IN HIS GREAT speech on the day of ʿArafāt, during his pilgrimage, the Prophet recited to the Muslims the third verse of Sūrah 5, The Repast, which says: “This day I have completed your religion for you, perfected My grace on you, and approved Islam as your religion.” Indeed, that verse was the last to be revealed. One or two of the Prophet’s companions, endowed with keen insight, recognized that it was an announcement of the completion of the Prophet’s mission. They realized that when perfection has been achieved, only imperfection can creep in. No one, however, could imagine that the Prophet’s life was approaching its end. But the Prophet was a human being, distinguished only by the fact that God had chosen him to convey His message to mankind. When the message has been delivered, his role is fulfilled.
Late in the month of Ṣafar, the second month in the Islamic calendar, of the eleventh year of the Islamic era, the Prophet asked Abū Muwayhibah, a servant of his, to accompany him one night to the graveyard of Madinah known as Baqīʿ al-Gharqad. He stood there praying to God to forgive those who were buried in that graveyard, as they had served Islam during their lives. It was an act which showed the Prophet’s love and compassion for those who recognized the truth of Islam and moulded their lives according to it.1
In the morning, the Prophet found his wife ʿĀ’ishah complaining of a headache, but he told her that he also had a very bad headache. Following his habit, the Prophet visited all his wives that day, but he was in pain. Indeed, his illness was getting worse. When he was in Maymūnah’s home, he felt too weak to carry on with his round. He, therefore, sought his wives’ permission to be nursed in ʿĀ’ishah’s home. They all agreed. This showed how the Prophet maintained an exceptional standard of fairness in his treatment of his wives. When they agreed that he might stay in ʿĀ’ishah’s home, he went there supported by two of his cousins.
The Prophet’s illness continued to get worse and he became feverish. He asked to be given a cold bath. He said to his immediate relatives: “Pour on me seven containers of water gathered from several wells.’ ʿĀ’ishah reported that they made him sit in a tub which belonged to Ḥafṣah, another of his wives, and they poured the water on him until he asked them to stop. When he felt that his temperature had gone down, he asked his cousin, al-Faḍl ibn al-ʿAbbās, to take his hand and walk him to the mosque. He sat on the pulpit with a band round his head. He asked him to call the people. They came to listen to the man who had been teaching them what to do in every situation they faced. His address to them was one which stressed that injustice was not admissible in Islam in any way. He put that message in the clearest of forms: “I praise God, the One other than whom there is no deity. If I have ever beaten any of you on his back, let him come and avenge himself by beating me on my back. If I ever abused anyone, let him come and abuse me. To dispute is not part of my nature, nor does it appeal to me. The one of you who is dearest to me is the one who has a right against me and claims it. By so doing, he releases me, and I will be able to meet God with nothing held against me by any person.”
There are more detailed reports of this and other addresses the Prophet made to the people in his illness. Their authenticity is not established absolutely. Their import, however, is in line with the Prophet’s priorities. He was always eager to stress that justice was the main characteristic of Islamic society.
The Prophet stayed indoors as his health gradually deteriorated. On those few occasions when he felt a little better, he went out to the mosque to cast a glance on the community he had moulded and the people he loved. Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, the Prophet’s companion, reports that the Prophet sat one day on the pulpit and said: “A servant of God has been given the choice of taking whatever he wished in this world or being with God. He chose the latter.”
Abū Bakr was in tears as he said: “We sacrifice our parents for your sake, Messenger of God.” The people were amazed as they heard Abū Bakr, an old man by then, making this remark when the Prophet was simply telling them of a choice made by a servant of God. Abū Bakr, however, was the one who recognized that the Prophet meant himself when he referred to that servant of God who was given the choice. The Prophet then said: “The one who has done me the greatest favour in his companionship and out of his wealth is Abū Bakr. Were I to choose a special friend, I would have chosen Abū Bakr. However, I opt for a relationship of Islamic brotherhood with him until God unites us all with Him.”2
Those brief moments when the Prophet felt better made some of his companions feel that his complaint was only temporary. They were sure that he would soon be resuming his struggle for God’s cause, and continue to take good care of the Muslim community. One day, his cousin and son-in-law, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, visited him. When he left, people asked him how the Prophet felt that morning. He said: “I think that he has recovered, praise be to God.”
