Abu Talib ibn Abd
al-Muttalib
Early life
Abu Talib was born in the city of Mecca in
the Hijaz region in 535 CE. He was the son of the Hashimite
chief, Abd al-Muttalib.
He was a brother of Muhammad's father, Abdullah,
who had died before Muhammad's birth. After the death of Muhammad's
mother Aminah bint Wahab,
Muhammad as a child was taken into the care of his grandfather, Abd
al-Muttalib. When Muhammad reached eight years of age, Abd al-Muttalib died.
One of Muhammad's uncles was to take him in. The oldest, Al-Harith was not
wealthy enough to take him in. Abu Talib, despite his poverty, took in Muhammad
because of his generosity. Although Abu Talib
was responsible for Siqaya and Rifada (Food
and Beverages) of Hajj pilgrims, he was poor.
Muhammad loved his uncle very much, and Abu
Talib loved him in return. Abu Talib is
remembered as a gifted poet, and many poetic verses in support of Muhammad are
attributed to him. Once, as Abu Talib
was about to leave for a trading expedition, Muhammad wept and could not bear
to be separated from him. To this Abu Talib responded, "By God I will take
him with me, and we shall never part from each other.
Later in life, as an adult,
Muhammad saw that Abu Talib was struggling financially after a severe drought.
Muhammad decided to take charge of one of Abu Talib's children and he
convinced Al-'Abbas to
do the same. They discussed this matter with Abū Ṭālib, who asked that his
favorite child 'Aqīl be left with him. Al-'Abbās chose Ja'far, and
Muhammad chose 'Alī
Protecting Muhammad
In tribal society, a tribal affiliation is
important, otherwise a man can be killed with impunity. As leader of the
Banu Hashim, Abu Talib acted as a protector to Muhammad. After Muhammad began
preaching the message of Islam, members of the
other Qurayshite clans increasingly came to
feel threatened by Muḥammad. In attempts to quiet him, they pressured Abū Ṭālib
to silence his nephew or control him. Despite these pressures, Abu Talib
maintained his support of Muḥammad, defending him from the other leaders of the
Quraysh. Leaders of the Quraysh directly confronted Abu Talib several times.
Abu Talib brushed them off and continued to support Muhammad even when it put a
rift between him and the Quraysh. In one account, the Quraysh even threatened
to fight the Banu Hashim over this conflict. In a particular
narration of one such confrontation, Abu Talib summoned Muhammad to speak with
the Quraysh. Muhammad asked the Quraysh leaders to say the shahada and they were astounded.
The Quraysh even tried to bribe Abu Talib.
They told Abu Talib that if he let them get hold of Muhammad, then he could
adopt 'Umarah ibn al Walid ibn al Mughirah, the most handsome youth in Quraysh. When this also
failed, the Quraysh elicited the support of other tribes to boycott trading
with or marrying members of the Banu Hashim lineage. This boycott started seven
years after Muhammad first received revelation and lasted for three years. The goal was to put
pressure on the Hashimites and even starve them into submission. For the sake of
security, many members of the Banu Hashim moved near to Abu Talib (Encyclopedia
of Islam), and the place became like a ghetto. This didn't cause
undue hardship because many had
family members in other tribes that would smuggle goods to them. Abu Talib's
brother, Abu Lahab, sided with
the Quraysh on this issue; he moved to a house in the district of Abd Shams to
demonstrate support for the Quraysh. He thought Muhammad
was either mad or an impostor.
Protecting Muhammad put
considerable pressure on Abu Talib and the Banu Hashim. In one instance Abu
Talib exclaimed to Muhammad, "Save me and yourself, and do not put a
greater burden on me than I cannot bear." Muhammad responded, "Oh
uncle! By God Almighty I swear, even if they should put the sun in my right
hand and the moon in my left that I abjure this cause, I shall not do so until
God has vindicated it or caused me to perish in the process." Seeing his nephew's
emotion, Abu Talib responded, "Go, nephew, and say what you like. By God,
I will never hand you over for any reason
Death
Abū Ṭālib died around 619 AD, at more than
80 years of age, about 10 years after the start of Muhammad's mission. This year is known
as the Year of Sorrow for
Muhammad, because not only did his uncle Abu Talib die, but also his wife Khadijah bint
Khuwaylid, within a month of Abu Talib.
Before Abu Talib died, Muhammad asked him
to pronounce the Shahadah. In another
tradition Abu Talib was dissuaded from saying the Shahadah by the Quraysh. According to the
historiographer Fred McGraw Donner, both of these traditions have very
old isnads but the first variation has two
different isnads which might suggest that the second variation is a
modification of the older, first variation.
