Passing of Abu Talib (a)

The guardian of the Prophet

Abu Talib, whose given name was Abd Manaf, was the son of Abd al-Muttalib and the head of Banu Hashim after him. When the Prophet's (s) grandfather died, Abu Talib took the eight-year-old orphan into his home and raised him with his own sons, among them Ali (a). After the mission began he stood between his nephew and the Quraysh for ten years, refusing every demand to hand him over, and led his clan into the three-year boycott in the ravine that bears his name rather than abandon him.

Faith

Sunni and Shia scholars have long differed over whether Abu Talib died a believer. The Shia hold, on the evidence of his poetry — full of praise for his nephew's prophethood — and of hadith from the Imams, that he was a Muslim who concealed his faith to remain useful as a protector, and Ali (a) said that his father had never bowed to an idol.

Death

He died on 26 Rajab, three years before the Hijrah, weeks before Khadija (a); the Prophet (s) called it the Year of Sorrow, and Makkah became so dangerous without Abu Talib's protection that he began to seek refuge elsewhere, first in Ta'if and then in Yathrib. He was buried in the cemetery of al-Ma'la at al-Hajun beside his father.