—so the Messenger ﷺ said to him, “My uncle, say: ‘There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah.’ With this single statement I will plead for you before Allah.” Yet the two Qurayshites beside him were wicked companions. They objected, “Will you turn away from the creed of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib?” Sensing, Allah knows best, that he was about to pronounce the declaration, they repeated, “Will you abandon the creed of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib?” Upon hearing that, pride rooted in sin overcame him and he replied, “I remain upon the creed of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.” Thus his final utterance was a word of polytheism—Allah’s protection is sought—and he died in that state.

The Messenger ﷺ later said that he interceded for him with Allah, so his punishment was lessened: he now stands in a mere shallow pool of the Fire, sunk into it, wearing two sandals of fire from which his brains boil—may Allah protect us. If the brain, the body’s furthest part from the feet, is boiling like a cauldron whose water is set over flames, then what of the organs that lie closer to the fire? Their torment is even more intense. The Prophet ﷺ added, “Had it not been for me, he would have been in the lowest depths of the Fire.”

The lesson here is that the Prophet ﷺ told him plainly, “My uncle, say: ‘There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah.’ ” He did not merely mention Allah’s name in his presence; rather, he bid him to voice the full testimony. Offering someone that testimony is among the greatest, most precious gifts one can present.