Death of Abu Talib

Abu Talib, uncle and protector of the Prophet, died in Rajab of the tenth year of the mission, six months after the Banu Hashim came out of the Shi'b, according to the book's preferred view. ^{1 2}

The Prophet entered upon his uncle, and Abu Jahl and Abd Allah ibn Abi Umayya were with him. He said: "O uncle, say there is no god but God, a word by which I may argue for you before God." They kept speaking to him until the last thing he said to them was: "I am upon the creed of Abd al-Muttalib." ^{1 2} The Prophet said: "I will ask forgiveness for you as long as I am not forbidden from it." Then verses of Sura al-Tawba came down about asking forgiveness for the polytheists, and verses of Sura al-Qasas came down that you do not guide whom you love. ¹

The book mentions another view, that Abu Talib died in Ramadan three days before the death of Khadija. It prefers Rajab, because most sources agree that he died six months after the departure from the Shi'b. ¹

Abu Talib was the fortress which the call took refuge in against the assaults of the great and the foolish. ¹ In the authentic report, al-Abbas said to the Prophet that he used to protect him and be angry on his behalf, and he said: "He is in a shallow fire, and had it not been for me he would be in the lowest pit of it." ^{3 2}

• The disagreement over the month of his death is recorded as the author gives it. The preference for Rajab rests on the dating of the siege.