He said:
And Allah Most High revealed concerning that group, “Ṣ. By the Qur’an full of reminder (1) —yet those who disbelieve are steeped in pride and dissension” (Ṣ 38:1–2) and the remaining verses. We have already discussed this in the Tafsīr; to Allah belong all praise and favor.
Some of the Shīʿah and other extremists who maintain that Abū Ṭālib died as a Muslim cite al-ʿAbbās’s words in this ḥadīth—“O nephew, by Allah, my brother has uttered the word you told him to say,” meaning: “There is no god but Allah.” The reply to that rests on several points.
First: the chain of transmission contains an unidentified narrator whose status is unknown, namely the phrase “from some of his household.” This anonymity in both name and reliability requires suspension were it standing alone. Indeed, Imām Aḥmad, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Jarīr (1) transmitted a similar account through Abū Usāmah, from al-Aʿmash—ʿAbbād (2) from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās—mentioning the story but omitting al-ʿAbbās’s statement.
Al-Thawrī likewise related it from al-Aʿmash, from Yaḥyā ibn ʿAmārah al-Kūfī, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, again without al-ʿAbbās’s additional words. Al-Tirmidhī narrated it, judged it sound, and so did al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Jarīr as well (3).
The wording preserved by al-Bayhaqī (4)—which he transmitted through al-Thawrī, from al-Aʿmash, from Yaḥyā ibn ʿAmārah, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās—runs as follows:
“Abū Ṭālib fell ill, so Quraysh came, and the Prophet ﷺ came as well. At Abū Ṭālib’s head sat a man (5); Abū Jahl rose to bar him from that place. They complained of him to Abū Ṭālib, who said: ‘My nephew, what is it that you want from your people?’
He replied, ‘Uncle, I desire from them only one word by which the Arabs will submit to them and by which the non-Arabs will pay them tribute—just one word.’
He asked, ‘What is it?’
He answered, ‘There is no god but Allah.’
They exclaimed, ‘Has he made the gods into One God? This is indeed something astounding!’ (Ṣ 38:5). And regarding them Allah revealed, ‘Ṣ. By the Qur’an full of reminder…’ until His saying, ‘It is nothing but fabrication’ (Ṣ 38:1–7).”