His illness and his death

The illness of the Messenger of Allah began, on the soundest account, at the end of Safar of the eleventh year. He came out at Bilal’s call for the dawn prayer in the year of elation, his head bandaged with a cloth: he mounted the pulpit, sat, praised Allah and said: "O people, I have sensed what you have not sensed. I was given the choice between the servants and the remaining goods of this world: I chose to meet my Lord and Paradise." Abou Bakr wept and said: we sacrifice for you, our fathers and mothers!

And the Prophet said: "Gentleness upon Abou Bakr!" Then he said: "Indeed, he to whom I was closest in the veil is Abou Bakr. Were I to take an intimate friend other than my Lord, I would take Abou Bakr; but prophetic brotherhood remains: and no door beside his shall remain open to this mosque: close the door of anyone but him." Then he descended and his illness seized him.

In the Sahih of al-Boukhari, Aïcha relates that during his illness, which became severe, he said: "O Aïcha, I still feel the pain I felt at Mecca." She said: the Prophet at that time was staying at the house of Maymouna, and his wives gathered: two or three of them agreed to remain with him. His paternal aunt would come and say: what is the matter with you, my children? And we would say: he is better than he was yesterday!

The Prophet ordered Abou Bakr to lead the prayer during his illness. Aïcha relates, in the Sahih, that during his illness the Prophet said: "Let Abou Bakr pray with the people." She said: O Messenger of Allah, Abou Bakr is a tender man: when he stands in your prayer-place his voice will not be heard! Command Oumar then. He said: "Let Abou Bakr pray with the people!" She repeated, and he said again: "You are indeed the companions of Youssouf! Let Abou Bakr pray with the people!" And he sent word to Abou Bakr to lead the prayer: hearing it, Abou Bakr said: "O Aïcha, what has a camel’s tenderness to do with the affair of the Messenger of Allah?" The people prayed during his illness behind Abou Bakr: he approved and rejoiced in it. Imam Ahmad relates that during his illness he said: "Pilgrimage and jihad are no longer obligatory; send forth the remainder of the campaign of Usama: whoever of you desires the blessing, let him go out with Usama." Then his illness worsened.

On the day of his death, when the heat was fierce, he came out supported between two men, one of them al-Fadl ibn al-’Abbas, barefoot, leading the dhouhr prayer and praying it seated: the people prayed standing behind him, and he signalled to the people to sit at the end of his life. He returned thereafter, leaning on the two men until he sat beside Aïcha. Abou Bakr saw him and said: "May my father and mother be your ransom: you have preceded me in emigration and mutual aid, and do you precede me today in prayer?!" The Messenger of Allah said: "It is so!" Then he entered his house and his fever increased: he said to Aïcha: "Pour on me seven water-skins: let them be seen by the people at their homes." And Aïcha put him in a house-garment, laid him down and covered his head, then sat beside him weeping. His last word to the world was: "The highest companion!" That is: with the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous: and they are the highest of creation.

Dying he said: "Prayer! Prayer! And what your right hands possess." Meaning: the prayer and charity. His hand was in the hand of Abou Bakr, saying: "Allah, the Supreme Companion!" And he said to Aïcha, among his last bequests: "Prayer! Prayer! And what your right hands possess." And he said: "Expel the Jews and Christians from the peninsula of the Arabs, and let none keep but one religion: Islam." And he said: "May Allah curse the Jews and Christians: they took the graves of their prophets as places of prayer." And he said: "Let none of you die but having good thoughts of Allah." When death came, his head was on the thigh of Aïcha: she raised his head and set it on the pillow, and said with the other women: we shall live on the replacement. He heard and said: "No: you are the first of them." Then his soul was taken, the third hour of Monday, the thirteenth of the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal, or at the end of Safar, in the year eleven, at the age of sixty-three years; and the consensus is that his mission lasted twenty-three years, ten in Mecca by one account and thirteen by another.