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Alhamdhulillah we have reached the last episode of the seerah, the finale.

We wi
ll begin from where we left off in the last seerah episode, and that is the retu
rn of the prophet PBUH to Madinah from the Hajj. Our prophet PBUH did not stay i
n Mecca, after he finished Hajj a tul Wada'a. Quite literally the very last day
of Hajj, the 13th day, he performed the tawaaf a tul wada'a (the farewell tawaaf
), and in the same evening he began the journey back to Madinah. So our prophet
PBUH returned to Madinah, in the month of Hajj, dhul Hijjah, in the 10th year of
the Hijrah. And this was his final journey. Once he entered Madinah, he would n
ever leave it after this until he passed away.
He stayed in Madinah throughout dhul Hijjah, Muharram (11th year Hijri) and then
in Safar towards the very end, he decided to send out an expidition, to the lan
ds of the Romans. The Byzantine empire, and in particular as-Sham and in particu
lar Palestine. So he decided to send a group of sahaba, including amongst them A
bu Bukr and Umar RA, and many of the senior sahaba, in order to conquer Palestin
e. And he made this decision a few weeks before he passed away, and he announced
to the sahaba to gather together their arms. He would not go, but he sent the o
ther sahaba. And he chose to lead them, Usama ibn Zayd (ibn Harith). This is the
same Zayd that once upon time he adopted, but Islam abolished that adoption. Th
is is the same Zaid that we said that the sahabah said, the day the prophet PBUH
passed away, "if Zayd had still been alive no one would have thought of anyone
other than Zayd to take over after the prophet PBUH". Zayd was married to Zainab
initially, and then Umme-Ayman. Who is she? She was one of the very very few pe
ople still alive who knew the mother and father of the prophet PBUH; she was the
servant of Aminah. And she had taken care of the prophet PBUH as a baby. So Umm
e-Ayman is like a mother figure to the prophet PBUH. Note obviously when Zayd ma
rries Umme-Ayman she is not elderly. So Umme-Ayman is close to the prophet PBUH,
and Zayd is close to the prophet PBUH. And their child Usama is born in the hou
se of the prophet PBUH, and raised in his house. So he was like a child but not
obviously a child; because of this the prophet PBUH loved him so much that, Usam
a had a title: "the love of the messenger". SubhanAllah. This was Usama ibn Zayd
.
Now when did Zayd pass away? The battle of Mu'tah when he became a shaheed. And
his son Usama is now 17/18 years old and the prophet PBUH assigns him to become
the leader of the expidition to as-Sham. In that group are the senior most sahab
a, Abu Bukr and Umar and others. Yet he chooses Usama to be the leader of the ex
pidition. Rumours began to spread, people began to mumble "why should this boy b
e in charge of us?" And they criticised that "he's not a qurayshi". Now, no doub
t Islam came to abolish this, but our prophet PBUH himself said "four things fro
m jaheleya shall remain in my ummah until the day of Judgement in my ummah: the
first among them is racism". So there was still racism; no doubt they weren't pu
blic about this but murmors spread. They were saying "he is not a qurayshi, his
father was a mawla (freed slave)". So there is this notion among the people - of
course not among the senior sahaba, but there was this general talk in the city
. And they said, which was a legitimate challenge, that simply "he is too young
to lead us: he is only 17/18 years old". At this the prophet PBUH called all the
sahaba, and he criticised them and said "if you dislike his leadership, then re
member you also criticise the leadership of his father before him." He's remindi
ng them of the conquest of Zayd; what he did and how be paved the way for the mu
slims. They criticised Zayd back then, but look at the legand Zayd became. The p
rophet PBUH said "by Allah he is worthy of being a leader, and this man Usama is
the most beloved of people to me after his father (Zayd)". It was indeed a very
wise choice for many reasons. Of them, Usama's father had been killed by the Ro
mans. Thus who better to choose than someone who wants to extract his vengance.
In one version in fact he told Usama "go to where your father was killed" even t
hough Usama wasn't going to go to Mu'tah: he was going beyond to Syria.
So Usama left on the very last day of Shawwal. When they were one/two days outsi
de the city, a messenger came running saying "wait the prophet PBUH has fallen i

ll, so just wait until he is feeling better". The prophet PBUH did not send the
messenger; the people became concerned so they sent a messenger to Usama. At thi
s, Usama camped outside of Madinah for a few days and eventually came back to Ma
dinah and visited the prophet PBUH on the day of his death. So after the prophet
PBUHs death, they had to decide what to do with the army of Usama. Eventually t
his force became the very first muslim army to win against the Roman empire, and
it paved the way for the conquest for Syria and Palestine. The symbolism here i
s obvious: Allah chose the prophet PBUH to pass away right after this decision.
Everything is kudr. What was the symbolism of telling the sahaba to go as-Sham a
nd yet he himself dies before they actually go. The symbolism and profundaty is
very clear: our prophet PBUH does not want to stop the spread of Islam at the bo
rders of Arabia. Islam is not just an arabian phenomenon. It is a global phenome
non, and he wanted the sahaba to go forth and he especially wanted them to go to
the holiest of places after Mecca and Madinah, and that is Jerusalem. This is w
hy the first conquest in reign of Abu Bukr RA began to take place against the Ro
man empire, and as we know the muslims conquered Jerusalem on the first day of U
mars khilafah. The point is, this opened up the way for all future conquests. Th
e prophet PBUH is laying the foundation for the future: the sassanid empire, nor
th Africa, Egypt, Algeria all the way to Morocco and Spain. He's telling the sah
aba to go forth and spread Islam far and wide. With regards to this expidition,
it was halted for the time being and the prophet PBUH fell sick.
We now discuss the final sickness of the prophet PBUH, and before we begin let u
s point out there were many signs in the Qur'an and sunnah this time would come.
There are many signs that are easy for us to look back and say "oh here he said
this" but when he said it, it didn't register with anybody. And when the Qur'an
was revealed, nobody read it in that manner. Why? Simple: it is human nature th
at we do not think about death. We don't think about our death, and especially t
he death of our loved ones. The more we love them, the less we can bear the thou
ght of them dying. So how about the prophet PBUH? How can anyone imagine he woul
d ever go away? The thought isn't coming to their heads. Even though when we rea
d the ayat and hadith we might think it's so obvious. But some of these ayat whe
n Abu Bukr recited them on the day of the death of the prophet PBUH, in one vers
ion Umar RA asks him "are these verse from the Qur'an?" He can't even imagine it
. In another version he said "It was as if I never heard these verses before" me
aning he didn't understand it in that context. What are these verses:
Surah Zumur, verse 3:
"You are going to die, and they as well will die."
It's singular directed to the prophet PBUH himself.
Surah Imraan Verse 144:
"Muhammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him.
So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief
]? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allah at all; but Allah wi
ll reward the grateful."
So Allah is preparing the people for the death of the prophet PBUH. This verse w
as revealed in Uhud when many thought he had actually died. And that's why Allah
says "or is killed". The rumour at the battle of Uhud was that he'd been killed
. So here Allah revealed "when he dies or he is killed". So there is a matter of
"when".
Surah Ambiya, verse 34:
"And We did not grant to any man before you eternity [on earth]; so if you die would they be eternal?"

