Year of Sorrow

The Year of Sorrow (Aam-ul-Huzn) is an Islamic term for a Hijri year that coincided with 619 or 623 CE. It is called so since both Abu Talib and Khadijah—the Islamic prophet Muhammad's uncle and first wife, respectively—died that year.

In Nur-ul-Absar, the author mentions the date of demise of Abu Talib to be the first of Zilqada after the removal of economic sanctions which lasted for 8 months and 21 days.

The privations and hardships endured by the Muslims during the Meccan boycott of the Hashemites had gravely affected the health of both Khadija and Abu Talib. Khadija died within a few days, and Abu Talib's end came a month thereafter.

Famous quotes containing the words year and/or sorrow:

    ‘He hardly drinks a pint of wine,
    And that, I doubt, is no good sign.
    His stomach too begins to fail:
    Last year we thought him strong and hale,
    But now, he’s quite another thing;
    I wish he may hold out till spring.’

    Then hug themselves, and reason thus;
    ‘It is not yet so bad with us.’
    Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

    ‘Stay—stay with us!—rest—thou art
    weary and worn!’—
    And fain was their war-broken soldier to stay;—
    But sorrow return’d with the dawning of morn,
    And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away.
    Thomas Campbell (1774–1844)