'Abdullah and Aminah

'Abd al-Muttalib chose for 'Abdullah a bride from a noble family: Aminah bint Wahb, of the Quraysh clan of Banu Zuhrah, whose father was its chief. The marriage brought together two respected houses of Makkah, and the young couple began their life together.

Not long after, 'Abdullah set out with a trade caravan to Syria. On the way back he fell ill and stopped in Yathrib with his father's maternal relatives of Banu al-Najjar to rest, while the caravan went on without him. He never recovered. He died there, at about twenty-five, and was buried in Yathrib.

Aminah was expecting a child. What 'Abdullah left behind was modest: a few camels, a small flock of sheep, and a servant named Barakah, later known as Umm Ayman, who would care for his son and remain devoted to him all her life. The child would come into the world an orphan.