His uncle, al-ʿAbbās, took him aside and said: “Cannot you realize? In three days it will all be over. I feel that God’s Messenger will soon die as a result of this illness. I have seen men from the ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib household when they were about to die. I would like you to go to God’s Messenger to ask him who will be in charge when he has gone. Should it be one of us we would know, and if he is of a different clan, the Prophet might put in a word on our behalf.”
ʿAlī said to his uncle, who was also the Prophet’s uncle: “If we were to ask God’s Messenger and if he were to deny us authority after him, people would never give it to us in future. By God, I would never ask it of the Prophet.”3
It was clear that al-ʿAbbās referred to the political authority. He was certain that the Prophet was on his deathbed. He had seen many of his relatives when they were about to die, and he recognized that the Prophet was in the same state. Since he was the eldest and most distinguished man in the Hāshimite clan, to which the Prophet belonged, he wanted to know who would be the ruler after the Prophet. It was only natural that al-ʿAbbās should approach ʿAlī in this connection. ʿAlī was the first Hāshimite to accept Islam. Moreover, he was a man of high qualities, loved by people, close to the Prophet and a great servant of the Islamic cause. Hence, he was the natural Hāshimite candidate for the top post if the Prophet were to die. ʿAlī, however, did not wish to approach the Prophet in order that the Muslim nation could make its choice in the normal way. Moreover, ʿAlī’s answer to his uncle showed his keen awareness of the Islamic view with regard to Islamic government. His Islamic instinct must have told him that no single family or clan was to enjoy any perpetual position of authority, not even the Prophet’s own.
Expecting the Inevitable
The atmosphere in Madinah in those final days of the month of Ṣafar and the early days of Rabīʿ al-Awwal of the eleventh year of the Islamic era was a sad one. The Prophet was ill and showed no sign of any improvement in his health. Moreover, there was the added element of expectation, since a Muslim army was being raised for a confrontation with the Byzantine Empire. Every Muslim in Madinah loved the Prophet more than he loved his own children, or indeed himself. It is such a degree of love which faith demands of the believers. Hence, to see him ill and in pain was a very distressing sight for everyone. His illness was getting worse. He suffered a great deal, and those who were around him were very sad to see him suffering. His only surviving daughter, Faṭimah, was very unhappy to see it. She remarked: “How poorly and distressed my father is!” Hearing her, the Prophet said: “Your father will have no distress after this day.”4
The army raised for an expedition against the Byzantines delayed its departure because of the Prophet’s illness. When they heard that there was no improvement in his condition, Usāmah, the army commander, and a number of his soldiers came down to see the Prophet. When they were admitted into his room, they found him unable to speak. Later, Usāmah said that the Prophet raised his hand to heaven and put it on him, so he realized that the Prophet was praying for him.
The Prophet, however, continued to go out into the mosque and speak to the people whenever he had the strength to do so. One day he sat on the pulpit, with a band round his head, and people surrounding him. The first thing he said was that he blessed the people killed at the Battle of Uḥud, which witnessed the first military defeat suffered by the Muslims. He prayed for them at length and repeated his prayers for their forgiveness. He also ordered that all the doors which opened directly from people’s houses into the mosque be closed down, with the exception of the door which opened from Abū Bakr’s home. The Prophet’s reason was that Abū Bakr was his closest companion and the one who had given his all for the service of Islam and the service of the Prophet.
Once he also commended the Anṣār and asked the Muhājirīn to take care of them. He said that the Anṣār would not increase in number as people do: “They have been my dedicated supporters who have given me refuge and support. Be kind to those who are good among them and forgive those who commit errors.”5
It seems that the Prophet sometimes lost consciousness because of his illness. One day there were a number of women in his home, including some of his wives, as well as his uncle al-ʿAbbās. After a discussion of his condition they were agreed to give him some medicine in one of his cheeks. When the Prophet regained consciousness he asked them who had done that to him. They told him that it was his uncle giving him a medicine which was brought from Abyssinia. When he enquired why they had done that to him, al-ʿAbbās said that they feared that he was suffering from pleurisy. He answered: “This is an illness which God would not inflict on me.”6
The Prophet continued to lead the believers in prayers despite his illness. As his condition worsened, however, he was unable to continue to do so. He, therefore gave his order that Abū Bakr should lead the prayers. ʿĀ’ishah, the Prophet’s wife and Abū Bakr’s daughter, did not like her father to take that task. She feared that people would associate her father’s leading the prayer with the Prophet’s illness. She said to the Prophet: “Abū Bakr is a soft man. When he stands in your position he may feel it too hard on him.” The Prophet said: “Tell Abū Bakr to lead the prayers!”
