In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
And the city of Madinah grew dark.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, acted with gentleness
in informing the Companions of the nearness of his passing.
The time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, drew near and approached,
so he began to remind his Companions that his end was near.
Whenever they heard anything of this hadith from him, peace be upon him,
they would burst into tears.
For Abu Muwayhibah, the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
"The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, woke me in the night,
and said, 'O Abu Muwayhibah,
I have been commanded to seek forgiveness for the people of al-Baqi'.'
So I went out with him until we reached al-Baqi'.
He raised his hands and sought forgiveness for them for a long time.
Then he said,
'May you be congratulated for what you have reached,
compared to what the people have reached.
Trials have approached like pieces of a dark night,
the latter part of which follows the former,
and the latter is worse than the former.'
'O Abu Muwayhibah,
I have been given the keys to the treasures of the world,
and eternity therein, then Paradise.
I was given the choice between that and meeting my Lord and Paradise.'
I said, 'O Messenger of Allah,
may my father and mother be sacrificed for you,
take the keys to the treasures of the world and eternity therein, then Paradise.'
He said,
'By Allah, O Abu Muwayhibah,
I have chosen to meet my Lord and Paradise.'"
Then the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, departed.
When morning came,
he began the illness in which Allah took his soul.
During that time, he, peace be upon him,
would frequently remind them and counsel them to be good regarding their religion.
Mu'adh Ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that he said:
"When the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, sent him to Yemen,
the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, went out with him to counsel him,
while Mu'adh was riding,
and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was walking beside his mount.
When he finished, he said,
'O Mu'adh,
you may perhaps not meet me after this year of mine,
or you may perhaps pass by this mosque of mine or my grave.'
Mu'adh wept out of grief for the departure of the Prophet, peace be upon him.
It is as if I can see him, peace be upon him,
acting gently by informing them,
so as to bid them farewell with those counsels."
Abu Dawud recorded
from al-'Irbad Ibn Sariyah, who said:
"The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, led us in prayer one day,
then he turned to us and gave us an eloquent sermon,
from which eyes shed tears and hearts trembled.
Someone said,
'O Messenger of Allah,
this is the sermon of one bidding farewell.'
Thus,
they, may Allah be pleased with them, realized the magnitude of the calamity.
It was the passing of the Prophet, peace be upon him.
They knew this from his manner, peace be upon him,
in counseling them
and his eloquent sermon.
That is why the Prophet, peace be upon him,
would urge his Companions to meet him
and sit with him frequently.
As Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated, saying:
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said,
"By Him in Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad,
a day will come upon one of you when he will not see me,
and then, to see me would be dearer to him than his family and wealth combined."
Al-Nawawi commented,
"The intent of the hadith
is to urge them to keep to his noble company, peace be upon him."
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, also narrates
another hadith from the Prophet, peace be upon him,
in which he explains the method of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in preparing his Companions
for the news of his death, peace be upon him.
He said: "The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, sat on the pulpit
and said, 'A servant was given a choice by Allah between being given the splendor of the world
and what is with Him,
and he chose what is with Him.'
Abu Bakr wept and wept,
and said, 'We sacrifice our fathers and mothers for you.'
He said: "The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was the one given the choice,
and Abu Bakr was the most knowledgeable of us regarding him."
Ibn Hajar said:
"It is as if Abu Bakr understood the allusion the Prophet, peace be upon him, made
from the context of him mentioning that during his final illness,
so he sensed that he meant himself,
and that is why he wept."
Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, went out
to visit the graves of the martyrs at Uhud,
as if he were bidding farewell to the living and the dead.
'Uqbah Ibn 'Amir, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, prayed for the martyrs of Uhud
after eight years,
like one bidding farewell to the living and the dead."
Then he ascended the pulpit and said,
"I am a forerunner for you,
and I am a witness over you.
Your appointment is at the Basin (al-Hawd),
and I am looking at it from this place of mine.
I do not fear that you will associate partners with Allah after me,
but I fear for you the world, that you might compete for it."
He said:
"That was the last look I had of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, entered upon his wives,
and the symptoms of the illness in which he passed away appeared upon him.
Asma' Bint 'Umays, may Allah be pleased with her, said:
"The first time the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, fell ill
was in the house of Maymunah,
and his illness became so severe that he fainted.
The Muslims recorded a similar hadith from 'A'ishah.
The following hadith shows
how the illness intensified for the Prophet, peace be upon him, in those moments,
and how his wives tried to nurse him
or alleviate the severity of the illness.
Asma' Bint 'Umays, may Allah be pleased with her, says:
"His illness became severe until he fainted.
His wives consulted about administering medicine to him (ladud),
so they administered it. When he recovered, he said,
'This is the work of women who have come from there,'
and he pointed to the land of Abyssinia,
and Asma' Bint 'Umays was among them.
They said, 'We suspected you had pleurisy, O Messenger of Allah.'
He said, 'That is a disease that Allah would not afflict me with.
Let no one remain in the house without being administered the same medicine.'"
Al-Bukhari recorded the report via 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her.
She said, may Allah be pleased with her:
"We administered medicine to him during his illness.
He began to signal to us not to administer it to him.
We said, 'It is the dislike of a sick person for medicine.'
When he recovered, he said,
'Did I not forbid you from administering medicine to me?'
We said, 'It is the dislike of a sick person for medicine.'
He said, 'Let no one remain in the house without being administered it while I watch,
except for al-'Abbas, for he was not present with you.'"
'A'ishah, Mother of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with her, narrates
another complaint that appeared on the Prophet, peace be upon him,
after his return from the funeral of one of his Companions.
'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, says:
"The Prophet, peace be upon him, returned to me one day from a funeral in al-Baqi',
and he found me while I was suffering from a headache,
and I was saying, 'Oh, my head!'
He said, 'Rather, I am the one who should say, "Oh, my head!" O 'A'ishah.'
He said, 'What would it harm you if you died before me,
so that I could wash you and shroud you?'
She said, 'It is as if I can see you, by Allah, if you did that,
you would return to my house and celebrate a wedding with some of your wives.'
She said: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, smiled.
Then he began the illness in which he died."
As for his illness, peace be upon him, and its severity,
here is the hadith of 'A'ishah, Abu Sa'id, and Ibn Mas'ud.
'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:
"I have never seen anyone suffer more severe pain than the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
As for the hadith of Abu Sa'id,
we have already shown some of what the Prophet, peace be upon him, was suffering in those moments.
Abu Sa'id said:
"I entered upon the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, while he was feverish,
and I placed my hand upon him,
and I felt the heat of his fever with my hand over the quilt.
I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, how severe it is upon you!'
He said, 'It is so; the trial is doubled for us, and the reward is doubled for us.'"
'Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
"I came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, during his illness,
and he was suffering from a severe fever."
The illness increased upon the Prophet, peace be upon him, and became heavy,
and he would look forward to his day with 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, and ask about it,
as the hadiths in the following paragraph indicate.
And the city of Madinah grew dark.