Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq recited that verse on the very day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away, and when the people heard it, it was as though they had never heard it before.

Allah, exalted is He, also says:
“When the help of Allah comes and the conquest, and you see people entering the religion of Allah in multitudes, then glorify the praise of your Lord and seek His forgiveness; indeed, He is ever accepting of repentance.” (Sūrat al-Naṣr)

ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb and Ibn ʿAbbās remarked that this sūrah announced to the Messenger of Allah his appointed term. Ibn ʿUmar stated that it was revealed in the middle of the Days of Tashrīq during the Farewell Pilgrimage; the Prophet understood it to be his farewell, so he delivered to the people the famous sermon in which he commanded and forbade them accordingly.

Jābir said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ pelting the jamarāt; he then stopped and declared, ‘Learn your rites from me, for I may not perform ḥajj after this year.’”

He ﷺ also said to his daughter Fāṭimah, as will be mentioned: “Gabriel used to review the Qur’an with me once every year, but this year he reviewed it with me twice, and I see in that only the nearness of my end.”

According to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would perform retreat (iʿtikāf) for ten days in every Ramadan, but in the year of his death he observed it for twenty. He would review the Qur’an with Gabriel each Ramadan, yet in the year he died the review took place twice.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from the Farewell Pilgrimage in Dhū al-Ḥijjah, remained in Madinah for the rest of that month as well as Muḥarram and Ṣafar, and dispatched Usāmah ibn Zayd. While the people were waiting for that expedition to depart, the Prophet began the illness in which Allah took him to His mercy and honour—during the last nights of Ṣafar or at the beginning of Rabīʿ al-Awwal. The first symptom, as I was told, was that he went out to the cemetery of al-Baqīʿ al-Gharqad in the middle of the night, sought forgiveness for its dwellers, and then returned to his family. When morning came, his pain began that very day.

Ibn Isḥāq also said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar narrated to me from ʿUbayd ibn Jubayr, the client of al-Ḥakam, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, from Abū Muwayhibah, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent for me in the depth of the night …”