Table of Contents
A Journey Ends on Earth, Begins in the Heart
The death of Aminah bint Wahb, the mother of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, was one of the earliest and most painful trials in his life. He was still a very young child when he faced this loss. This event shaped his early years and forms an important part of understanding his Seerah and his deep empathy for the weak and the grieving.
In this chapter we focus on the final journey of Aminah, the place and manner of her death, the impact on the young child Muhammad ﷺ, and how this early pain relates to Allah’s special care for him.
The Prophet ﷺ lost both his father and his mother at a very young age. Allah deprived him of parental care in this world but surrounded him with His own direct care and protection.
The Journey to Yathrib
After the Prophet’s father, Abdullah, died before his birth, Aminah raised her child in Makkah under the general protection of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib. When Muhammad ﷺ reached around six years of age, Aminah decided to travel with him to Yathrib, which would later be known as Madinah.
Yathrib was the place where the family of Aminah came from and where the father of the Prophet ﷺ was buried. According to narrations, she wished to visit her relatives from Banu Najjar and also to visit the grave of her late husband, Abdullah, whom she had lost while she was still pregnant.
Ibn Sa‘d reports that Aminah traveled with her young son Muhammad ﷺ and their loyal servant and caretaker, Umm Ayman Barakah رضي الله عنها. They stayed in Yathrib for about a month. During this time, the young child Muhammad ﷺ experienced another environment and people from his extended family, but he was also introduced to the memory of his father, who had already passed away.
In some narrations, it is mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ later remembered this journey and recalled scenes from Yathrib, which helps explain why he had a special attachment to Madinah even before Hijrah. The land that would one day become the City of the Prophet was connected for him to both family and loss from a very early age.
The Return and the Death at Abwa’
On the way back from Yathrib to Makkah, something unexpected and deeply painful took place. Aminah fell ill during the journey. The caravan stopped in a place between Makkah and Madinah known as Al-Abwa’. It is here that her illness became severe and she passed away.
Many scholars of Seerah, such as Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham, mention that Muhammad ﷺ was about six years old when this occurred. He was present when his mother died and was buried. The child who had already never seen his father now stood by his mother’s grave, left in the world without parents.
The place of her burial, Al-Abwa’, remained known and remembered. The Prophet ﷺ later passed by this place on journeys and remembered his mother with tenderness and emotion. Muslim narrates that the Prophet ﷺ once visited his mother’s grave and wept, and those around him were moved to tears by his weeping. In one narration:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ، قَالَ زَارَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ قَبْرَ أُمِّهِ، فَبَكَى، وَأَبْكَى مَنْ حَوْلَهُ
Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه reported: "The Prophet ﷺ visited the grave of his mother, and he wept and caused those around him to weep."
(Sahih Muslim)
This shows that the memory of that day at Abwa’ stayed with him throughout his life. The Seerah is not only a sequence of events, it is a story of very human pain, love, and remembrance.
The Child Left an Orphan
With the death of Aminah, the Prophet ﷺ became a complete orphan. His father had died before his birth. Now his mother died when he was still small and completely dependent. The Quran reminds the Prophet ﷺ of this state, not to hurt him, but to console him and to show how Allah took care of him through all stages of life:
أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى
"Did He not find you an orphan and give you shelter?"
(Surah Ad-Duha 93:6)
This verse is both a reminder and a comfort. The Arabic word for orphan, "yateem," refers to the one who has lost his father before reaching maturity. But in the case of the Prophet ﷺ, he lost both his father and his mother in childhood. This made his worldly situation very weak, yet it highlighted Allah’s special care and selection.
After his mother’s death, the care of the young Muhammad ﷺ was taken up by his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib. This will be discussed in the next chapter. What we focus on here is that the absence of parents became part of the divine preparation of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He was not raised to rely on family power, wealth, or social status. Instead, he was taught from the beginning to rely on Allah alone.
One of the wisdoms in the Prophet ﷺ being an orphan is that his strength, success, and leadership could never be credited to powerful parents or inherited privilege. It is a sign that his support was purely from Allah.
Emotional Dimensions and Mercy
The Seerah does not give us detailed conversations from that day at Abwa’, but the later hadith about his tears at his mother’s grave tells us clearly that he never forgot her. His tears show that feeling grief, remembering parents, and being moved by their memory is natural and human.
In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ mentioned that he had asked Allah permission to visit his mother’s grave and this permission was granted. He also mentioned that he asked permission to seek forgiveness for her, and this was not granted. Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
اسْتَأْذَنْتُ رَبِّي أَنْ أَسْتَغْفِرَ لَهَا فَلَمْ يُؤْذَنْ لِي، وَاسْتَأْذَنْتُهُ أَنْ أَزُورَ قَبْرَهَا فَأُذِنَ لِي
"I asked my Lord for permission to seek forgiveness for her, but He did not permit me. And I asked Him for permission to visit her grave, and He permitted me."
(Sahih Muslim)
From this, scholars derived rulings related to seeking forgiveness for those who died upon disbelief. However, in the context of our chapter, the main point is the human and emotional side. He longed to benefit his mother and to connect with her, and his eyes wept when he stood at her grave.
This experience of deep loss and helplessness helped form the Prophet ﷺ into the most merciful and compassionate of all people. Allah described him:
لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
"There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer. He is concerned over you and to the believers he is kind and merciful."
(Surah At-Tawbah 9:128)
He understood from personal experience what it meant to feel alone, unprotected, and in pain. This personal history is part of what made him so gentle with orphans, widows, the weak, and the distressed.
Lessons for Believers from Aminah’s Death
The death of Aminah was not only a family tragedy, it is also a source of lessons for all who study the Seerah.
One important lesson is that greatness and closeness to Allah do not depend on having easy beginnings, comfortable childhoods, or complete family support. The best of creation ﷺ began life with hardship, loss, and vulnerability.
Another lesson is the honor of caring for orphans and the emotionally wounded. The Prophet ﷺ experienced orphanhood himself and later gave special attention to the rights of orphans. He said:
أَنَا وَكَافِلُ الْيَتِيمِ فِي الْجَنَّةِ هَكَذَا
"I and the one who cares for an orphan will be in Paradise like this."
He then held his two fingers together.
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
His words are more powerful when we remember that he had once stood alone as a child by his mother’s grave, in need of someone to care for him.
A further lesson is that believers are allowed to grieve. Tears do not mean a lack of faith. The Prophet ﷺ wept for his mother when visiting her grave and wept on other occasions as well. What Islam teaches is control of the tongue and heart, avoiding words of anger against Allah or despair, while allowing the natural expression of sadness through tears.
Finally, the death of Aminah reminds us that Allah’s plan often contains pain, but that pain is never without wisdom. Through every loss, Allah was preparing His Messenger ﷺ for the heavy responsibility of carrying revelation to humanity.
Studying the death of Aminah is not simply learning a historical event. It is recognizing that Allah sometimes removes worldly supports in order to attach a person’s heart only to Him.
In the next chapter, we will see how the young orphan Muhammad ﷺ came under the care of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib and how Allah continued to guide and protect him through every stage of his early life.