This again is as explicit as possible. It's so explicit that, if anybody were to


have been given eternal life, who would it be? The prophet PBUH of course. So A
llah is saying to the prophet PBUH even he will die, if he is going to die do th
e people think they'll live forever?
Therefore clearly the Qur'an is giving the indication. Not only this, even the h
adith of the prophet PBUH. In Ramadan 10th Hijrah, two months before he left for
Hajj, the first perhaps preminition began. What was that? Jibreel AS would come
to the prophet PBUH every Ramadan and recite the Qur'an to him once. But this y
ear, Jibreel came and recited it twice. Without telling him the reason or giving
anything away, but the preminition came that something is different. This cause
d the prophet PBUH to think. This shows us that Allah did not tell the prophet P
BUH "you are going to die at this stage". So the prophet PBUH did not explicity,
but there was preminition and intuition. Allah is indirectly suggesting.
Yet another indication is surah Nasr:

This is a reference to the conquest of Mecca, that 'when the big conquest comes
and the help of Allah comes, and all of mankind enters Islam by the armies, what
should you do? Start praising Allah and asking forgiveness, indeed Allah forgiv
es'. This of course is indicating the end is about to come. Umar RA in his khila
fah, he quizzed the sahabah "what does this surah mean?" None of them understood
, but ibn Abbas said "this was an indication to the prophet PBUH that the end of
his time is about to come, and he should prepare to meet Allah". Also the proph
et PBUH himself hinted this to some of his beloved sahaba: of them is the famous
hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal. When Mu'adh left for Yemen to be the governer, and
the prophet PBUH loved Mu'adh a very strong love. And Mu'adh was of the most nob
le of the sahaba; the prophet PBUH privately walked with him alone and he actual
ly walked while Mu'adh was on the donkey. Mu'adh insisted but the prophet PBUH s
aid "no I want to walk with you like this" - this was his love for Mu'adh. And h
e told him "I love you oh Mu'adh, oh Mu'adh perhaps you shall not see me after t
his, and perhaps when you come back to Madinah, you will find my masjid and my k
abr (grave)". So he's telling Mu'adh "you will not see me again" and of course a
t this Mu'adh began to cry.
Of the signs he is giving to the people is of course the entire Hajj a tul Wada'
a. Why is called this? Because he was saying goodbye to the people. Wad'a means
literally 'to say goodbye to'. And he was telling the people "it is very likely
I won't see you after this year: follow everything from me right now because I d
on't know if you will be able to follow from me next year". So he is telling the
m this might be the end, but of course the prophet PBUH is not 100% sure. But th
ere is an indication there and he's somewhat certain. During the month of Safar
in the 11th year, right before he fell sick, at the end of the month he visited
the site of Uhud. And he made a special dua for the people that had passed away
at Uhud. And he said "wait for me at the Hawd, I will meet you at the Hawd. And
I will be the one there before you come". So he is telling the shaheed that "I w
ill meet you" which of course means he is about to go to the next world. Of cour
se foremost amongst the people of Uhud was his uncle Humza RA and we know the lo
ve he had for him.
It is narrated that, perhaps on the last day of Safar, if not the first day of R
abi al-Awwal, he woke up in the middle of the night and he knocked on the door o
f his servant Abu Muhayiba. And Abu Muhayiba came out to which the prophet PBUH
said "Jibreel has commanded me to go to Baqhee (late at night)". So they went to
Baqhee (graveyard of Madinah) - note this is at the very end of his life and is
the last time he visited Baqhee. And he made a beautiful dua for the people of
Baqhee, and on the way back he said to Abu Muwayhib that "do you know Allah has

