Al-Muqaddimāt al-Mumahhidāt - Ibn Rush al-Jadd - (3/389)

Al-Muqaddimāt al-MumahhidātIbn Rush al-Jadd

and that he remained in Mecca for ten years, or that he was commissioned as a prophet at forty and remained in Mecca for thirteen years, held that he died at the age of sixty-three.

The report that he died at sixty-five implies that he was commissioned as a prophet at forty-two and remained in Mecca for thirteen years. Al-Tahāwī held that the most authentic account was that he died at sixty, as Rabīʿah narrated from Anas in the Muwattaʾ. He cited as evidence the report from ʿĀ’ishah concerning what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, privately told Fātimah during his final illness, which she disclosed to ʿĀ’ishah after his death:

“ʿĀ’ishah said: She told me that he had told her that no prophet succeeding another had lived except for half the lifespan of his predecessor. She said, ‘He told me that Jesus, peace be upon him, lived for one hundred and twenty years, and said, “I can only expect to depart at the age of sixty.”’”

Zayd ibn Arqam also reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah never sent a prophet but that he lived half as long as his predecessor.”

Al-Tahāwī argued that the Prophet’s own statement, peace be upon him, about his age establishes the correctness of the accounts of those Companions whose statements agree with his. Yet al-Tahāwī’s argument is not conclusive, because the reports he cited from ʿĀ’ishah and Zayd ibn Arqam are contradicted by the report from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that “Jesus son of Mary died at the age of thirty-three.” Allah knows best.

In this year, the Prophet, peace be upon him, sent Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh to Dhū al-Kalāʿ in Yemen to invite him to Islam, and he embraced Islam. Jarīr returned after the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had died.

In this year, he sent Usāmah ibn Zayd to Mu’tah in the land of Syria and ordered him to shed blood there. Usāmah had not yet set out on his expedition when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, so Abū Bakr dispatched his expedition.

[The Rightly Guided Caliphs]

In this year, allegiance was pledged to Abū Bakr al-Siddīq.

In this year, those Arabs who apostatized did so.

وأنه أقام بمكة عشر سنين، أو إنه نبئ وهو ابن أربعين سنة وأقام بمكة ثلاث عشرة سنة قال: إنه توفي وهو ابن ثلاث وستين سنة. والرواية بأنه توفي وهو ابن خمس وستين تقتضي أنه نبئ وهو ابن اثنتين وأربعين سنة وأنه أقام بمكة ثلاث عشرة سنة. وذهب الطحاوي إلى أن أصح ما في هذا أنه توفي وهو ابن ستين على ما روى ربيعة عن أنس في الموطأ بدليل ما روي عن عائشة أنها كانت تقول: إن رسول الله ﷺ قال لفاطمة في مرضه الذي مات فيه مما أسرها به وأخبرت به عائشة بعد وفاته. «قالت عائشة: أخبرتني أنه أخبرها أنه لم يكن نبي بعد نبي إلا عاش نصف عمر الذي كان قبله، وأخبرني أن عيسى ﵇ عاش عشرين ومائة سنة، ولا أراني إلا ذاهبا على رأس ستين» وعن زيد بن أرقم أنه قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ: «ما بعث الله نبيا إلا عاش نصف ما عاش الذي قبله»، قال؛ لأن ما قاله النبي ﵇ في مبلغ سنه يقتضي صحة قول من قال من أصحابه في ذلك كقوله. وليس ما قاله الطحاوي في ذلك ببين، لأن حديث عائشة الذي ذكره وحديث زيد بن أرقم يعارضه ما «روي عن النبي ﷺ أن عيسى ابن مريم مات وهو ابن ثلاث وثلاثين سنة» والله أعلم. وفيها بعث النبي ﵇ جرير بن عبد الله إلى ذي الكلاع باليمن يدعوه إلى الإسلام فأسلم، وقدم جرير وقد قبض رسول الله ﷺ. وفيها بعث أسامة بن زيد إلى مؤتة من أرض الشام وأمره أن يهريق بها دما فلم ينفذ لبعثه حتى قبض ﷺ فأنفذ بعثه أبو بكر. [الخلفاء الراشدون] وفيها بويع أبو بكر الصديق. وفيها ارتد من ارتد من العرب.