Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib
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Abū Ṭālib ibn ‘Abd al-Muṭṭalib (Arabic: أبو طالب بن عبد المطلب ) (d. 619) was married to Fatima bint Asad and was an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. His real name was Imran but he is better known as Abu Talib because he had a son named Talib.
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[edit] Overview
Abu Talib raised and supported the Prophet Muhammad while he was a young man.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
He was a son of Shaiba ibn Hashim and Fatimah bint Amr, thus a full brother of Muhammad's father 'Abdullah ibn 'Abdul Muttalib, who had died before Muhammad's birth.
In 576, Abu Talib took care of Muhammad after the death of Aminah bint Wahab, Muhammad's mother. Abu Talib also protected Muhammad against other sub-clans of Banu Quraish, who were the enemies of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.
Other sources say that Abu Talib took care of Muhammad after the death of Shaiba ibn Hashim (c. 497 – 578), Muhammad's grandfather and Abu Talib's father, when Muhammad was 8 years old.
When Muhammad was a child, Abu Talib was head of the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraish tribe. Once Muhammad got older, he took responsibility for Abu Talib's son Ali ibn Abu Talib. Abu Talib had a trading caravan business with Syria.
When Muhammad was 20, he began to work for Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, who had a thriving caravan business. At age 25, Muhammad married Khadijah, a wealthy woman. While most sources claim she was a 40-year-old widow, others claim she was younger and unmarried.
[edit] Islam — 610-619
After Muhammad began preaching the message of Islam, increasingly more members of the Quraish tribe came to feel threatened by Muhammad. In attempts to quiet him, they would lean on Abu Talib to silence his nephew or control him. Despite these pressures, Abu Talib did nothing but support Muhammad and defended him from the other heads of the Quraish.
Abu Talib died in 619 or 623 [1], at around the same time as Muhammad's beloved wife Khadijah, leading to an immensely sad time for him. This year was known as the saddest year of the life of the prophet, the Year of Sorrow.
[edit] Legacy
After the death of Abu Talib, Muhammad imigrated to Medina.
He had four sons and two daughters:
- Ja'far ibn Abu Talib
- Aqeel ibn Abu Talib
- Talib ibn Abu Talib
- Ali ibn Abu Talib
- Fakhitah binte Abu Talib
- Jumanah binte Abu Talib
[edit] Sunni view
Sunnis hold the view that Abu Talib never recited the Shahadah, or testament of faith, so was a non-Muslim, but that he would receive the most lenient punishment on the day of judgement from amongst those who would be banished to Hell. In Sahih Bukhari 5:58:223, an account of Abu Talib's last words is recorded:
- [...] When Abu Talib was in his death bed, the Prophet went to him while Abu Jahl was sitting beside him. The Prophet said, "O my uncle! Say: None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, an expression I will defend your case with, before Allah." Abu Jahl and 'Abdullah bin Umaya said, "O Abu Talib! Will you leave the religion of 'Abdul Muttalib?" So they kept on saying this to him so that the last statement he said to them (before he died) was: "I am on the religion of 'Abdul Muttalib." Then the Prophet said, " I will keep on asking for Allah's Forgiveness for you unless I am forbidden to do so."[...]
After Abu Talib had died, Muhammad got in a conversation regarding Abu Talib which is recorded in Sahih Bukhari 5:58:222:
- That he said to the Prophet "You have not been of any avail to your uncle (Abu Talib) (though) by Allah, he used to protect you and used to become angry on your behalf." The Prophet said, "He is in a shallow fire, and had It not been for me, he would have been in the bottom of the (Hell) Fire."
[edit] Shi'a view
Shi'as argue that it is highly unlikely that Abu Talib carried out the nikah ceremony of Muhammad if he were a non-Muslim. Second, they hold, Muhammad and Allah would never let a non-Muslim raise his prophet as at the time of Muhammad's birth there were some people who followed the path of Abraham and did not worship Idols, the Hanifs. Also Ali inherited him [2], which would be forbidden if he were an unbeliever.
[edit] In Literature
The Bengali Poet Gulam Mostafa, writing the biography of the prophet "Bishanabi" made this observation of Abu Talib:
"The light which would illuminate the darkened world burns in his house. With blood and guts, with weapons and wit, with his all Abu Talib defends the light from the dark storms, the temptations, threats, abuses of the outside world that threatens to extinguish the light. Yet his own heart remains as drak as the darkness he fights to protect the prophet till his dying day."
[edit] See also
| Preceded by: Shaiba ibn Hashim |
head of Banu Hashim ?–619 |
Succeeded by: Abu Lahab |
