In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. And Madinah grew dark: the deathbed and the final testaments.
The Companions realized that these were the most critical and final moments.
For here was al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib,
speaking to Ali that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was on the verge of passing away.
Ibn Abbas narrated
that Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him)
came out from the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) during the illness from which he died.
The people asked,
"O Abu al-Hasan,
how has the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) awakened this morning?"
He replied,
"He has awakened, praise be to Allah, recovered."
Thereupon, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib took him by the hand
and said to him,
"By Allah, after three days you will be a subject ruled by another's rod.
By Allah, I surely see that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
will pass away from this illness of his.
For I well recognize the faces of the Banu Abd al-Muttalib at the time of death.
Let us go to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
and ask him who shall hold this matter of authority.
If it is to be among us, we will know it;
and if it is to be among others, we will know it so he may make a bequest concerning us."
Ali replied,
"By Allah, if we ask the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) for it
and he refuses us, the people will never grant it to us after him.
And by Allah, I will never ask it of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)."
Then Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr entered upon the Prophet (peace be upon him),
whose illness had grown heavy to the point that he (peace and blessings be upon him) could not speak.
Aisha said:
"Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr entered holding a siwak with which he was cleaning his teeth.
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) looked at it,
and I said to him,
'Give me this siwak, O Abd al-Rahman.'
So he gave it to me,
and I bit off its end and chewed it,
then gave it to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
He cleaned his teeth with it while leaning against my chest."
Another narration clarifies
how the condition of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was at that time.
Aisha said:
"Abd al-Rahman entered upon me holding the siwak,
while I was supporting the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
I saw him looking at it,
and I knew that he loved the siwak.
So I said,
'Shall I take it for you?'
He nodded his head in approval.
I took it, but it was too hard for him,
so I asked,
'Shall I soften it for you?'
He nodded his head in approval.
So I softened it."
Then the throes of death became apparent upon the Prophet (peace be upon him),
and he (peace be upon him) wished to write a document for the Companions,
after which they would never go astray.
Ibn Abbas said:
"When the death of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) approached, there were men in the house.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
'Come, let me write for you a document,
after which you will never go astray.'
Some of them said,
'The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
has been overcome by severe pain,
and you have the Qur'an;
the Book of Allah is sufficient for us.'
The people in the house differed and disputed.
Some of them said,
'Bring it close so he may write for you a document after which you will never go astray,'
while others said otherwise.
When their clamor and disagreement increased,
the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said,
'Leave me.'"
The incident of the document took place on Thursday,
before the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him)
by four days,
as reported in the narration of Sa'id ibn Jubayr.
He said:
"Ibn Abbas said:
'Thursday!
And what a day Thursday was!'
The pain of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) intensified,
and he said,
'Bring me writing materials that I may write for you a document,
after which you will never go astray.'"
In al-Bukhari, in the Book of Jihad:
"Ibn Abbas said:
'Thursday!
And what a day Thursday was!'
Then he wept
until his tears moistened the pebbles.
He then said:
'The pain of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) intensified on Thursday,
and he said:
"Bring me writing materials that I may write for you a document,
after which you will never go astray."
But they disputed,
and it is not fitting to dispute in the presence of a Prophet.
They said,
"Has the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) spoken in delirium?"
He said,
"Leave me,
for the state I am in is better than what you call me to."
And at his death he enjoined three things:
"Expel the polytheists from the Arabian Peninsula,
grant gifts to delegations as I used to grant them,"
and the third was forgotten.'"
Talhah ibn Musarrif narrated, saying:
"I asked Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa (may Allah be pleased with him),
'Did the Prophet (peace be upon him) leave a bequest?'
He replied, 'No.'
I said,
'How then was the bequest prescribed for people,
or how were they commanded to make a bequest?'
He said,
'He enjoined the Book of Allah.'"
Aisha held the same view as Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa (may Allah be pleased with him),
that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had not made a specific bequest to anyone.
She said—
on the authority of al-Aswad, who said:
"It was mentioned in the presence of Aisha that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was the appointed successor.
She said,
'When did he appoint him?