In yet another variation of Abu Talib's
death, Al-'Abbās, who was sitting next to Abu Talib as he died, saw Abu Talib
moving his lips. Al-'Abbās claimed that Abu Talib had said the shahada but
Muhammad replied that he had not heard it.
After Abu Talib's death, Muhammad was left
unprotected. Abu Talib's brother and successor as the Chief of the family, that
is Abu Lahab, did not protect him, as he was an enemy of Muhammad, so Muhammad
and his followers faced incredible persecution. Muhammad is quoted as
exclaiming, "By God, Quraysh never harmed me so much as after the death of
Abu Talib." The early Muslims
relocated to Abyssinia and then to Medina in order to escape persecution by the
Quraysh.
Views
The memory of Abu Talib is influenced by
political aims of the Sunnis and Shias.The character of
Abu Talib was elemental in the Abbasid-Shia power struggle.
The Abbasids, who
originally claimed to be Shias, worked with non-Arabs to overthrow the Umayyad dynasty, and both tried to
legitimize their claim to power through ancestral relationship to Muhammad. The Abbasids traced
their ancestry to Al-Abbas ibn
Abd al-Muttalib, while the Alids traced their ancestry to 'Ali, son
of Abu Talib. Therefore, in order to assert their credibility, the Abbasids
(who embraced Sunni Islam) tried to discredit Abu Talib by emphasizing that he
died a pagan
Shia
Shias believe that the
father of the first Imam, Ali, must be nearly as great as the Imam himself. Shia Muslims
praise Abu Talib and see him as a heroic defender of Muhammad. Many sources
from this perspective claim that Abu Talib was indeed Muslim, he just kept his
faith a secret so that he could better protect Muhammad.
In one account, when Abu Talib was ill,
Muhammad fed grapes to him that God forbade unbelievers to eat. This implies
that Abu Talib had accepted Islam despite his outward actions.
Shias also believe that the ancestors of
Abu Talib were Muslims. Abu Talib was a descendant of Isma'il ibn Ibrahim, and Shias believe
that the "divine transmigration of the spirit" is applied to
ancestors as well as descendants.However, according
to the 6th 9th, and 19th Surahs of
the Quran, Ibrahim's ab (أَب, usually 'father'), that is Azar, was a polytheist and disbeliever.
Since the term ab was also used among Arabs for uncles,
certain Shias assert that Azar
was not Abraham's biological father, but his uncle, thus implying that his
biological father was the Biblical figure Terah, who himself was
described as a polytheist.
In addition, when Muhammad married Khadija,
Abu Talib recited the sermon of the marriage. This fact has also been used to
prove Abu Talib's monotheism.
Shias quote several Sunni
sources such as Arjah-ul-Matalib by
Maulana Ubaydullah Bismil which reportedly contains 300 Sunni references on Abu Talib being
a Muslim
Sunni
It is reported in Sunni Islam that the
Quranic verse 28:56 ("O Prophet! Verily, you guide not whom you like, but
Allah guides whom He will") was revealed concerning Abu Talib's rejection
of Islam at the hands of his nephew.
In one account by the
historian Al-Mada'ini, and
widely circulated by the Abbasids, one of two men states, "I wish that Abu
Talib had embraced Islam, for the Apostle of God would have been delighted at
that. But he was an unbeliever.": Along the same lines,
there is a similar account where Ali informs Muhammad of Abu Talib's death by
saying, "Your uncle, the erring old man, has died
Family
Abu Talib was married to Fatimah bint Asad. They had four sons:
·
Ṭālib ibn Abī Ṭālib
·
'Aqīl ibn Abī Ṭālib
(Abu Muslim), married Fatima bint Al-Walid and had many
children: Abu Sa'id, Muslim, Musa, Abdullah, Ramla, Ja'far, Muhammad and Abd al-Rahman
·
Ja'far ibn Abī Ṭālib
(Abu Awn), married Asma bint Umays and had 3 sons: Abdullah, Muhammad and Awn also had a daughter: Na'mi.
·
'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Abu
Hasan), married a number of women,
including Fatimah bint Muhammad. He had many
children like Hassan, Hussain, Abbas, Zainab, Umme Kulsum
and three daughters:
·
Fākhitah bint Abī
Ṭālib (Umm Hani), married Hubayra ibn Abi Wahb and had four sons:
Umar, Fulan, Yusuf, Amr and two daughters: Hani and Ja'dah
·
Jumānah bint Abī
Ṭālib (Umm Sufyan), married Abu Sufyan ibn
al-Harith and had two sons, Sufyan and Ja'far, Ali
·
Rayṭah bint Abī Ṭālib
(Umm Talib), married Awn ibn
Umays and had a son, Talib.
By another wife, Illa, he had a fifth son:
Tulayq ibn Abī Ṭālib
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