ʿĀ’ishah repeated her objection and the Prophet was angry with her. He said to her: “You women are Joseph’s companions [referring to the incident when certain women dealt cunningly with the Prophet Joseph]. Let Abū Bakr lead the prayers.”
Abū Bakr led the prayers 17 times, which meant three and a half days. Those were days when the Prophet was very ill. He is authentically reported to have said: “I suffer as much as two of you put together.” Yet despite the severity of his illness, the Prophet continued to be alert, his mind always intact, and he continued to show his keenness to establish the main principles of Islam deep in the hearts of his followers. He continued to remind them of the basic principles of his message.7
The worst thing the Prophet feared for his nation was that they should come to attach undue importance and give unwarranted reverence to people or graves or anything else, as followers of other religions have done and still do. He wanted his nation always to maintain its firm belief in the oneness of God, worshipping Him alone. Even when he was in the throes of death, he continued to warn the Muslims against this danger. Both ʿĀ’ishah and Ibn ʿAbbās report: “When God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) was in his illness, he used to put a shirt on his face. If he was breathless, he took it off. One day he said: ‘Confound the Jews and the Christians for having made the graves of their Prophets places of worship’.” That was a clear warning for the Muslims against making the grave of anyone a shrine to which homage is paid.8
Another evil which the Prophet continued to warn his followers against was following one’s caprice or looking on others with contempt. Those who follow their caprice are bound to neglect their prayers, and those who are contemptuous of others are bound to treat their servants, employees and slaves badly. A nation which gives way to such evils is not worthy of life, nor can it contribute anything useful to life. It is bound to be neglected by God in punishment for its offences. Such neglect brings humiliation in this world and suffering in the Hereafter. The Prophet’s fear that his Islamic nation should suffer such evils caused him to repeat warnings against them time after time. On his deathbed, the Prophet continued to draw the attention of the Muslims to the main aspects of good conduct. Anas ibn Mālik reports that on his deathbed the Prophet continued to emphasize the importance of prayers and extending good treatment to slaves. Other reports confirm this, pointing out that the Prophet continued to advise the Muslims with these words: “Attend to prayers; attend to prayers. Do not charge those whom your right hands possess [i.e. your slaves] with what they cannot bear. Fear God in your treatment of women.”9
Prayer and Reassurance
Sometimes the Prophet was very keen to attend the congregational prayers and to see his followers in their worship. He would come out of his room and join them. Ibn ʿAbbās reports that one morning the Prophet came out for the dawn prayers when Abū Bakr had already started. Abū Bakr wanted to leave the leadership of the prayers to the Prophet and join the ranks of the Muslims. The Prophet, however, signalled him to stay in his position. He sat to the left of Abū Bakr and took over the leadership of the prayers, beginning his recitation at the point where Abū Bakr stopped. This meant that Abū Bakr was being led in prayer by the Prophet while he, Abū Bakr, continued to lead the congregational prayers.10
It seems that God wanted to reassure His Messenger that his nation was very firm in its belief in the message of Islam. He enabled him to look at them in their dawn prayer on the Monday when his death occurred. When they had stood in their rows, fully engaged in their worship, and Abū Bakr was reciting the Qur’ān in his melodious voice, the Prophet came out of ʿĀ’ishah’s room and looked at them. When they saw him coming out, they were overjoyed. They started to move in their prayers so that they might enable him to pass. He, however, signalled them to stay in their positions. He was so happy looking at them in their prayers. Anas ibn Mālik reports: “I have never seen God’s Messenger in a better shape than at that time.”11
The Final Moments
The Prophet’s appearance in that prayer gave the Muslims a false impression that he was much better. They thought that he was on his way to complete recovery. That took place on Monday the 12th of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in the eleventh year of the Islamic era. Happy in these hopes, people dispersed to attend to their affairs. Even Abū Bakr sought and obtained the Prophet’s permission to visit those of his family who lived on the outskirts of Madinah. However, those were forlorn hopes, which were soon to be dashed. ʿĀ’ishah reports:
On that day when God’s Messenger went into the mosque he came back and laid down, putting his head in my lap. A man from Abū Bakr’s household [ʿĀ’ishah’s own family] came in carrying a green miswāk [a stick which Arabs used as a toothbrush] in his hand. God’s Messenger looked at him and I realized that he wanted that miswāk. I asked him whether he wanted me to give it to him and he answered in the affirmative. I took it and chewed it a little to make it soft before giving it to the Prophet. He cleaned his teeth with it very strongly and in such a way as I had never seen him do it before. He then put it down. I felt his head getting heavier in my lap. I looked at his face and noticed that his eyes were staring hard. He said in a faint voice: “The Highest Company in Heaven.” I said: “By Him who has sent you with the truth, you have been given a choice and you have made your choice.” God’s messenger (peace be upon him) then passed away.
