At a glance
His family- Dates
- Died c. 619 CE
- Who
- Uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, who raised and protected him for decades
- Stages
- Before the Prophethood, and The Call in Makkah
ProfileAbu Talib
Abu Talib was a respected leader of the Banu Hashim and a brother of the Prophet's ﷺ father Abdullah. When Abdul-Muttalib died, he took the eight-year-old Muhammad ﷺ into his home and raised him alongside his own children. When Muhammad ﷺ was about twelve, Abu Talib took him on a trade caravan to Ash-Sham.
Abu Talib's greatest act came after the message began. Quraysh leaders pressed him again and again to hand his nephew over or silence him. He refused, and most of the clan of Banu Hashim stood behind that refusal. When Quraysh declared a boycott of the Hashim and Muttalib families, around 616 CE, he stayed with his nephew in the ravine where the clan was confined, for roughly three years.
He did not himself declare Islam, and the Prophet ﷺ grieved for him. His death in 619 CE, soon followed by Khadijah's, made that year the Year of Sorrow.
Meet them inWhere they appear in the seerah
SourcesSources for this profile
The books, lectures and maps behind this page are listed on our Sources page.