The years that followed the deaths of Khadījah bint Khuwaylid and Abū Ṭālib mark one of the most pivotal and spiritually profound periods in the life of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ. These events, which occurred approximately three years before the Hijrah, initiated a sequence of trials and divine gifts through which the Prophet’s absolute trust in Allah, tawakkul, was not only demonstrated but perfected. Early Muslim historians describe this year as a time in which calamities descended upon him in succession: the death of Khadījah, his most faithful companion and supporter in Islam, and the passing of Abū Ṭālib, the uncle who had shielded and defended him for nearly ten years of public preaching. With their departure, the Prophet ﷺ lost both the internal comfort of his household and the external protection of tribal authority. In human terms, he was left without worldly support.
Khadījah’s influence in the earliest years of the mission was foundational. She was the first to believe, the first to console, and the first to recognise the gravity of the revelation. In moments of distress, she offered clarity; in moments of fear, reassurance; and in moments of challenge, unwavering encouragement. Her home had been a sanctuary, a place where the Prophet ﷺ found peace, emotional refuge, and unreserved affirmation. Her death removed the closest earthly companion he had known since the dawn of revelation.
Abū Ṭālib’s passing, which followed shortly thereafter, deprived him of a different but equally vital form of support. Though Abū Ṭālib did not embrace Islam, his protection of the Prophet ﷺ was fierce and steadfast. As a respected elder of Quraysh, he had restrained the tribe’s aggression, ensuring that no individual or faction could harm his nephew without facing the consequences of violating tribal honour. When he died, this restraint vanished. The Prophet ﷺ was exposed to open hostility. Persecutions intensified. Insults and physical threats, previously curbed by tribal custom, now became more brazen. In losing Abū Ṭālib, he lost the last barrier between himself and the unmitigated hostility of Quraysh.
It is within this context that the journey to Ṭā’if occurred, a journey which reveals with stark clarity the depth of the Prophet’s reliance upon Allah. He travelled to Ṭā’if seeking an alternative base for his message, hoping that its leaders might provide support or at least openness to the truth. Instead, he encountered a reception harsher than any he had known in Makkah. The leaders rejected him with scorn, encouraged their followers to ridicule him, and allowed mobs to chase him out of the town, hurling stones until his feet bled. In later years, when asked whether he had faced a day more difficult than the battle of Uḥud, he recalled this moment as the hardest he had endured from his people. He described walking away in deep sorrow, hardly aware of his own direction, until he found himself in a distant valley.
It was in that valley, surrounded by rejection and stripped of earthly support, that Allah sent the angel Gabriel to inform him that his Lord had witnessed everything that had been said and done to him. The Angel of the Mountains was offered to him with the power to crush the town that had rejected him so cruelly. Yet the Prophet ﷺ refused, responding instead with one of the most beautiful affirmations of hope and trust in divine decree. He expressed his desire that, from the descendants of these very people, Allah might bring forth believers who would worship Him alone. In that moment, he did not seek vengeance, nor did he despair; he turned entirely to Allah in patience, mercy, and reliance, embodying tawakkul in its purest form.
This period of earthly loss was followed by a momentous divine gift: the Night Journey and Ascension, known as the Isrā’ and Miʿrāj. Classical Muslim scholars regard the timing of this miracle as deeply significant. At the very point when the Prophet ﷺ appeared abandoned in worldly terms, Allah opened for him the unseen realms. He was taken by night from Makkah to Jerusalem, and from there ascended through the heavens, meeting previous prophets and witnessing the signs of the divine presence. This ascent was both a consolation and a reaffirmation: that while people on earth may reject or oppose him, in the heavens he is honoured; that although worldly supporters have died, divine support is ever-present; and that his mission stands in continuity with the missions of all the prophets before him. It was during this ascent that the five daily prayers were prescribed, a lifelong reminder of the spiritual elevation granted to the believers through the act of turning to Allah.
Gradually, divine openings began to unfold on earth as well. During the pilgrimage seasons, groups of individuals from Yathrib encountered the Prophet ﷺ and embraced Islam. Their acceptance was sincere and free of the hostility that characterised Makkan society. This initial group pledged to uphold moral principles and to spread the message among their people. The following year, a larger group returned with a pledge not only of faith but also of protection, mirroring, in many ways, the political and physical support once provided by Abū Ṭālib. This event, known as the Second Pledge of al-ʿAqabah, became the foundation for a new communal order and the embryo of what would become the first Muslim society.
The Hijrah that followed was the culmination of years of patience, reliance, and divine preparation. As Quraysh plotted to assassinate the Prophet ﷺ, he and Abū Bakr made their way to the cave of Thawr. When Abū Bakr expressed fear that their pursuers might discover them, the Prophet ﷺ calmed him with words that have echoed across centuries: “Do not grieve; Allah is certainly with us.” This reassurance captures the essence of the journey from Makkah to Madīnah: it was not merely a physical migration but a spiritual proclamation that when the servant relies fully upon Allah, no earthly power can thwart divine decree.
Looking back over this period, one can discern a profound spiritual logic. Allah removed from the Prophet ﷺ every form of human support, first Khadījah, then Abū Ṭālib, so that his heart might become attached to none but Him. He allowed him to taste the bitterness of rejection in Ṭā’if so that his trust might rise beyond the reach of human acceptance or rejection. Then, in response to this perfected reliance, Allah granted him spiritual elevation through the Isrā’ and Miʿrāj and worldly support through the pledges of Madīnah. The sequence of events forms a spiritual arc: loss, surrender, divine nearness, and eventual victory.
In this way, the period between the deaths of Khadījah and Abū Ṭālib and the Hijrah stands not only as a historical chapter in the Prophet’s life but also as a universal lesson in the nature of faith. It teaches that genuine tawakkul flourishes not when life is easy, but when the supports we rely upon are taken from us; and that the greatest divine openings often emerge precisely from the depths of human vulnerability. Through this period, the Prophet ﷺ modelled for the entire ummah the path of trusting in Allah unreservedly, and this trust became the seed from which the civilisation of Islam would grow.
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