ʿĀ’ishah is also quoted as saying: “God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) died with his head between my chest and my neck, on my day [meaning that it was her turn, since the Prophet used to spend one day with each of his wives]. I have done no injustice to anyone in that.”12
The Stunning News
The tragic news was soon known and people were stunned. The believers felt that the whole city of Madinah sank into total darkness. They were like young children losing their parents. They did not know what to do. Despite the repeated hints by the Prophet of his impending death and the fact that the Qur’ān mentions that possibility clearly, to lose him was, for his companions, something they could not imagine or visualize. He lived among them as one who was dearer to them than their souls. He was the sun of their lives. His death meant that they had to live in absolute darkness. For the Prophet to be withdrawn from their lives meant to them a vacuum which could never be filled. It was an event which they could not imagine or comprehend. Some of them were physically paralysed, others were dumb, others still made statements which they could not have thought out properly.
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb himself, whose opinions had been confirmed by the Qur’ān on more than one occasion, could not make a proper judgement. He stood up to address the people and said: “Some hypocrites are alleging that God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) has died. God’s Messenger has not died. He has gone to his Lord as Moses had done before and was away from his people for 40 nights. He then returned after people had said that he had died. I swear that God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) shall return and chop off the hands and legs of those who allege that he has died.”
The Realization
As ʿUmar was making his speech, Abū Bakr arrived, having been summoned when the tragic event took place. He paid no attention to anything going on around him until he went into the room of his daughter ʿĀ’ishah, the Prophet’s wife. The Prophet was at one side, covered by a Yemeni robe. Abū Bakr went straight to him and uncovered his face, knelt down and kissed him, saying: “My father and my mother may be sacrificed for your sake. The one death that God has decreed that you shall experience, you have now had. You shall never die again.”
He covered the Prophet’s face and went out to find ʿUmar still speaking to the people. Abū Bakr said to him: “Listen to me.” ʿUmar, however, went on speaking. Abū Bakr, therefore, started to speak to the people. When they realized that it was Abū Bakr, they turned to him and left ʿUmar. Abū Bakr began by praising God and thanking Him for His grace. He then said: “People, if any of you has been worshipping Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is dead. He who worships God knows that God is always alive; He never dies.” He then recited a verse of the Qur’ān which may be translated as follows: “Muhammad is but a messenger before whom other messengers have passed. Should he die or be slain, would you turn back on your heels? He who turns back on his heels shall do God no harm. God shall reward those who give thanks to Him.” (3: 144)
When people heard Abū Bakr reciting that verse of the Qur’ān, they seemed as if they had never heard it before. They had indeed heard it repeatedly, and they repeated it then.
ʿUmar said: “When I heard Abū Bakr reciting that verse I was stunned and perplexed. I fell down to the ground, feeling that my legs could not support me. I realized, however, that God’s Messenger was dead.”13
Some years later, ʿUmar explained to Ibn ʿAbbās as the two were walking together why he said what he said on that day. He told him that reading the Qur’ānic verse – “We have made you a middle nation so that you may bear witness against mankind and the Prophet may bear witness against you” (2: 143) – he thought that the Prophet would remain alive in order to witness the actions of his nation for as long as human life continues.
