ʿAlī ibn Khushram said: “Wakīʿ narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, from ʿAbd Allāh al-Bahī:

‘Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq came to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—after his death, bent over him, kissed him, and said, ‘May my father and mother be your ransom; how sweet-smelling you are in life and in death.’

Al-Bahī went on: ‘He had been left for a full day and night, until his belly swelled and his little fingers curled.’”

Ibn Khushram continued: “When Wakīʿ reported this in Mecca, Quraysh assembled, intending to crucify him; they even set up a stake for that purpose. Then Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah came and said to them, ‘Fear Allah! This man is the jurist of the Iraqis and the son of their jurist, and this is a known report.’

Sufyān added, ‘I myself had not heard it; I only wished to rescue Wakīʿ.’

ʿAlī ibn Khushram said: “I later heard the report from Wakīʿ after they had sought to crucify him, and I was amazed at his daring.”

I was also informed that Wakīʿ argued, saying: “A number of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—among them ʿUmar, said, ‘The Messenger of Allah has not died.’ So Allah wished to show them a sign of death.”

This narration was transmitted by Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Razīn al-Bāshānī, who said: “ʿAlī ibn Khushram related it to us.”

The report was also transmitted from Wakīʿ by Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd (1).

This, then, is a scholar’s slip. What possessed Wakīʿ to report this objectionable account with its broken chain? His very life nearly ended because of a mistake, while those who rose against him are excused—indeed, they may be rewarded—for they imagined that spreading this rejected report would diminish the prophetic station. At first glance it appears to do so, yet when you reflect upon it there is, God willing, no harm in it. A living person’s abdomen can swell and his joints can loosen, and that is one of the offshoots of illness—“The people most severely tested are the prophets” (2).

The only real cause for concern is that