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Seerah for New Converts

The Year of Grief: Prophet Muhammad Loses His Wife & Uncle

(Part 9)

Discovering Islam Team
30 May, 2019

After converting to Islam, most converts long for their close family and friends to also discover the beauty of Islam. One of the most difficult experiences they go through is seeing their loved ones leave this world without becoming Muslim.

Brother Abdel Raheem Green, a British convert to Islam, recalls in this video a personal experience when his father was on his deathbed. He had spent many years trying to convince him to accept Islam but did not succeed.

One year while he was visiting his parents in Portugal, his father was taken to hospital in a serious condition. So he tried one more time to bring up the subject of Islam. To his amazement, this time his father responded positively. When his son asked if he wanted to say the Shahadah, his father nodded his head.

Just before Abdul Raheem returned to the UK, he visited his father for the last time. His father said:

“Give me something easy to do.”

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So Abdul Raheem responded:

“Repeat over and over that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger.”

His father repeated these words for half an hour. He died three days later.

The next day, Abdul Raheem left for the UK, where he leaned that his father had passed away. To his great relief, his father had passed away after accepting Islam.

But this is not always the case with many converts to Islam.

The Prophet’s Uncle on His Deathbed

Even Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) could not convince Abu Talib, his beloved uncle, to accept Islam.

After the end of the three-year embargo mentioned in Part 8, Muslims returned to their homes in Makkah. Following this challenging ordeal, many returned in very poor health, including Abu Talib, who was then around 80 years old.

By this stage, it was the tenth year after the start of the revelation of the Quran. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) tried one last time to encourage his uncle to say the Shahadah. He said:

My uncle, you just make a profession that there is no true god but Allah, and I will bear testimony before Allah (of your being a believer).

And he would have done so, had it not been for the influence of Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab. Both men were also present at Abu Talib’s deathbed, and said to him:

“Abu Talib, would you abandon the religion of ‘Abdul-Muttalib?”

They kept diverting him from saying the Shahadah and, unfortunately, they succeeded. He died without saying it.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was very sad to see his uncle pass away without declaring his faith. But Allah (SWT) reminded him that guidance is not in his hands:

Indeed [O Muhammad], you do not guide whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills. And He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. (28:56)

This was a great loss to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). His uncle had protected him for the previous ten years. After the death of Abu Talib, the Quraish increased their persecution of the Prophet (peace be upon him) as never before.

Lady Khadijah Returns to Her Lord

Within 40 days of the death of Abu Talib, Prophet Muhammad’s beloved wife also passed away. She was 65 years old at the time and her health had suffered greatly from the three-year boycott.

While the Prophet’s uncle was his strongest support in Makkah, Lady Khadijah was his closest friend and gave him full support at home. He loved her so much, as she was the first to believe in him and supported him with all her heart.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

She believed in me when no one else did. She embraced Islam when people disbelieved me. And she helped and comforted me in her person and wealth when there was no one else to lend me a helping hand. I had children from her only. (The Sealed Nectar)

The death of Lady Khadijah left the Prophet (peace be upon him) lonely. He was not seen smiling for several months after her death. Her memory was always alive in his mind, even many years later after he migrated to Madinah.

But the hardships did not end there for our beloved Prophet. He (peace be upon him) now had no protection in Makkah. For this reason, he decided to go to the city of Ta’if to invite its people to Islam.

What happened there?

This will be detailed in the next part of this series in sha’ Allah.

So please stay tuned…

Seerah For New Converts (Special Folder)

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Suggested Activities for New Converts Following this Series

1- Converts and Non-Muslim Parents, Family & Friends

It is often not easy for new converts to Islam to deal with their non-Muslim parents, relatives and friends who oppose their conversion to Islam.

2- Understanding Allah’s Guidance

Allah (SWT) gave us the freedom to believe or disbelieve in Him, and He guides those who are searching for the Truth. One of His beautiful names is Al-Hadi (The Guide), and He guides those who are sincere to His Straight Path.

For more background on God’s guidance, please check the following resources:

3- New Converts & Marriage in Islam

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was married to Lady Khadijah for 25 years. His marriage was a very happy one, and the main objective of marriage in Islam is for Muslims to live a life of love, peace, and serenity.

Please check these resources for further useful details for new converts to Islam:

4- Send us your questions on this series to: [email protected]

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Series Background

As this is a special series for new converts to learn about Islam in a comprehensive way through learning the Seerah (Biography of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) in a gradual chronological way, we will add a few more resources of other areas of Islamic knowledge in each part of the Seerah at the end of each article as extra learning resources.

We will add new videos to this series as we progress from Year 1 to Year 23 in sha’ Allah.

The references we use in each article are given for further details, so please feel free to send us any questions you may have to this e-mail: [email protected].

You may also wish to join our Facebook Group, Islam 101, for further learning and also to interact with fellow new converts and those who are new to Islam here.

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Article References:

The Sealed Nectar – Sheikh Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarkpuri

Seerah of Prophet Muhammad – 19: The Year of Sorrow: Death of Khadijah & Abu Talib (Video by Dr. Yasir Qadhi)