The last to touch him and the exact moment

Al-Moughira ibn Chou’ba used to say: I cast my ring into the grave of the Messenger of Allah, and when the people went out I declared my ring had fallen into the grave: I had touched the Messenger of Allah on purpose, that I might be the last of men to touch him. But Ali answered the one who cited him: the most recent of men in covenant with the Messenger of Allah is Qoutham ibn Abbas. In another version, al-Moughira remarked that something of his feet had not been put right; he was told: enter and set it right; he entered, put in his hand and touched his feet, then said: cast the earth upon me! They cast it to the middle of his shins, he went out, and would say: I am the most recent of you in covenant with the Messenger of Allah. The scholars note these accounts do not exclude each other: Ali may have ordered another to hand the object, and the one he ordered to hand it was Qoutham ibn Abbas.

As for the moment: the dominant, textually supported view is that he was buried in the middle of the night of Wednesday, as related by Ibn Ishaq, Moussa ibn Oqba, Souleyman at-Taymi and Ja’far as-Sadiq. It is also said: on Tuesday, before midday or in the morning (al-Awza’i, Ibn Jourayj, Abou Salama, Ibn Abbas through Oubayd Allah ibn Oumar); and Mak’houl’s very strange report of three full days of prayer in groups without ranks and without imam. The majority hold the first view. Aïcha said: we knew of the burial of the Prophet only by the sound of the shovels, in the depth of the night of Wednesday. And Oum Salama relates: we remained gathered weeping, sleepless, the Messenger of Allah in our houses, consoling ourselves with the sight of him upon his bed, when we heard at daybreak the voices of the masons; all Medina uttered a single cry, Bilal called the dawn and, coming to the name of the Prophet, wept and sobbed, which deepened our grief; then access to his grave was barred to the people. What a trial! We never met another but it seemed light when we recalled that one, his.