have released them for him.
Gratitude was owed and repaid publicly, even to a man who died outside Islam.
Working with decent people of the wider society is prophetic practice.
Sawdah رضي الله عنها, and the betrothal to ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها
c. 2–3 BH · Makkah
After Khadījah's death, the household is rebuilt.
About a year after Khadījah رضي الله عنها died, Khawlah bint Ḥakīm suggested he ﷺ marry again. He married Sawdah رضي الله عنها bint Zamʿah رضي الله عنها, a widow whose husband had died after the migration to Abyssinia, and she took charge of his daughters. In the same period ʿĀʾishah bint Abī Bakr رضي الله عنها was betrothed to him, and the marriage was consummated in Madinah after the Hijrah. Through her, more of the Prophet's ﷺ private practice and teaching reached the ummah than through almost anyone else.
The house kept running: the children needed care and he arranged it.
Much of what we know about his ﷺ worship at home comes from ʿĀʾishah's narrations.
72. Al-Jinn — Al-Jinn — the jinn who listened on the way back from Ṭāʾif.
46. Al-Aḥqāf — Al-Aḥqāf — the same listening group, told again.
People in this year
Khadījah bint Khuwaylid رضي الله عنها — His ﷺ first wife, a merchant of Makkah who employed him before she married him, and the first human being to believe in him.
Abū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib — His ﷺ uncle and guardian after the death of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. He protected him for ten years of the call without accepting it himself.
ʿĀʾishah bint Abī Bakr رضي الله عنها — Daughter of Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه and his ﷺ wife in Madinah; one of the greatest narrators and jurists of the ummah.
Answer from memory
That he complained of his weakness to Allah, and that if Allah was not angry with him he did not care what he faced.
He was an idolater who gave the Prophet ﷺ protection to re-enter Makkah and kept his word publicly.