The Year of Sorrow (ʿĀm al-Ḥuzn)

Speaker framing: Dr. Yasir Qadhi opens this lecture noting that barely after the Banū Hāshim returned from the Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib, Allah willed three great calamities in the span of two months. Each was its own difficulty, they cannot be ranked against each other. Because of them, the entire year is called ʿĀm al-Ḥuzn (عَامُ الْحُزْن), the Year of Sorrow.

❧THE TWO PILLARS

The Prophet ﷺ lost the two people closest to him within approximately 35–40 days of each other:

1. Abū Ṭālib (أَبُو طَالِب), the external protector. His chieftainship of Banū Hāshim was the Prophet's "visa" for living and preaching safely in Mecca. Without him, the Quraysh could now do openly what they had been forced to hide. He passed away in Shawwāl, Year 10 of Prophethood.

2. Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (خَدِيجَة بِنْت خُوَيْلِد, رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا), the internal supporter. The first believer, the emotional anchor, the one who comforted him from within the home, who spent her wealth on him when all boycotted him. She passed away on the 10th of Ramaḍān, approximately 35 days later.

Ibn al-Jawzī (ابْنُ الْجَوْزِيّ) confirms the two deaths occurred within 40 days of each other.

❧POLITICAL AFTERMATH

With Abū Ṭālib gone, Abū Lahab (أَبُو لَهَب) assumed leadership of Banū Hāshim as the next eldest pagan male. He briefly offered to extend the same protection the Prophet had enjoyed under Abū Ṭālib, but within days, Abū Jahl (أَبُو جَهْل) engineered a trap question about ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib's fate that caused Abū Lahab to withdraw his protection in rage. The Prophet ﷺ was left without any tribal protection in Mecca, which led him to journey to Ṭāʾif.