given me the choice of the keys to this world, and everlasting life, then Jannah
. Or to meet Allah right now and be in Jannah?" SubhanAllah both end in Jannah b
ut there is one difference: the prophet PBUH can live in this world until the en
d of days and then be in Jannah. Or he can leave right now and be in Jannah. So
Abu Muwayhib said "may my mother and father be in randsom for you ya rasulAllah
choose this whole world for all of eternity and then get Jannah". And our prophe
t PBUH said "No I have already chosen". And so quite clearly, but again one need
s to realise although he is saying these hadith the sahabah are not thinking "th
is is going to happen right now". They are just thinking "it's some time in the
future". This reality is still not registering with them, and that is why to the
very end the sahabah did not actually think he would pass away. Because they si
mply could not imagine life without the prophet PBUH. This also shows us that ou
r prophet PBUH would regularly go to the graveyards, and he made dua for the dea
d. This is of the wisdoms of going; why did Jibreel tell him to go to Baqhee? On
e of the reasons is that it reminds us of our own mortality and death. Even our
prophet PBUH went to the graveyard before his own death to remind himself.
He returned to the house of A'isha, and the next day it was the day of Maymoona.
And he went to her house on 1st/2nd Rabi al-Awwal and it was in her house the f
ever began. And the first few days he attempted to still be fair and equitable,
and go from each house to house. Until finally when he became very weak, he aske
d permission from his wives to not go to each house and just rest in the house o
f A'isha. And obviously all of the wives agreed. Even though technically our sha
ria says he does not have to ask permission, but still to be fair to the very en
d he asks their permission. Of course this was to be his final days in the house
of A'isha. We note a quick footnote before proceeding: the incidents in the las
t 10/11 days of his sickness are many. And they are mentioned in the books of ha
dith and seerah, as is typical: we have one problem and that is chronologically
peicing them together. There are various interpretations and in honesty it is in
significant when events happened on what day. At the end these events happened a
nd that is what's important.
On one of the days, the prophet PBUH simply started staying in the house of A'is
ha. We are talking about a time wherein there was no medicine for curing the fev
er. Our prophet PBUH said "fever is one of the punishments of jahanam in this wo
rld". For us we take these painkillers and paracetomals for granted: realise, th
ese are a modern phenomena. Before even this century there was nothing to dimini
sh the pain and symptoms of a fever. And it was so painful people would die from
the sheer pain of it. There's no medicine and not a single painkiller during th
e time of the prophet PBUH. There is no medicine and its just a case of bearing
it. So as our prophet PBUH fell sick in the house of A'isha, she would regularly
recite ru'ya and blow on him surah Falq and surah Nas, and recite the duas the
prophet PBUH himself taught her. She would also have a bucket next to him and so
metimes pour water on him. This is one of the techniques they would use to lower
the temperature. At least a week he is in the house of A'isha; at one point A'i
sha herself had a severe headache. So she enters in the bed of the prophet PBUH
and is holding her head and she is saying "Oh my head oh my head" and the prophe
t PBUH smiles. SubhanAllah look at this: no matter what his pain is, he wants to
still joke and tease A'isha.
So he smiles and says "Know oh A'isha, rather MY pain" i.e. 'my pain is much wor
se'. And then he said "Oh A'isha what do you lose? If you were to die...". Subha
nAllah he is about to die but he's making a joke with her so she can calm down.
Of course she didn't realise why he is joking with her, it's only later on. But
he's making it easier for her for he understands the inevitability of whats comi
ng. So he's giving a friendly reminder and says "Oh A'isha, what do you lose if
you were to die now? And I'm still alive. And I will wash your body (what a hono
ur). I will put you in the grave and I will pray over you. What better thing is
there?". So in this state of pain he is easing the tension and also genlty remin
ding her of death. Of course she dosen't understand at all and immediately her j

ealousy kicks in: "I'm sure you're waiting for that


your other wives and no one would monitor you". Of
d does not realise this joke is very serious and is
ntally for the prophet PBUHs death. This shows even
ng and joking with his wife A'isha RA.

because then you could go to


course she's teasing back an
meant to make her prepare me
to the very end he is laughi

Around the 5th day of his sickness, so he has six days left to live, he commande
d the sahaba to bring buckets of water out from a particular well known for its
cool water. So he asked for a well known to contain cool and beautiful water. An
d they poured this water on him over his head, and he wrapped a turban tight aro
und his head. Why would he do that? To minimuse the pain because his head is thr
obbing. And then he is carried between two men, Abbas and Ali RA. Why them? Beca
use they are without a doubt the internal ahlul bayt. There's no denying this. A
bbas is his uncle and Ali is his son-in-law and cousin. So they both carry him;
at this stage even though he is talking he cannot even walk. So they carry him t
o the masjid, and they put him on the mimbar. By this stage, because of his sick
ness and because everyone has seen his state, the people of Madinah are getting
increasingly worried. Already he's been sick 3/4 days, they have seen this. He's
coming for the salah as of yet, but these are shorter salah: he's not spending
time with them, he is going back to his house quickly etc. So the news spread, a
nd note he has never been sick for his whole life in this manner. He's never had
a fever that caused him to not pray the way he used to pray. Or to not be with
the sahabah. So news spread and people begin to camp inside the masjid. Abu Bukr
, Umar, Abdur Rehman ibn Awf, of course Ali RA is already living next door. Ali
and Fatimah had a house next to A'ishas house. But the sahaba who don't have hou
ses nearby, what did they do? They began sleeping in the masjid, just because of
concern for the prophet PBUH.
Therefore by this time the masjid is jam packed and people are sitting, waiting
for news of the prophet PBUH. So he walks outside with Abbas and Ali carrying hi
m; he sits on his mimbar (he cannot stand anymore) and gives the people some adv
ice. Various books of hadith give various lines. Of the things he said:
1. "May Allahs curse be on the jews and christians because they took the graves
of their prophets as masjids, and he forbade the sahabah from doing so".
Now the sahabah don't understand the connection yet, but he's already thinking "
what will happen to my grave? I don't want it to become a masjid where people to
sajdah to and worship". So he's telling them "Allahs curse is on those who take
their prophets graves as masjids".
2. "If there is anybody who has any obligation or right I've not fulfilled, or a
ny debt I haven't paid, come now and ask me before that day of Judgement".
3. (Bhukari) "If I have hit anybody unjustly in my whole life, then here is my b
ack come and hit me now before the day of Judgement".
And he kept on asking until some versions say some very trivial things: one of t
hem said "Oh messenger of Allah you owe me three dinars". So the prophet PBUH sa
id "what is that and how?" The person said "Ya RasulAllah I would not have said
so but you're insisting so many times I felt if I didn't say I would be guilty.
So one day there was a begger passing and you said 'who would give him money on
my behalf?' and I gave him but you didn't pay me back. Walahi if you did not kee
p on asking and asking I would not have mentioned this". In other words the saha
ba himself is embarrased and thought "If I'm quiet maybe I am sinful" otherwise
three dinars are sinful. So it's mentioned certain trivial things such as this h
appened. Otherwise obviously nothing of major significance.
4. "There is a servant from amongst the servants of Allah, Allah has asked him t
o choose between this world and his Lord and he has chosen his Lord".

