Chapter: The Prophet’s Condition When Death Approached

Al-Zuhrī reported: ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿAbdullāh informed me that ʿĀʾishah and Ibn ʿAbbās both said, “When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was overtaken by the agony of illness, he would cast a small woollen cloak over his face. Whenever the covering made him short of breath he removed it, and even in that state he declared, ‘May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians; they turned the graves of their prophets into places of worship.’ He was warning against what they had done.” Agreed upon.

Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq in Egypt narrated to us; ʿUmar ibn Karam in Baghdad narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Awwal ibn ʿĪsā narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Aḥmad al-Thaqafī dictated to us in the year 470 AH; Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al-Sulamī dictated to us; Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-ʿAṭṭārīdī narrated to us; Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān, from Jābir, said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, three days before his death, say, ‘Think well of Allah.’” This is an authentic ʿawālī hadith (transmitted with a relatively short chain).

Sulaymān al-Taymī reported, from Qatādah, from Anas, who said: “The Prophet’s ﷺ most frequent counsel as death approached him was, ‘(Guard) the prayer, and (be kind to) those whom your right hands possess.’ He continued to gargle these words in his chest, though his tongue could scarcely utter them.” Thus narrated Sulaymān.

Hammām also said: “Qatādah narrated to us, from Abū al-Khalīl, from Safīnah, from Umm—”