Accounts about Abū Ṭālib—whose personal name was ʿAbd Manāf—were transmitted by his son ʿAlī and by Abū Rāfiʿ, the Prophet’s freedman.

Ibn ʿAwn related from ʿAmr ibn Saʿīd that Abū Ṭālib said: “I was at Dhū al-Majāz with my nephew when I became thirsty and complained to him. He struck the ground with his heel, water sprang forth, and I drank.”

One of the Successors observed: “In the pre-Islamic era no one attained leadership without wealth—save Abū Ṭālib and ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah.”

I add: Abū Ṭālib composed excellent poetry that is preserved in the Sīrah and other sources.

The Musnad of Aḥmad records—through Yaḥyā ibn Salamah ibn Kuhayl, from his father, from Ḥabbah al-ʿUrani—that ʿAlī once laughed on the pulpit until his molars showed, and then recounted Abū Ṭālib’s words: “Abū Ṭālib came upon us while I was with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ praying in the valley of Nakhlah. He asked, ‘What are you two doing, my nephew?’ The Messenger of Allah invited him to Islam. He replied, ‘There is nothing wrong with what you are doing, but, by Allah, these buttocks of mine shall never be raised in prostration.’ I laughed, astonished at my father’s remark.”

Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān narrated from his father that Quraysh openly displayed hostility and abuse toward Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. Abū Ṭālib therefore gathered his kin; they stood between the curtains of the Kaʿbah, calling upon Allah against those who had wronged them. Abū Ṭālib prayed: “Our people will not desist from oppressing us, so hasten our victory and bar them from carrying out their plan to kill my nephew.” He then withdrew with his family to the mountain pass.

Ibn Isḥāq said: ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maʿbad told me, on the authority of one of his relatives, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that when the Prophet ﷺ came to Abū Ṭālib he said, “Dear uncle, …”