This is the same thing he told his servant but here is speaking generically. So
we know by now the choice has been given. Because the prophet PBUH was speaking
in the third person, the sahabah were happy that "wow what a lucky man!" and onl
y one person in the audience began to sob loudly, and that was Abu Bukr as-siddi
que. Because Abu Bukr understood this is nobody other than the prophet PBUH. And
people were not understanding why Abu Bukr is crying; and the prophet PBUH look
s at Abu Bukr and says "do not cry for you are the one I trust the most in my co
mpanionship and family. And were I able to take a close friend (kaleel) in this
world, my kaleel would have been Abu Bukr. But I cannot take you because Allah h
as chosen me as a kaleel. But between us is the companionship of Islam". Of cour
se Ibrahim AS and the prophet PBUH are the two kaleels of Allah. Then the prophe
t PBUH made an announcement: "let all of the doors of the masjids that go in fro
m the private houses". Note back then houses weren't seperate - where one wall/d
oor finished another house was right behind it. So every one of the sahabah that
had built their house next to the masjid, they would have their own personal do
ors inside the masjid. And it was halal up until that point in time for those wh
o lived next to the masjid to just walk in through that personal door. Of course
our prophet PBUH had his personal door from the house of A'isha. But from this
point on the prophet PBUH made his decree that "let all of these doors be shut,
except for the door of Abu Bukr" and indeed they were never opened after that. T
his was an honour the prophet PBUH gave him. This clearly has a symbolism that A
bu Bukr has been chosen and preferred amongst all of the sahabah.
So after all of the doors was closed, this probably was taking place on a Wednes
day. The next day, maybe Thursday or Friday, note there is a big contraversy as
to when the next event happened. The prophet PBUH passes away on a Monday. Accor
ding to some reports it happened on a Thursday, but in the sheikhs opinion it ha
ppened on a Friday. What is this event? The transferring of the salah from the p
rophet PBUH to Abu Bukr RA. When did it take place? Many scholars say Thursday n
ight. A minority of scholars say Friday night, and we are following the minority
here. For one simple reason: on Friday afternoon what happens? The khutbah. And
if anybody other than the prophet PBUH had given the khutbah, this would have b
een remarked and reported. But the fact that no one indicated anything of this n
ature indicates the prophet PBUH most likely gave the khutbah that day, and perh
aps even this very "talk" mention was the Friday khutbah. The 'talk' being that
'Allah his given a choice and his servant has chosen his Lord. But Allah knows b
est.
In any case we will follow Friday theory, and so the prophet PBUH led the Maghri
b salah on a Friday, and this was to be the final salah he led in the masjid pub
lically. And he recited as we know from the hadith of Bhukari, surat Murzalat. S
o the last surah he recited was Mursalat. After Maghrib salah, he comes back and
lies down on his head. Isha comes, Bilal comes knocking on the door asking perm
ission 'ya RasulAllah it's time for Isha'. This was Bilals custom and habit, tha
t before he gave the ikhamah, the prophet PBUHs door was right next to masjid so
he would go and say 'ya RasulAllah its time for Isha'. So the prophet PBUH stoo
d up to lead them in salah but he fainted on his bed and lost conciousness. At t
his he ordered water to be poured on him and he stood up again. But he lost conc
iousness again and this was longer than the first time. Then he became concious
ank asked "have the people prayed yet?" They said "No we are waiting for you ya
RasulAllah". So he tried once again to stand up, but once again his knees simply
couldn't take the pressure and he falls down. According to one report, seven ti
mes he is attempting to get up and lead the sahabah in salat-ul Isha. Walahi how
many times in the salah emphasised even in the final days? It is shameful and p
athetic for any one of us to read these stories and not be motivated to pray on
time. Over and over again to the very end he is telling the sahabah to pray. He'
s trying to pray and lead them in salah. He physically falls down seven times on
e after the other.

So, when he realises he cannot lead the people in salah, A'isha is around him so
he says to her "Go command Abu Bukr, he will lead them in salah". This is the f
irst, explicit indication that the person who must take over after is Abu Bukr.
Realise for 10 years in Madinah, nobody has led the salah while the prophet PBUH
is in Madinah. This is a complete given. It once happened the prophet PBUH was
outside and Abu Bukr began the salah, and the prophet PBUH returned in the middl
e so Abu Bukr noticed this and they swapped places. But the prophet PBUH did not
appoint him to lead it just so happened the sahabah feared the prophet PBUH mig
ht not be back in time. However, never in the 10 years of Madinah has the prophe
t PBUH been around the masjid and someone else is leading. So the command to Abu
Bukr is a clear indication "When I'm not here, when I am gone, who will take ch
arge? Abu Bukr as-siddique". Now he has told A'isha, and she is of course the da
ughter of Abu Bukr. And A'isha does not want her father to lead. Why? She gave a
n excuse which wasn't a lie but not real. She said "ya RasulAllah my father has
a soft heart, when he stands in salah he will sob and people won't like it, why
don't we find someone else?" But the prophet PBUH said to A'isha again "Go comma
nd Abu Bukr to lead them". Note it just so happened at that time Abu Bukr wasn't
in the vicinity at the time. So A'isha can stall; she brings Hafsah in and says
"why don't you convince him?" A'isha did not want Abu Bukr to lead. Why? For mu
ltiple reasons:
1. She did not want anybody to think that Abu Bukr is taking advantage of the si
tuation to push himself.
2. She was scared in case the prophet PBUH does indeed pass away that people wil
l associate Abu Bukrs leading the salah with the prophet PBUHs death.
So she did not want Abu Bukr to lead, and says to Hafsah "why don't you try aswe
ll?" So Hafsah tries, and on his death bed in his fever he realises what his wiv
es are trying to do. And he says "Go and find Abu Bukr, for Allah will not allow
anyone other than Abu Bukr; all of you are acting like the women around Yusuf".
Meaning what? The women in the story of Yusuf conspired to do a plot and plan,
and they thought no one realised. But the prophet PBUH knows so he compared them
to the women of Yusuf. According to one report when Abu Bukr was not found imme
diately, Umar RA started the salah. But when our prophet PBUH heard Umars voice,
he said "go and find Abu Bukr for Allah and His messenger will not allow anybod
y other than Abu Bukr". So they found Abu Bukr and he was the one who led the pr
ayer up until the end.
Of course this was really the most public announcement. From our perspective, th
e prophet PBUH did not want to explicitly say "The person in charge after me is
Abu Bukr". Why? Because he did not want to establish the custom or routine of ki
ngs naming their successors. He didn't want to do that. He wanted to leave it op
en to multiple ways which is exactly what happened: Abu Bukr, Umar, Uthmaan etc
were all chosen in various manners. If our prophet PBUH had chosen Abu Bukr he w
ould have narrowed the choice of khalifah down. What's the alternative? To indic
ate as much as possible without being that explicit and that is what he did. He
didn't want to say "the person after me is..." but he gave every other indicatio
n possible. Recall this is taking place on a Friday; perhaps on a Saturday or Su
nday before he passed away, he managed to regain a little bit of strength, and w
ent outside right before (or while) Zuhr. This was the final time the prophet PB
UH prayed in a jama'a with the sahabah. It is said that the sahabah had already
started praying Zuhr, and the prophet PBUH walks out while they are in salah. An
d there was a commotion in the audience. That everyone was making way for the pr
ophet PBUH to come. And Abu Bukr hears the commotion, and he automatically under
stands there is only one reason there could be this commotion. So he looks to hi
s left and sees the prophet PBUH coming on the shoulders of Abbas and Ali. But t
he prophet PBUH motions to him "Stay where you are!" But Abu Bukr does not obey
him out of respect for him. It's a unique situation where Abu Bukr is disobeying
to show obediance. And Abu Bukr insists the prophet PBUH sits down in the place

