In approximately 616 AD, the Quraysh oligarchy imposed a total economic and social boycott on the Banu Hashim and Banu Muttalib clans who were protecting Muhammad. The boycott document was hung inside the Ka’ba: no Meccan would sell to, buy from, marry into, or socially interact with these clans. The Muslims and their protectors were forced to withdraw to a mountain pass (Shi’b Abi Talib) outside Mecca for approximately three years, surviving on minimal supplies smuggled to them by sympathizers. The boycott ended ~619 AD when several Quraysh leaders, conscience-stricken, tore down the boycott document (reportedly discovering it had been eaten by worms except for the opening words ‘In your name, O Allah’). This same year Muhammad lost his two greatest protectors: his uncle Abu Talib (who had sheltered him despite never converting) and his wife Khadijah. Islamic tradition calls 619 AD the ‘Year of Sorrow’ (Am al-Huzn).