you, offer her greetings from her Lord, and give her glad tidings of a palace of jewels in Paradise  where  there is no noise and no toil.”
These two painful events took place within a short lapse of time and added a lot to his grief and  suffering. The Makkans now openly declared their campaign of torture and oppression. The Prophet
(Peace be upon him) lost all hope of bringing them back to the right path, so he set out for Al-Ta’if  seeking a supportive atmosphere. But there too, he was disappointed and he sustained unbearable  tortures and maltreatment that far outweighed his miserable situation in his native town.
His Companions were on equal footing subjected to unspeakable torture and unbearable oppression to  such an extent that his closest friend, Abu Bakr, to escape pressure, fled out of Makkah and wanted to  leave for Abyssinia (Ethiopia) if it were not for Ibn Ad-Daghanah who met him at Bark Al-Ghamad and  managed to dissuade him from completing his journey of escape and brought him back under his  protection.
Tdeath of Abu Talib rendered the Prophet (Peace be upon him) vulnerable, and the polytheists availed  them of that opportunity to give free rein to their hatred and highhandedness and to translate them in  terms of oppression and physical tortures. Once an insolent Quraishite intercepted him and sprinkled  sand on his head. When he arrived home, a daughter of his washed the sand away and wept. “Do not  weep, my daughter. Allâh will verily protect your father.” The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said.
Rapid succession of misfortunes, led the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to call that period, ‘the year of  grief and mourning’. Thenceforth, that year bore that appellation.
HIS MARRIAGE TO SAWDA IN SHAWWAL, THE TENTH YEAR OF PROPHETHOOD :
The death of Khadijah left the Prophet (Peace be upon him) lonely. The name of Sawdah was  suggested  to him for marriage which he accepted. This lady had suffered many hardships for the sake of Islam.
She was an early convert to the Islamic Faith and it was by her persuasion that her husband had  embraced Islam. On the second emigration to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Sawdah had accompanied her  husband As-Sakran bin ‘Amr. He died on their way back to Makkah leaving her in a terrible state of  destitution. She was the first woman for the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to marry after the death of
Khadijah. Some years later she granted her turn with the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to her co-wife,
‘Aishah.