of the imam and he stands next to him. Now this is very symbolic.
So the prophet PBUH leads Zuhr seated down, and Abu Bukr is standing. Who are th
e people seeing? Abu Bukr. Who is the real imam? The prophet PBUH. This is the m
ost explicit symbolism that the prophet PBUH is the imam, but from the eyes of t
he people Abu Bukr is the imam. This is the most profound symbolism that Abu Buk
r is internally taking the prophet PBUH as an imam, but externally the people ar
e following Abu Bukr. For us this is one of the clearest indications, it's a pub
lic announcement that indeed Abu Bukr is the one who is the next leader. After s
alaatul Zuhr, he was lifted onto the mimbar and this was to be the last lecture
he gave in public. Some scholars say Saturday, others say Sunday. So this all ha
ppens a day or two days before he passes away. Of the things he said:
1. He praised the Ansar and said "I command you to take care of the Ansar for th
ey have been my best advisors. And they have fulfilled the duties upon them."
This is very profound; when you are commanding the people to take care of the An
sar, this shows you that the prophet PBUH is subtely saying the Quraysh should b
e in charge. He is telling one group to take care of the other group; thus autom
atically between the muhajiroon and Ansar, without a doubt the muhajiroon have a
higher status. So this is a subtle way of saying this, but how does he do it? B
y praising the Ansar. That 'they have done their job and fulfilled their promise
to protect the prophet PBUH'. They've done a perfect job and role, but they don
't have the next job of leading the ummah. Of course after the death of the prop
het PBUH, one or two Ansari have the notion that they should be khalifah.
2. He commands the people to purify the Arabian Peninsula from all types of paga
nism. To rid all pagans from jazeeratul Arab i.e. the lands of Arabia.
So this was of the final fiqh commands he gave: there should be no idoletry in t
his land. The land of Arabia is a special land for us, and so we do not allow id
ols to be worshipped or public displays of idols. This is from our fiqh. That is
why to this day especially in the hijaaz in Mecca and Madinah, you cannot even
enter as we know unless you are a muslim.
3. He also said "Treat delegations that will come to you with the same hopsitali
ty that I have shown to the other delegations".
Now all of this he is saying to prepare the people for when he dies; but the sah
abah are hoping the prophet PBUH will get better. The point here is "make sure y
ou treat the future converts the same way I have treated them".
4. Of the last things he said, narrated by a number of a sahabah: "you should ha
ve good thoughts of Allah when you are about to die".
This is a hadith by the prophet PBUH, that we should not die until we have good
thoughts of Allah. So the prophet PBUH himself is telling them something, but th
ere's an internal inidication, but again the sahabah are hoping this is just a h
adith and he will be fine. So this is one of the last things he said.
5. The very last phrase he said in that khutbah was "as-salah, as-salah, and fea
r Allah with regards to the weak and oppresed of society, the slaves and servant
s: fear Allah, for they will have a chance to complain on the day of Judgement".
He is sitting on his mimbar and the very last thing he tells them in his very la
st public khutbah. In arabic there's a missing phrase, it means "guard the salah
, protect the salah: I am reminding you of the salah". So the last peice of advi
ce he gives is of the salah, and to fear Allah, have taqwah, with regards to the
weak and oppresed. Whoever does wrong to them, on the day of Judgement they wil
l get recompense for this.

Most likely this took place on Saturday Zuhr, and this is the final salah he pra
ys in public with the sahabah. On the next morning on Sunday, the day before he
passes away, he asks A'isha "how much money do I have?" And so A'isha finds the
wallets/pouches and pulls out seven silver dirhams. Now, silver is extremely che
ap even to this day. Realistically its equal to around 2/3 dollars. This silver
is not gold; he only had seven silver coins and it's around 20 or so dollars. Th
is is the entire possession he has on the last day of his life. That's the maxim
um he has in his life. And he holds these seven dirhams in his hands, and he's p
utting them in one hand and the other, and he says "what will I say to Allah, if
I meet him with these coins?" And he gives it back in A'isha's hands and says "
go give it to the poor now" and he falls uncouncious again. When he wakes up he
says to A'isha "have you given it to the poor?" Of course its not on her priorit
y list, taking care of the prophet PBUH comes first but again he faints and agai
n he wakes up saying "have you given it to the poor?" And he continues to ask th
roughout Sunday until A'isha realises the prophet PBUH will not be content until
she gives the coins away. Thus she gets rid of everything in the house of money
.
Therefore we can say quite literally our prophet PBUH passed away without owning
a single penny. A'isha herself says "when the prophet PBUH died there was nothi
ng in his house of gold or silver; the only thing left was some morsels of barle
y (wheat) in a small cup. And I would continue using from this cup for a long pe
riod of time until it occured to me it's never finishing. So I measured it one d
ay and within a short time it finished". A'isha also narrated when the prophet P
BUH passed away "the only possession he owned was his mule. And he also had an a
rmour which happened to be with a jew of Madinah who had lent them 30 quantities
of barley, and this was being used as collateral by that jew. He also had a lan
d he had given to the poor. That was all the possessions of the prophet PBUH". I
n fact the night the prophet PBUH passed away, she ran out of oil for her lamp.
And there was nothing in her house to use as oil, so she had to borrow a litle b
it of oil from their ansari neighbour lady. Quite literally the house had litera
lly nothing in it. This was the death of the prophet PBUH. Imagine the man who c
ontrolled the entire Arabia Peninsula, the man who was getting the income from B
ahrain, Yemen, Khaybar etc. And he dies without a single penny to his name.
On the next day, the Monday 12th Rabbi al-Awwal, at Fajr time, he was too weak t
o lead them in salah, and he is still on the bed of A'isha. And Abu Bukr RA is l
eading them in salah. Our prophet PBUH asked to sit up in his bed. So he sits up
, being held, and he lifts the curtain which seperates his house from the masjid
. And the sahabah have not seen him for two days, but when they saw his face, An
as ibn Malik said "we were about to break our salah in happiness". And the commo
tion begins in the masjid; Abu Bukr is obviously in the front, and so he assumes
the prophet PBUH is coming. So Abu Bukr steps back and turns/looks, but of cour
se the prophet PBUH is inside his house and he isn't coming for he is too weak.
So he motions to Abu Bukr "stay where you are". Anas says "the last time we saw
the face of the prophet PBUH was when he had lifted the curtain". The is the Faj
r of Monday, 12th Rabi al-Awwal in the 11th year of the Hijrah. He lifts the cur
tain and sees his ummah praying the salah, and his face was beaming with joy; th
at smile was the last memory that the sahabah had for our prophet PBUH. And inde
ed what a fitting end, because again the issue of salah comes. Again our prophet
PBUH goes happy. Why? Because he sees his ummah praying Fajr in the masjid, all
lied up in rows, all of them praying to Allah. This is what is making him happy
. Walahi again, how can we listen to these incidences and not be moved to pray?
How can we give up our salah when we know the emphasis of salah?
In
se
we
ad

