عام الحزن

The tenth year of prophethood brought two deaths in close succession that the Prophet ﷺ named Aam al-Huzn — the Year of Sorrow. Abu Talib, his uncle and guardian since childhood, died first — the man whose tribal authority had shielded the entire prophetic mission from physical elimination for over a decade. Khadijah, the first Muslim and his wife of twenty-five years, followed within weeks. Together, these losses removed both the political anchor and the domestic anchor of the Prophet's ﷺ life in Mecca. The Quraysh tested the new situation immediately: a man threw dirt on the Prophet's ﷺ head in the street within days of Abu Talib's death. The Prophet ﷺ was without a tribal protector — the most dangerous social condition in Meccan Arabia. He sought a new patron and was refused by two Qurayshi leaders before Mut'im ibn Adi, who had helped end the boycott of Banu Hashim, agreed to extend his formal protection. The Prophet ﷺ also made the journey to Taif, seeking support from the Thaqif tribe — the second major city within reach. He was mocked by their leaders and driven out by their servants with stones, reaching the city's outskirts with bleeding feet. He sat beneath a grapevine and prayed one of the most intimate prayers in the seerah, asking Allah's protection in words that revealed the depth of his reliance on Allah alone. On the return from Taif, at Nakhla, a group of jinn heard the Prophet ﷺ reciting Quran in the night prayer, listened, and accepted Islam — an encounter recorded in Surah al-Ahqaf and Surah al-Jinn. The Year of Sorrow concluded with the Isra' wal-Mi'raj — the night journey to Jerusalem and the ascent through the heavens — which classical scholars understand as a divine mercy given to the Prophet ﷺ at the nadir of his earthly circumstances. The deaths and rejections of the Year of Sorrow closed the Meccan phase and forced the opening of what would become the Medinan mission: the search for a new base led eventually to six men from Yathrib hearing the message during the pilgrimage season and carrying it home.