Al-Bukhārī (1) said: Qutaybah narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from Sulaymān al-Aḥwal, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said:

Ibn ʿAbbās recounted: “Thursday—what a Thursday that was! The pain of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ became severe, and he said, ‘Bring me something so that I may write for you a document after which you will never go astray.’ They began to argue—yet disputing in the presence of a Prophet is unbecoming. Some of them said, ‘What is the matter with him? Is he delirious? Ask him to clarify.’ They drew near to respond, but he said, ‘Leave me, for the state I am in is better than what you are calling me to.’ He then charged them with three matters: ‘Expel the idolaters from the Arabian Peninsula; grant hospitality to delegations in the same manner I used to grant it.’ He then fell silent over the third—or he said, ‘I have forgotten it.’ Al-Bukhārī has recorded this report in another place, and Muslim likewise on the authority of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah.

Al-Bukhārī (4) also said: ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Maʿmar informed us, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

“When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in the throes of death and there were men in the house, the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Come, so that I may write for you a document after which you will never go astray.’ Some replied, ‘The Messenger of Allah is overwhelmed by pain, and you have the Qur’an; the Book of Allah is sufficient for us.’ Those present then differed and argued. Some said, ‘Bring the materials so that he may write a document after which you will not go astray,’ while others spoke otherwise. When their clamour and dispute grew excessive, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Leave.’

ʿUbayd Allāh added: Ibn ʿAbbās said, ‘The calamity—yes, the entire calamity—was that their disagreement and noise prevented the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from writing that document for them.’

Muslim (5) narrated this from Muḥammad ibn Rāfiʿ and ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd—both from ʿAbd al-Razzāq—with similar wording. Al-Bukhārī (6) has also recorded it in several sections of his Ṣaḥīḥ through the transmissions of Maʿmar and Yūnus from al-Zuhrī.

This ḥadīth has led some foolish people—innovators among the Shiʿah and others—into error, each claiming that the Prophet ﷺ intended to write therein something that covertly supports their doctrines. This is nothing but clinging to the ambiguous and abandoning what is explicit. The People of the Sunnah take hold of the clear texts and refer the ambiguous back to them; such is the way of those firmly grounded in knowledge, as Allah describes them in His Book. Many feet have slipped over this matter among the deviant sects, whereas the People of the Sunnah have no path but to follow the truth, wherever it leads.

As for what the Prophet ﷺ wished to write, the authentic narrations explicitly clarify it. Indeed, Imam Aḥmad (9) said: Muʾammal narrated to us;