year marked the completion of 30 years after his death, and within that span were the caliphates of Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī.

In the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections it is related from him—may peace and blessings be upon him—that he said:

“The earth was folded for me so that I beheld its eastern and western reaches, and the dominion of my community will extend to the very limits that were folded up for me.”

Muslim likewise records the wording:

“Allah folded the earth for me, and I saw its eastern and western ends. The authority of my community will reach as far as what was folded up for me, and I was granted the two treasures, the red and the white. I asked my Lord for my community that He not destroy them all at once with a sweeping famine, and that He not set over them an enemy other than themselves who would lay waste to their stronghold. My Lord said to me: ‘O Muḥammad, once I decree a matter, it cannot be turned back.’”