al-Abwa

Al-Abwa: a site between Mecca and Medina, where Amina bint Wahb, the mother of the Prophet ﷺ, died on her way back from Yathrib to Mecca (the death of Amina). ^{2 3}. Al-Idrisi mentions it as a station on the pilgrimage road, about twenty-seven miles from al-Juhfa. ⁴.

The book says that after a month Amina set out from Yathrib to return to Mecca, that illness overtook her at the start of the road and pressed upon her, and that she died at al-Abwa between Mecca and Medina. Abd al-Muttalib then took the boy back to Mecca. ^{2 5 6}.

The book does not mention her grave or a later visit by the Prophet to it. What the hadith books report of his visiting his mother's grave needs a source that can be read and quoted.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed W. Montgomery Watt, describes al-Abwa' as a place on the road from Mecca to Medina, 23 miles from al-Juhfa in the territory of the Banu Damra of Kinana. Some authorities say the name really belonged to a mountain there. Muhammad's mother Amina is commonly said to have died at al-Abwa' on her way back from Medina to Mecca and to be buried there, though some say she was buried in Mecca (al-Tabari). The first expedition from Medina in which Muhammad himself took part was to al-Abwa' and the nearby Waddan. When the Meccans marched on Medina in 3/625, some proposed to dig up Amina's body, but most opposed this. ⁷