The Last Word

Not long after the boycott ended, Abu Talib fell ill and was dying. The Prophet ﷺ came to him and found Abu Jahl and 'Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah sitting with him. He said, "O my uncle, say: there is no god but Allah, a word by which I can plead for you before Allah." The two men kept saying, "Will you turn away from the religion of 'Abd al-Muttalib?" until the last thing Abu Talib said was that he remained on the religion of 'Abd al-Muttalib (Sahih al-Bukhari 3884; Sahih Muslim 24).

The Prophet ﷺ said he would keep asking forgiveness for him unless he was forbidden, and the verse forbidding prayers of forgiveness for those who die associating partners with Allah was revealed (9:113). Concerning Abu Talib, Allah also revealed: ﴿إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِى مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَهْدِى مَن يَشَآءُ﴾ (“Indeed, you do not guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He wills.”)

Khadijah died in the same year, within a short time of him. The Prophet ﷺ lost his wife and his protector together, and the biographers called it the Year of Sorrow. Without Abu Talib, Quraysh began to harm him as they had never dared before.