Death anniversary of the Master of Batha’ and the believer of Quraysh; Abu Taleb (peace be upon him).

According to some narrations, on the 26th Rajab in the tenth year of the prophetic mission, the sorrows of the Holy Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) were renewed as the his guardian and his first defender; his beloved uncle Abu Taleb (peace be upon him) passed away as a result of the long suffering caused by the siege of Quraych on them, while he was defending the Messenger of Allah (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household), who was deeply sad as he lost his loyal supporter and the advising uncle, which made him call that year "the year of sorrows" and has ordered his son Ali Ibn Abi Taleb to perform his funeral rituals and buried him in Al-Hujun in Mecca.

It is narrated from Imam Ali (peace be upon him) that he said: "When Abu Taleb died, I informed the Messenger of Allah (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) of his death, so his eyes began to flow with tears. After he wiped off his tears, he ordered me in a sad voice saying: "Go to wash him, enshroud him and bury him! May Allah forgive him and have mercy upon him." After Ali had washed his dead father and the body of the supporter of Islam had been carried on the shoulders of the men, Ali came back to tell the Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) who stood up in front of the body of his uncle to escort him with signs of praise and glorification and to be sincere to his favors he had done to Islam. The Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) said: "O uncle! Mercy may be upon you and you may be rewarded with good. You brought me up and adopted me when I was a child and you assisted and supported me when I became a man."

The Holy Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) participated in the funeral until his uncle was buried then he said: "By Allah, I will pray Allah to forgive you and I will intercede for you that the mankind and the jinn will be surprised."

Then Imam Ali (peace be upon him) saw the Prophet (Allah’s prayers be upon him and upon his holy Household) standing in front of his father's body; praising him with the best of words, his tears coming down from his eyes and the sighs of pain stumbling in his chest.

Days passed. The Prophet (Allah’s prayers be upon him and upon his holy Household) became so distressed. Difficult conditions surrounded him from every side. He became in a critical situation. He began to sigh with complaint and pain for the great loss of his kind uncle.

The image of Abu Taleb passed by Ali's mind. He remembered his father's brave situation towards the mission and how he had defended and protected the Prophet (Allah’s prayers be upon him and upon his holy Household). His emotions began to boil and the thorn of his inner pain began to sting him. Tears came down of his eyes while uttering these verses of poetry:

O Abu Taleb! The shelter of resorters!

The rain for barren lands!

The light in darkness!

Losing you undermined us.

Allah may have mercy upon you Allah may please you; that you were a good uncle for al-Mustafa.



And Abu Taleb is: Abtahi, Makki Qurashi, his name is Abd Manaf son of Abd Al-Muttalib son of Hashem son of Abd Manaf son of Qusay son of Kilab son of Murrah son of Ka'b son of Loay son of Ghalib son of Fahr son of Malik son of Al-Nadar son of Kinana son of Khuzayma son of Mudrika son of Elias son of Mudar son od Nizar son of Ma'd son of Adnan. His wife is Fatima daughter of Asad son of Hashem son of Ab Manaf. He had four sons who are: Taleb, 'Aqeel, Ja'far and Ali, each of them is ten years elder than his brother.

This the family of Abu Taleb, which house was the most prestigious houses in Mecca. This solemn house was respected by Quraysh, as he was their undisputed master that they were respecting, obeying and revering. And in the circumstance of the Prophetic Mission, Abu Taleb was the protector of the Messenger of Allah (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) and his defender from the attacks of Quraysh that tried to prevent the dissemination of the Islamic message by targeting the person of the Holy Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household). But Abu Taleb supported him secretly to prevent any takeover from the unbelievers and leaders of Quraysh, which would not enable Abu Taleb to control things like he used to from his status of tribe's leader, which he used to protect the establishment of a solid base for the Mohammadian message.