the early morning the fever of the prophet PBUH increased, and he began to lo
conciousness again and again. Fatimah RA his daughter came to visit him, and
know the special bond he had for Fatimah. The amount of love and respect he h
for her is narrated in the books of hadith, that every time she would come, h

e would stand up to kiss her and would put her in the seat he was sitting in, in
side his house. Fatimah was the last of his family to be alive, everyone of his
family had passed away by this point in time. His mother, uncle, father, grandfa
ther etc. Every one of his children had also passed away, walahi all of this we
are glossing over. But imagine Allah is testing him with the most painful of tes
ts. How painful is it to lose one child? Our prophet PBUH lost all of them but F
atimah. And she sees her father in that pain and she begins to cry "oh my father
how painful is your suffering". The prophet PBUH says to her "oh Fatimah, your
father will not suffer after today". And he called Fatimah close to her and spok
e to her something privately and she began to cry. To console her, he called her
again and whispered something in her ear, and she smiled and laughed. It is nar
rated when she wanted to go out, A'isha said "tell me what he told you" but Fati
mah said "No I cannot tell the secret of the prophet PBUH". A few months later w
hen the had prophet PBUH passed away, A'isha says "now tell me" and Fatimah says
"now I can tell you: when I went to the prophet PBUH to visit him, he whispered
that Jibreel had come to me that year twice during Ramadan and every year he wo
uld come one. And he said "there is no other explination except that my time has
come". So I began to cry. He then whispered "You shall be the first of my famil
y to meet me and be the leader of the woman of Jannah" so I smiled out of joy".
Indeed this was true as Fatimah passed away just 6 months later; imagine, being
told you are going to die yet laughing out of happiness. Why? Because Fatimah ca
red so much about the prophet PBUH, when she heard she will be without him she b
egins to cry. Then prophet PBUH says "don't worry you will die" and she laughs a
t this. What type of love is this? THat you don't want life, but you want the pr
ophet PBUH.
And the fever and pain of the prophet PBUH had increased, and they put a jar of
water next to him; he would put his hand in the bucket and wipe his forehead. It
is said the fever was so hot, al Abbas and others asked "how is the prophet PBU
H bearing this pain?" One of the sahaba remarked "the fever of the prophet PBUH
is like the fever of 10 of us". And during this time, the final day the prophet
PBUH is wiping the sweat and putting water in his forehead, he said continuously
"Verily death has its pangs". And he kept on saying "there is no God but Allah,
death has its pangs". And he made dua "OH Allah help me to overcome the pangs o
f death". So these were of the last phrases: he is saying the khalimah and askin
g Allah to ease his transition from this life to the next. Eventually the pain b
ecomes so severe that he cannot even speak anymore. This is now monday morning,
and his fever is so hot and his pain so severe he is going in and out of conciou
sness. And it is at that point in time Usama ibn Zayd comes back in. Of course h
e dosen't want to disobey the prophet PBUH, but the situation is so bad he actua
lly comes back to Madinah to visit him. So Usama was of the very last people to
visit him. And the prophet PBUH was so weak he could not say anything, all he co
uld do was point weakly up and then to Usama. The point being that "Allah has bl
essed you" or "I am making dua for you". In other words he still wants Usama to
go and this will come back to the first decision of Abu Bukr, and he said "how c
an I tell him to come back when the prophet PBUH told him to go?" So the prophet
PBUH is saying to Usama "go" and he is making dua with his finger.
And when the fever becomes even more difficult, A'isha does not know what to do,
so she sits cross legged, picks him up from his pillow and puts the prophet PBU
H on her own shoulder. This is indeed what you do with those you love; that phys
ical touch calms both us and the person down. A'isha is holding onto the prophet
PBUH not knowing what to do. This is when her brother Abdur Rehman ibn Abi Bukr
comes in to visit. And Abdur Rehman had a miswaak and he was using to brush his
teeth. The prophet PBUH weakly looks at the miswaak, so she asks "do you want t
he miswaak?" And our prophet PBUH motions "yes", so she gets it from Abdur Rehma
n, turns it around, loosens the other side and she hands it to the prophet PBUH.
So he wants to freshen his mouth before meeting Allah, to the very end he wants
a good appearance and smell. So she gave him the miswaak and A'isha said "he he
ld onto it with a vigour I couldn't imagine and did miswaak like I've never seen

