439 – Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came in to see Abū Salama, whose eyes had already become fixed. He closed them for him and then said, ‘When the soul is taken, the eyes follow it.’ Some members of his family began to cry out, whereupon he said, ‘Do not supplicate against yourselves except with good words, for the angels say Āmīn to whatever you utter.’ He then prayed, ‘O Allah, forgive Abū Salama, elevate his rank among the rightly guided, make his grave spacious, illuminate it for him, and look after his descendants in his absence.’ ” Related by Muslim (1).

Vocabulary of the ḥadith
• “His eyes had become fixed” (shaqqa baṣaruhu, with the shīn pronounced openly): meaning that his gaze had risen and become motionless; baṣar is the subject of shaqqa. Al-Nawawī noted that some vocalised it in the accusative—baṣara—which is also correct, and there is unanimous agreement that the shīn is fathah.
• “The soul” (rūḥ, pl. arwāḥ): a created entity that, by Allah’s command, brings life to the body when present and whose departure causes death. It is treated in Arabic as both masculine and feminine; a fuller discussion will follow, if Allah wills.
• “The eyes follow it” (ittabaʿahu al-baṣar, with a prosthetic hamzah): Muslim also narrated it as tabiʿahu, without the hamzah. Al-Nawawī explained that when the soul leaves the body, the gaze follows it, looking to see where it goes.
• “Some people from his household wailed” (faḍajja nāsun min ahlihi): the verb ḍajja–yaḍijju–ḍajījan means to shout out. Al-Nihāyah states that ḍajīj is the loud cry uttered at times of distress, hardship, or grief, and the meaning is: