Home > Sira > The Eleventh Year of the Hijra: the Death of the Prophet
The year 11 of the Hijra: the signs of the approach of death, the Prophet's illness, his last prayer, his death, the events between his death and his burial, his grave in the chamber of Aïcha, his children, servants and scribes.
Year 11 opened with the return of the pilgrimage of farewell and saw the death of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). His illness began at the end of Safar: he enjoined « The prayer! The prayer! And what your right hands possess! », was given the choice between this world and what is with Him, and his soul was taken on a Monday of Rabi’ al-Awwal, at sixty-three years of age. Abou Bakr calmed the people: « whoever worshipped Mohamed: Mohamed has died; and whoever worships Allah: Allah is alive and does not die! » Washed by his male kindred, prayed over without an imam, he was buried in the chamber of Aïcha.
Updated on 07 October 2026 at 9:23 AM
Part of: The Year 11 of the Hijra: the Prophet's Illness and his Death
The eleventh year of the Hijra opened while the noble prophetic rider had settled in purified Medina, returned from the pilgrimage of farewell. That year witnessed momentous things, the greatest of them the death of the Messenger of Allah: yet Allah transferred him from this perishing abode to eternal bliss, in a high and sublime station, at the highest degree of Paradise, according to the word of the Most High: and the Hereafter is better for you than the present life; and your Lord will soon give you, and you will be content (ad-Douha, 4-5). That after he had completed the conveyance of the message Allah commanded him to convey, counselled his community, guided them to the best he knew for them, and warned them of what would harm their world and their Hereafter.
The two Sahihs report, from Oumar ibn al-Khattab, that the verse: this day have I perfected for you your religion, completed My favour upon you, and chosen for you Islam as religion (al-Ma’ida, 3), came down on a Friday while the Messenger of Allah stood at Arafat. It is related by a good route that Oumar wept when that verse came down; he was asked: what makes you weep? He said: after perfection there is nothing but decline! As though he had sensed the Prophet’s death.
The Prophet himself alluded to it: Mouslim reports from Jabir that he stood at the pillar of al-’Aqaba and said: "Take from me your rites: for I may not make pilgrimage after this year!" And the Boukhari reports from Zayd ibn Arqam that the sura: when comes the help of Allah and the conquest, came down in the middle of the days of at-tachriq: the Messenger of Allah knew it was the farewell, ordered his camel al-Qaswa saddled, and delivered his discourse of that day. Likewise, when Oumar asked Ibn Abbas, before many companions, the interpretation of that sura, the companions said: we were commanded, at the conquest, to remember Allah, praise Him and seek His forgiveness. Ibn Abbas said: it is the term of the Messenger of Allah announced to him!
Oumar said: I know of it only what you know. Ahmad reports too, from Abou Hourayra, that the Messenger of Allah, having made pilgrimage with his wives, said: "This pilgrimage only, then the time of women with child."
Before the death, the imams Mohamed ibn Ishaq, Abou Ja’far Ibn Jarir and the Bayhaqi enumerated his pilgrimages, campaigns, expeditions, letters and envoys to the kings. The two Sahihs report, from Zayd ibn Arqam, that the Messenger of Allah made nineteen campaigns, and after the emigration made the pilgrimage of farewell, making none after. Jabir reports he made three pilgrimages, two before the emigration and one after, with an umra, driving sixty-three sacrificial beasts which Ali brought him from the Yemen. Anas reports, in the two Sahihs, his four umras: Houdaybiya, Fulfilment, Ji’rana and that of the pilgrimage of farewell. As for campaigns, Salama ibn al-Akwa’ said: I campaigned with the Messenger of Allah seven times, and went out on nine of the companies he sent, once commanded by Abou Bakr and once by Usama ibn Zayd. Al-Bara’ said: the Messenger of Allah made fifteen campaigns. Zayd ibn Arqam said: nineteen, of which he witnessed seventeen, the first being al-OUCHAYRA.
Ibn Bourayda said: sixteen; or nineteen, in eight of which he fought: Badr, Ouhoud, the Trench, al-Muraysi’ and Qoudayd, Khaybar, Mecca and Hunayn; and he sent twenty-four expeditions. Jabir said: twenty-one, of which I joined nineteen, having missed neither Badr nor Ouhoud, held back by my father; when he was killed at Ouhoud I missed no campaign after. Qatada said: nineteen campaigns, he fought in eight, sent twenty-four expeditions: total forty-three. The imams Urwa, az-Zouhri, Moussa ibn Oqba and Ibn Ishaq establish that he fought Badr in Ramadhan of the year two, Ouhoud in Shawwal of the year three, the Trench and Banu Qurayza in Shawwal of the year four or five, Banu al-Moustaliq at al-Muraysi’ in Cha’bane of the year five, Khaybar in Safar of the year seven: the correct being at the start of the seventh and the end of the sixth; then the conquest of Mecca in Ramadhan of the year eight, Hunayn in Shawwal, Ta’if, and Tabouk in Rajab of the year nine: and that was his last campaign.