before". Meaning the vigour and enthusiasm to fulfill this sunnah was there to
the very end.
Slowly but surely the fever increased and he's losing conciousness again and aga
in. At the point the prophet PBUH raised his eyes up, and he's moving his lips v
ery softly saying something. A'isha leans in to hear and says "I heard the proph
et PBUH say "with the nibiyeen, shuhada, saleheen" and three times "Oh Allah for
give me, have mercy on me and allow me to be with the rafeequl a'la"". And A'ish
a says the last thing the prophet PBUH said was "ar-rafeequl a'la". That was whe
n our prophet PBUH left this world. What does this mean? Some of the scholars ha
ve said it means "the company of the prophets and the highest" but there's anoth
er opinion that seems more plausible, "ar-rafeequl a'la" is none other than Alla
h Himself. And he is saying "I want to be in the company of al a'la" and 'al a'l
a' is one of the names of Allah. Of course both meaning overlap, but here Allah
knows best, the reference is directly "I want to be with you oh Allah". A'isha s
ays "at that time I remembered the hadith of the prophet PBUH, that he once told
me "never does the angel (of death) come to a prohpet, except that he asks the
prophet 'can I take your soul or not?' And the prophet has to agree and then his
soul is taken. So when I heard 'ar-rafeequl a'la' I knew that he had chosen All
ah over us" and that's when it her that indeed the prophet PBUH was gone.
And the prophet PBUH passed away slightly after the Zuhr salah, on a Monday, on
the 12th Rabi al Awwal in the 11th year of the Hijrah. And Fatimah RA was right
next door and she comes rushing in and says "Oh my father, you have answered the
call of your Lord. You will end up in janaatul Firdous; who can we give the new
s of your death other than Jibreel? We give the news of your death to Jibreel wa
s himself". A'isha would say "Of the greatest blessings Allah gave me was that t
he prophet PBUH died in my house on my day between my neck and chest, with my sa
liva in his mouth (from the miswaak)". And the news spread across the city, and
the people did not know what to do. The books of seerah mention the sahabah were
running around like 'headless chickens'. They were completely in shock. Some of
them sat down, others were in a daze, others had no clue what to do. In that ch
aos, walahi when we lose a loved one we go into shock; imagine the sahabah are l
osing the one person they cannot imagine life without. It is in that daze that U
mar RA who was the senior most person in the masjid. Why? When the prophet PBUH
lifted the curtain and saw him smile everyone thought he was feeling better. And
Abu Bukr had not gone to his own wife and children for a week. He's camping in
the masjid but when he sees the smile he tells A'isha "Ok I'm going home for now
" because he thought the situation was better. It so happened that Abu Bukr ther
efore was not next to the masjid, he was futher away in his own home. The senior
most sahabi was none other than Umar RA.
So the rummours began to spread the prophet PBUH had passed away, and Umar ibn a
l-Khattab out of love could not think straight. And it is said that, he started
screaming in the masjid that "these are the munafiqun spreading these lies. Whoe
ver says the prophet PBUH has passed away, I shall chop his neck off! I don't wa
nt to hear anyone tell me this!" In his emotional shock he could not accept it.
And he said "It's not possible, he will not die. Musa went to Allah for 40 days,
this is our prophet PBUH aswell going to Allah." And he said "anyone who says o
therwise has my sword to deal with". Everyone is terrified; the rumours are spre
ading, Umar is screaming in the masjid, there is mass confusion. Abu Bukr RA hea
rs the news, he rides his horse galloping as fast as possible, he dosen't even e
nter the masjid, he goes straight to his daughters house because he wants to see
if its true. Abu Bukr rushes back to A'isha's house and there he finds the body
of our prophet PBUH covered up completely. And he lifts the cover from the face
of the prophet PBUH and he begins to cry. And he kisses the prophet PBUH on the
foreheard and said "How I would give my mother and father for you ya RasulAllah
". And then he says "Allah has spoken the truth, you shall taste death but once
and this is your death ya RasulAllah. How beautiful are you in life and death ya
RasulAllah". And he hears the commotion in the masjid, so he exits from the hou

se of A'isha. And the sahabah are all sitting there confused. Umar RA is the one
walking away screaming "Nobody should say anything!". And that is when Abu Bukr
says "Oh Umar sit down!" The only person who has the audacity and courage to te
ll Umar to sit down is Abu Bukr. But even then Umar does not sit down, he just s
tares at Abu Bukr not registering.
So when Umar dosen't sit down, Abu Bukr rises the mimbar and he does not rise to
the top. SubhanAllah even now his love is there, nobody ever stood at the top w
here the prophet PBUH stood. Nobody from the day he passed away up until the mim
bar finished its use, they all gave the khutbah from the bottom step. They never
had the audacity to climb to the top. Even now he is concious "I cannot go to t
he top". So he stands on the lower level, praises Allah and says the ever famous
line which walahi shows the wisdom and knowledge over all of the other sahabah.
He says "Verily whoever used to worship Muhammad, let him know Muhammad has die
d. But whoever used to worship Allah, know Allah is the One who never dies". And
then he recited the verse of surah al Imraan: "Muhammad is just a messenger, ju
st like those before him. When he dies or is killed will you go back to your old
ways?" This is when Umar RA collapsed to the floor. This is when it finally hit
s him. This man Umar RA, the mountain, the giant whom everyone was terrified off
, the one who when he did Hijrah from Mecca what did he do, when everyone was sc
ared of the Quraysh he marches to the ka'bah and says "I am making Hijrah to Mad
inah, and anybody who wants his mother to cry for him, meet me outside the valle
y right now!" This is that Umar. This mountain of a man, when it finally strikes
him the prophet PBUH he collapses straight to the floor. And he says "it was as
if I heard the verse for the very first time".
So the news began to spread that indeed the prophet PBUH has passed away. So man
y beautiful poems were written. These are called 'rathaa' which is a genre of po
etry talking about those who have passed away and praising them. So much has bee
n narrated by ibn Hishaam, and here we quote a beautiful poem from none other th
an Hasan bin Thabit, the poet of the prophet PBUH. The greatest poets of early I
slam. He says:
1. Why is it that my eyes cannot go to sleep, it is as if the places of crying h
ave become permenant as dark as dye you apply.
2. This is because of my loss and sadness at the one who has gone on. The best h
uman to ever walk on the face of this Earth.
3. How I would give my own face to save yours, how I wish I was buried in Baqhee
before they buried you.
4. My mother and father be given for you: whose death did I see on that Monday,
none other than the rightly guided prophet.
5. As soon as he passed away for the rest of that time, I stayed after his death
, confused and greif stricken, woe to me how I wish I was never born to suffer t
his pain.
6. Am I supposed to live in Madinah when you are not here? Woe to me, why didn't
someone just give me poison?
7. Why doesn't Allahs end come today or tomorrow so that I can finally meet the
one whose characteristic was nothing other than generosity.
8. Oh beautiful son of Aminah, the one you gave birth to, the one who was the be
st of all and purest of pure. The prophet PBUH was a light for this whole world,
whoever took that light would indeed be rightly guided and blessed.
9. Oh Allah combine me with the prophet PBUH in Jannat that are so beautiful eve

n the eyes of the jealous people will be averted.