It is only understandable that people should be stunned by the news of the Prophet’s death. It was also to be expected that Abū Bakr, the first man to accept Islam and the closest to the Prophet of all his companions, should be the one who reminded the Muslim community of the very basic fact that God’s Messenger was an ordinary human being and that he would ultimately die as every human being would die.14
The Final Preparations
The next thing to be done was to prepare the Prophet’s body for burial. His body needed to be washed like every dead person. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, the Prophet’s cousin, and al-ʿAbbās’s two sons, al-Faḍl and Qutham, as well as Usāmah ibn Zaid and Shaqrān, the Prophet’s servant, were given that task. Aws ibn Khawlī, a man from the Anṣār, appealed to ʿAlī to let him also attend. ʿAlī supported the Prophet’s body on his chest, al-ʿAbbās and his two sons helped him turn the Prophet’s body while Usāmah and Shaqrān poured the water and ʿAlī washed him.
ʿĀ’ishah reports that when they were about to start washing the Prophet’s body, they did not know whether to take off his clothes or to wash him with his clothes on. They were in disagreement when they were overtaken by sleep. All of them sat down and dozed off. They heard a voice telling them to wash the Prophet’s body with his clothes on, so this was how they did it. They poured the water over his shirt and rubbed his body holding his shirt. They did not insert their hands underneath his shirt.
When they had finished washing him, they wrapped him in three robes. There were several suggestions concerning where to bury the Prophet. Some people suggested that he should be buried in his mosque. Others suggested that he should be buried alongside his companions. Abū Bakr, however, told them that he heard the Prophet say: “Every Prophet was buried in the place where he died.” That settled the matter. The bed on which the Prophet died was removed and his grave was dug there. He was buried on Wednesday night, in ʿĀ’ishah’s room. This is the spot where his grave remains.
After the Prophet was wrapped for burial, he was put on his bed. Abū Bakr and ʿUmar entered the room and said: “Peace be upon you, Messenger of God, with God’s mercy and blessing.” A number of the Muhājirīn and the Anṣār went in with them, as many as the room could accommodate. They spoke the same greetings and stood up in rows to offer the prayer for the deceased, the janāzah prayer. No one led the prayer as an Imām. Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, however, were in the first row next to the Prophet. They said:
Our Lord, we bear witness that he has conveyed to us what has been revealed to him, given good counsel to his nation, struggled for God’s cause until God has given triumph to His religion at his hands, and until God’s words were complete. People believed in Him alone without partners. Our Lord, place us with those who follow the word revealed to him, and join us to him so that he recognizes us and You make us known to him. For he was compassionate and merciful to those who believed.
When they had finished they left the room to allow another group of the Muslims to go in and offer the janāzah prayer for the Prophet. They were followed by other groups as the room could accommodate them. When all men had offered their prayers, women went in also in groups to do the same. Children then followed in groups. However, there was no congregational prayer for the deceased. Everyone prayed on his own. This took the whole of Tuesday and the Prophet was buried on Wednesday.15
Thus the Prophet’s life ended. His message, however, remains alive. It will remain intact for the rest of time as God has guaranteed its preservation in its original form. May God reward the Prophet Muhammad, His last Messenger, and grant him peace and blessings.
NOTES
1. Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wal-Nihāyah, Maktabat al-Maʿārif, Beirut, Vol. 1, p. 224. Also, Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, ʿUyūn al-Athar, Dār al-Turāth, Madinah, 1996, p. 445.
2. Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, op.cit., pp. 445-446. Also, Ibn Kathīr, op.cit., pp. 224-229.
3. Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah, Dār al-Qalam, Beirut, Vol. 1, p. 304.
4. Al-Bukhārī, Al-Tarīkh al-Kabīr, Vol. 16, Jamʿiyyat Dā’irat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyyah, Hyderabad, India, 1960, pp. 283-284.
5. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., p. 300. Also, Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, op.cit., p. 447.
6. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., pp. 300-301.
7. Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, op.cit., p. 447. Also, Ibn Kathīr, op.cit., pp. 231-232.
8. Ibn Kathīr, op.cit., p. 230 and p. 238.
9. Ibid., p. 238.
10. Ibid., p. 234.
11. Ibid., p. 235.
12. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., pp. 304-305. Also, Ibn Kathīr, op.cit., pp. 239-240.
13. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., pp. 305-306. Also, Ibn Kathīr, op.cit., pp. 241-244.
14. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., p. 312.
15. Ibn Kathīr, op.cit., pp. 260-265.