Some of those who have no experience in history or fairness in the investigation either of ignorance or of enmity to Ahl Al-Bayt (peace be upon them), claimed that "Mu'min [The believer of] Quraysh" died as a polytheist based on the false allegations that ignore the obvious evidences of the Islam and the strong belief of Abu Taleb. A great injustice from some Muslims to this great man who defended the Islam and the Holy Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) with all he had. There are many proofs of his Islam, we mention some of them:

1- The Messenger of Allah (prayer and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) said: "What is wrong with people who harm me in my fathers and my relatives? He who harms my fathers and my relatives, harms me, and he who harms me harms the Almighty God."

2- The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said: "By Allah! Neither my father nor my grandfathers Abdul Muttalib, Hashem or Abd Manaf had worshiped an idol at all. They offered prayers towards the House (the Kaaba) according to the religion of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), to whose beliefs they had kept."

3- Imam Mohammad Al-Baqer (peace be upon him) said: If the faith (Imaan) of Abu Taleb is put in a scale against the faith of all people, the faith of Abu Taleb will be more weighty. Don’t you know that the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) used to send people to perform Hajj on behalf of Abdullah and Aaminah (Prophet’s parents) and Abu Taleb as long as Imam Ali was alive , then He made a will to continue that after His death). [It is obvious that Hajj can only performed on behalf of Muslims.]

4- Once someone asked Imam Ja'far As-Sadeq (peace be upon him): "People pretend that Abu Taleb is in Hell!" Imam As-Sadeq (peace be upon him) said: "They tell but lies! Gabriel had never revealed such a thing." Then he added: "The example of Abu Taleb was like the example of the Fellows of the Cave; they concealed their faith and announced polytheism and so Allah rewarded them doubly. Abu Taleb also concealed his faith and announce polytheism so Allah rewarded him doubly ... He didn't leave this worldly life until he was told that he would be in Paradise ... How do they describe him so? Gabriel had come down in the night when Abu Taleb died and said: "O Muhammad! Go out of Mecca! You have no supporter in it after Abu Taleb."

5- Imam Musa Al-Kadhem (peace be upon him) was asked by Durst bin Abu Mansoor about Abu Taleb. The asker didn't ask about the faithfulness of Abu Taleb because this was certain for him but he asked about something above the faithfulness. He asked: "Was the Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) submissive to Abu Taleb?" Imam Al-Kadhem (peace be upon him) said: "No! But he (Abu Taleb) was the depositee of the precepts and then he delivered them to him (to the Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household)).

The man asked: "Did he deliver the precepts to the Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) as if the Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) was submissive to him?" Imam Al-Kadhem (peace be upon him) said: "If the Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) was submissive to him, he wouldn't deliver the precepts to him!" The man asked: "Then what about Abu Taleb?" Imam Al-Kadhem (peace be upon him) said: "He believed in the Prophet (prayers and Allah's peace be upon him and his holy Household) and in his mission and so he delivered the precepts to him.")

6- One day Imam Ali was in the yard of the mosque surrounded by the people, when a man of those, who had heard the fabricated traditions until he became confused between the truthfulness and the falseness, came to him and said: "O Ameerul Mo'mineen! You are in this high position, which Allah has put you in, while your father has been tortured in Hell ...?"

Imam Ali's face reddened with anger about what lies the Umayyads had been fabricating. He answered the man: "Hush up! May Allah shut your mouth! By Allah, who had sent Muhammad as Prophet, if my father would intercede for every guilty on the earth, Allah would respond to his intercession! Has my father been tortured in hell whereas his son is the diviner between (the people of) Paradise and Hell? The light of Abu Taleb, in the Day of Resurrection, will put out the lights of all the creatures except five lights ..."

7- Imam Ali ar-Redha (peace be upon him) received a letter from Abaan Bin Mahmood writing that he has a doubt about Abu Taleb whether he was a Muslim or not. Imam Ali ar-Redha (peace be upon him) wrote to him this Quranic verse: (And whoever contradicts and opposes the messenger and takes a way different from the way of the believers, we will leave him with whom he is following and cast him hell and it is the worst destination) (4:115) then Imam wrote to him: If you do not believe that Abu Taleb was a believer, your destination will be in the fire.