10. Reunite me with the prophet PBUH in Jannatul Firdous.
11. Oh Allah the majestic the mighty. I swear by Allah as long as I live I shall
not cry for anyone who has died, except for the crying for the prophet Muhammad
.
12. Woe to us, the ansar of the prophet PBUH, and his companions. Woe to us afte
r he has been buried, how will we live?
13. The whole land has become tight, their faces has become dark.
14. We were the ones who gave birth to him, yet we ended up burying him in his g
rave.
15. And the blessings he showed us, nobody can deny.
16. Allah blessed us with him, and guided us through him at every point in time.
17. May Allah have salaat and salutations upon him, and the angels.
There are many other poems aswell; Abu Bukr gave poetry and the other sahabah ga
ve their poems. We have to also quickly talk about with regards to funeral right
s of the prophet PBUH. The next day, on Tuesday, they gathered together asking '
how will we wash the prophet PBUH?' On Tuesday, they gathered togther: who? The
immediate family. Al Abbas, his two sons, al Fadm and Kuthm, Ali ibn Abi Talib a
nd some say Saffina, the freed slave of the prophet PBUH. The prophet PBUH as we
know freed all of his slaves but they remained on because they loved him so muc
h. So these were the people who gathered and discussed how they were to do the g
husl of the prophet PBUH. It is said as they were wondering, all of them fell as
leep and they heard a voice that said "wash him with the clothes on". And they a
woke and they all remembered the voice: it was Jibreel AS. And so they washed hi
m with his clothes on because that is befitting. And the prophet PBUH was shroud
ed in three white garments from the land of Suhul, one of the cities of Yemen kn
own for good garments. They did not put any turban; then the question came "wher
e shall we bury him?" Some said Baqhee, others said under the mimbar, others sai
d where he used to pray in the masjid. Until finally Abu Bukr said "I remember h
earing that he told me 'Allah never takes a soul from a prophet except at a plac
e where Allah wants them to be buried'". So all the prophets were buried where t
hey died. So he was buried under his matress - the grave was dug right there and
he was buried. Because there was no khalifah or leader, no one led the salah. S
o the entire city of Madinah plus the surroundings tribes prayed individually. A
ll of Tuesday and all of Wednesday they kept on coming in one by one. 10s of tho
usands of people all prayed individually in the room of A'isha. And the prophet
PBUH was then buried on a Wednesday evening.
When Fatimah entered the room again, and she saw the grave where the bed used to
me, and Anas ibn Malik was there she asked "how could you thrown sand on the pr
ophet PBUH?" It was none other than Anas said "the day the prophet PBUH entered
Madinah was the brightest of our lives. The day he was buried was the darkest da
y of our lives". In one hadith reported by al Bayhaqee Anas ibn Malik said "afte
r we buried the prophet PBUH Madinah became dark for us. If one of us could exte
nd his hand, we could not see it". Note this was not a physical darkness, its a
darkness of depression and complete shock. And by the time "we buried him we cou
ld not recognise who we were". And it is reported in ibn Majah as saheeh, narrat
ed by A'isha as one of the final hadith the prophet PBUH said during his final d
ays "Oh people whoever in my ummah suffers a calamility, let him take consolatio
n for that calamity, from the calamity from the pain that befell him because of
me, for there is no maseeba anyone shall experiance that is greater than the mas

eeba experianced because of me". Meaning what? It means the biggest calamity tha
t ever afflicted the ummah was the death of the prophet PBUH. This is the bigges
t disaster ever. You have a rasul in your ranks and all of a sudden he is gone.
Who will be in charge? What will you do? Who will guide the way? Who will you tu
rn to? Who who who? Nobody. There is no calamity greater than losing the prophet
PBUH. That is what the prophet PBUH is saying: think about the death of the pro
phet PBUH, and still Allah protected the ummah. It still went on. Take consolati
on from this. Nothing compares to this.
The final hadith as we wind out the seerah and reach the conclusion, is a hadith
that is optimistic for us but also scary. It is a hadith we should always remin
d ourselves off. The prophet PBUH said: "How I wish that I could meet my brother
s." So the sahabah were shocked. They said "ya RasulAllah are we not your brothe
rs?" He said "No you are my ashab i.e. companions, you are not my ikhwaan i.e. b
rethern. My ikhwaan are those who come after you, and they have never seen me, y
et they still believe in me without ever having seen me. And one of them would w
ish to give up all of his wealth and all of his family and children if he could
just see me once". So the prophet PBUH is saying he wants to see that group of p
eople. He was eager to meet even us: because would we not give up our wealth and
family? Would we not change our lifestyles for the prophet PBUH, just to see hi
m one time? That group he is saying, that group is his brothers. Our dua, goal a
nd hope is to see the prophet PBUH. We weren't given the honour to see him or be
with him, that was for the sahabah as Allah chose them. But there is still some
hope for us; and that is if we really truly love the prophet PBUH with a real l
ove, he might not be with us, but his sunnah is with us. His seerah is with us.
His actions are with us. If we truly love him, let us follow that sunnah, embody
who he was and demonstrate his mercy. If we do that, perhaps we will be raised
to the level of being his brothers.
Here we come to the conclusion of the seerah. We've talked about nothing other t
han the prophet PBUH. The blessings of him, the trials he faced. He is the great
est human to ever walk this Earth. This is a man Allah chose from the entire cre
ation, and he blessed us by making us from his ummah. We thank Allah for this, a
nd ask Allah to allow us to see him on the day of Judgement, so seek protection
from him. We want the prophet PBUH to invite us on the day of Judgement, whom th
e prophet PBUH sees and recognises and allows us to drink from his fountain. We
ask Allah to be with the prophet PBUH in Jannatul Firdous. Because of our love f
or him we ask Allah to forgive us and make us from those who practices his sunna
h. We ask Allah through the love of the prophet PBUH to raise us to be with him
and the sahabah. And we ask Allah to accept our efforts and good deeds and forgi
ve us for any shortcomings. Ameen

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