Overview
This lesson covers the losses and the low point of the Makkan period: the deaths of Khadijah and Abu Talib, the failed journey to Ta'if seeking allies, and the Prophet's ﷺ return to a Makkah where his personal protection had collapsed.
Context
Abu Talib had never accepted Islam. But his standing in Quraysh had shielded his nephew for a decade. Khadijah had been not only his wife but his first and steadiest source of emotional strength. Their deaths — within a short period of each other, traditionally in the same year, around 619 CE — removed both his social protection and his closest personal support at almost the same moment. Later generations named that year ʿām al-ḥuzn, the Year of Sorrow.
What this means
After these losses, Quraysh's hostility grew more overt. Anas ibn Malik narrates in Sahih al-Bukhari that opponents felt bold enough to throw dirt on the Prophet's ﷺ head in the street. In this setting he travelled with his adopted son Zayd ibn Haritha to Ta'if, a garden city in the mountains about ninety kilometres south-east of Makkah, home to the tribe of Thaqif — hoping to find leaders who might listen. He met with three brothers of Thaqif's leadership. All three rejected him, one saying that if he was a messenger of Allah, he was too great for him to speak with, and if he was lying, he was too low to answer. They then set street children and slaves on him to drive him out with stones. He left Ta'if bleeding from his feet, took refuge in a garden, and made the well-known supplication preserved in classical Seerah sources: 'O Allah, to You I complain of my weakness, my lack of resources, and my humiliation before people. O Most Merciful of the merciful, You are the Lord of the weak and You are my Lord. To whom will You entrust me? To one distant who will scowl at me, or to an enemy to whom You have given control over my affair? If You are not angry with me, I do not care. But Your protection is more expansive for me.'
Return to Makkah
Because he had left Makkah without securing new tribal protection, he could not simply walk back in. He sent word to several Qurayshi leaders asking for a formal grant of protection (jiwār). Al-Mut'im ibn 'Adi, a Qurayshi elder who had not accepted Islam, extended his own protection, and the Prophet ﷺ entered Makkah under that guarantee. The Prophet ﷺ never forgot this act; years later, after the battle of Badr, he said that if al-Mut'im had asked for the prisoners he would have given them to him for that debt.
The Ta'if supplication and later reports
A well-known continuation of the Ta'if account tells of the angel of the mountains offering to crush Ta'if between two mountains if the Prophet ﷺ wished it, and his replying that he hoped Allah would bring from their descendants people who would worship Him alone. This narration is preserved in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. His refusal to invoke destruction upon his persecutors is one of the clearest testimonies to his character.
Sahih al-BukhariBook: The Book of the Beginning of Creation (Kitab Bad' al-Khalq)№ 3231Ṣaḥīḥ (authentic)Graded by Al-Bukhari
“Aisha asked the Prophet ﷺ: 'Have you encountered a day harder than the day of Uhud?' He said: 'Your people have troubled me a lot, and the worst was the day of 'Aqaba, when I presented myself to Ibn 'Abd Yalil ibn 'Abd Kulal and he did not respond to what I intended. I departed, overwhelmed with grief... The angel of the mountains called out to me and said, "If you wish, I can bring together the two mountains upon them." I said, "Rather, I hope that Allah will bring from their descendants those who will worship Allah alone and associate none with Him."'”
Context: Narrated by Aisha about the return from Ta'if.
Source: Sahih al-Bukhari.
Primary Islamic evidence
Sahih al-Bukhari preserves the exchange with the angel of the mountains and multiple accounts of the pressure the Prophet ﷺ faced in Makkah after Abu Talib's death. Ibn Hisham preserves the fullest narrative of the Ta'if journey. The Ta'if supplication itself is reported in Ibn Ishaq's Sirah and later Seerah works; specialist scholars note that its chain, while widely accepted at the Seerah level, is not among the strongest hadith chains.
What is firmly established
That the Prophet ﷺ lost Khadijah and Abu Talib within a short period; that persecution intensified after Abu Talib's death; that he went to Ta'if seeking support from Thaqif and was rejected; that he returned to Makkah under al-Mut'im ibn 'Adi's protection; and that, when offered the destruction of his persecutors, he asked instead for their descendants to be guided.
What is reported with less certainty
The exact wording of the Ta'if supplication and some narrative details of the confrontation with Thaqif's leaders are preserved through Seerah reports rather than through the strongest hadith chains. The core outline — the journey, the rejection, the stoning, the refusal to curse — is accepted across the tradition.
Why this matters
Prophethood is not portrayed as immune to grief. The Prophet ﷺ mourned openly for Khadijah for the rest of his life; the loss of Abu Talib pained him deeply, even though he could not save him from disbelief. The Year of Sorrow is a permanent reference for Muslims that despair is not a sign of weak faith and that mercy toward one's opponents is not a sign of weakness.
Common misunderstanding
The Prophet ﷺ is sometimes portrayed as unaffected by suffering. The sources describe the opposite: real grief, real fear, real weeping, and a real decision at Ta'if to keep going anyway.
Application today
When you are at your lowest — after loss, after rejection — remember that the response of the Prophet ﷺ was not to strike back at those who hurt him. It was to complain to Allah alone, and to hope for good from his enemies' children.
Timeline placement
Approximately 619 CE. Falls between the boycott and the Isra and Mi'raj. Precedes the beginning of the community's negotiations with Yathrib.