For I was supporting him against my chest'—
or she said, 'in my lap'—
'when he called for a basin,
then he collapsed in my lap,
and I did not even realize he had died.
So when did he make a bequest to him?'"
During those agonizing moments, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
was enduring severe death throes,
as narrated by Aisha and Ibn Abbas.
On the authority of Aisha and Ibn Abbas, who said:
"When death was descending upon the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
he began pulling a woolen cloak over his face,
and when he felt stifled,
he would uncover his face.
While in that state, he said,
'May the curse of Allah be upon the Jews and the Christians;
they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship'—
warning against what they had done."
Aisha said,
"Had it not been for that, his grave would have been made prominent,
but it was feared it would be taken as a place of worship."
Usamah ibn Zayd narrates
the account of the Prophet (peace be upon him) binding the military banner,
having appointed him commander of the expedition,
saying:
"When the condition of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) became grave,
I descended, and the people descended upon Madinah.
I entered upon the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
and he had been struck silent and could not speak.
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) began
placing his hands upon me and raising them in prayer."
And on the authority of Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her),
that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
used to say during the illness in which he died:
"The prayer, and those whom your right hands possess!"
He kept repeating it until his tongue could no longer articulate it.
In the narration of Anas ibn Malik, he said:
"The general exhortation of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
when death approached him and his soul was rattling in his throat was:
'The prayer, and those whom your right hands possess!'"
Dhakwan, the freed slave of Aisha, narrates
that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) used to say:
"In front of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
was a leather flask—
or a vessel containing water—"
Umar, the sub-narrator, was unsure—
"and he began dipping his hand into the water,
wiping his face with it and saying,
'There is no god but Allah;
truly, death has its agonies.'
Then he raised his hand and began saying,
'With the Highest Companionship,'
until his soul was taken
and his hand tilted down (peace be upon him)."
Among the final counsels given by the Prophet (peace be upon him)
just before his passing
is what was narrated by Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf,
who said:
"When the Prophet (peace be upon him) was approaching death,
they said,
'O Messenger of Allah, give us a bequest.'
He said,
'I enjoin upon you the first foremost of the Muhajirun,
and their descendants after them.
If you do not do so,
neither obligatory nor voluntary deeds will be accepted from you.'"
Aisha tried to bring ease to the Prophet (peace be upon him),
so she would recite the Mu'awwidhat (protective surahs) over him.
Urwah ibn al-Zubayr narrated, saying:
"Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) informed me
that whenever the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) fell ill,
he would blow over himself reciting the Mu'awwidhat
and wipe over himself with his own hand.
When he suffered from the illness from which he died,
I began blowing over him with the Mu'awwidhat
that he used to blow,
and wiped him with the hand of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
As the illness intensified for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
Fatimah began to weep,
as Anas ibn Malik narrated.
Anas said:
"When the Prophet's condition grew severe,
agony and distress began to overwhelm him,
so Fatimah (peace be upon her) said:
'O the intense agony of my father!'
Thereupon he said to her:
'There will be no more agony for your father after today.'"
The Mother of the Believers, Safiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her), was also deeply distraught,
and she came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
grieving over his illness and what he was enduring,
as Zayd ibn Aslam narrated,
saying:
"The wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) gathered around him
during the illness from which he passed away.
As his wives gathered by his side,
Safiyyah bint Huyayy said:
'By Allah, O Prophet of Allah,
I truly wish that what has afflicted you had afflicted me instead.'
At this, his other wives signaled each other by winking,
so he said: 'Rinse your mouths.'
They asked: 'From what?'
He replied: 'For your winking at her;
by Allah, she is indeed speaking the truth.'"
It was as if she (may Allah be pleased with her)
was profoundly distressed at the thought of being parted from him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
as Dhu Dhu'ayb narrated, saying:
"When death was approaching
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
Safiyyah said:
'O Messenger of Allah,
each of your wives has family to whom she can turn,
but you have exiled my people.
If anything happens to you, to whom shall I turn?'
He replied:
'To 'Ali ibn Abi Talib.'"
And Madinah grew dark.