The Grandfather Who Loved Him Most

When the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ returned from al-Abwa at age six — orphaned for the second time, carried back to Mecca by Umm Ayman after watching his mother buried by the roadside — he entered the care of his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim. For two years, the old chief of Quraysh would become the center of the young Muhammad's world, and the Prophet ﷺ would remember those years for the rest of his life.

Abd al-Muttalib was then in his eighties — old by the standards of sixth-century Arabia. He was the most revered man in Mecca: custodian of the Kaaba, discoverer of the Zamzam well, organizer of the pilgrimage hospitality, and the man who had faced down Abraha's army with the quiet certainty that the Kaaba had a Lord who would protect it. He was surrounded by sons, grandchildren, and the constant attention of the Quraysh. Yet among all his descendants, he singled out the young Muhammad ﷺ for particular love.

The Carpet by the Kaaba

One of the most vivid images preserved in the seerah literature is this: Abd al-Muttalib used to sit on a cushion near the Kaaba — a place of honor that no one else would take, as a mark of his status. His sons and grandchildren would sit around him on the ground, not on his level. The young Muhammad ﷺ would slip through the crowd and sit on his grandfather's cushion with him. His uncles would try to move him, but Abd al-Muttalib would stop them and say: "Leave my son. By Allah, this boy will be destined for great things."

He would stroke the child's back with his hand. He would bring him food with his own hands before eating himself. He was seen watching the boy with an expression of wonder that his companions found remarkable in a man who had seen everything. The scholars of the seerah have preserved this image because it captures something the people of Mecca sensed without being able to articulate: that this orphaned child had something different about him.

Signs Abd al-Muttalib Perceived

Abd al-Muttalib's devotion to his grandson went beyond ordinary affection. The seerah literature records that Abd al-Muttalib was among those who sensed the extraordinary nature of the child he was raising. He had rediscovered the Zamzam well through a dream-vision; he had submitted to the decision of oracles when determining how to fulfill his vow; he had faced the most powerful army in Arabia and stood firm, trusting in a God he understood only through the monotheist thread still alive in his family's tradition. This was a man spiritually attuned.

Some narrations record that Abd al-Muttalib had consulted with the remaining practitioners of the ancient Abrahamic tradition (the hunafa, those who maintained a vague natural monotheism) about the significance of the signs at his grandson's birth, and had been told that this child would be a Prophet. Whether or not this specific account is authentic, the substance of it — that Abd al-Muttalib perceived something extraordinary in Muhammad ﷺ — is supported by his conduct, which the early historians recorded directly.

Two Years of Closeness

The two years the Prophet ﷺ spent under Abd al-Muttalib's direct care (from approximately age six to eight) were formative. The old man showed him Mecca — the Kaaba, the Zamzam well, the hills of Safa and Marwa. He brought him into conversations with the elders of Quraysh. He involved him, at whatever level a child could participate, in the councils and hospitalities that defined Hashimite leadership.

The Prophet ﷺ later spoke of these years with warmth. He mentioned his grandfather in terms of love and gratitude, even while Islamic law would not permit him to pray for his grandfather's forgiveness since Abd al-Muttalib died before Islam. The distinction between personal love and theological judgment — which the Prophet ﷺ navigated with his father, mother, grandfather, and uncle Abu Talib — is one of the most humanly moving aspects of his biography.

Abd al-Muttalib's Death

Abd al-Muttalib died when the Prophet ﷺ was approximately eight years old — approximately 578 CE — having reached an advanced age. The sources give his age at death variously between seventy and over a hundred; the uncertainty reflects the general imprecision of pre-Islamic Arab records for birth years. His death was deeply mourned in Mecca. The Quraysh lost their most respected elder. The young Muhammad ﷺ lost the second parent-figure in two years.

Ibn Hisham and others record that the Prophet ﷺ wept at his grandfather's death — openly, as a child, following the body to the grave. This weeping for his grandfather was later remembered by companions, though the Prophet ﷺ would teach the ummah that excessive wailing at death was not permitted. The child who wept became the Prophet who said: "The eyes weep and the heart grieves, but we do not say anything except what pleases our Lord."

Abu Talib Takes Guardianship

As he lay dying, Abd al-Muttalib entrusted the young Muhammad ﷺ to his son Abu Talib — the full brother of Abdullah, the Prophet's father. This decision was made not on the basis of wealth (for Abu Talib was not the wealthiest of the sons) but on the basis of character and the brotherhood between Abu Talib and the late Abdullah. Abu Talib would protect and cherish his nephew for the next forty-two years, until his own death — surviving threats, boycotts, and pressure from Quraysh to hand over or abandon the Prophet ﷺ, and never yielding.

The succession from Abd al-Muttalib to Abu Talib was seamless in terms of the protection provided, though Abu Talib's household was poorer than his father's. The Prophet ﷺ would later help Abu Talib by taking in one of his sons — Ali ibn Abi Talib — to ease the family's financial burden, just as Abu Bakr's family similarly took in another of Abu Talib's sons. These mutual bonds of care would define the closest relationships of the Prophet's ﷺ life.

An Orphan Three Times Over

With the death of Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet ﷺ had now lost, within eight years of life: his father, his mother, and his grandfather. The Quran's reference — "Did He not find you an orphan and give you refuge?" — encompasses all of this. Each loss was a refuge: first the grandfather when the father was gone, then Umm Ayman and Abd al-Muttalib when Aminah died, and now Abu Talib when Abd al-Muttalib passed. The chain of care was never broken; it was handed from one pair of protecting hands to another, each link divinely arranged.

This trajectory of the Prophet's ﷺ childhood — from birth through orphanhood upon orphanhood — shaped the man who would repeatedly command his followers to care for orphans, who would rank the guardian of an orphan as his companion in Paradise, and who would make the protection of the weak one of the central emphases of his social teaching.

Sources: Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya; Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah; al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari (Kitab al-Jana'iz); Surah ad-Duha (93:6)