ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAmr al-Raqī related from Zayd ibn Abī Unaysah, from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Hārith, who said:

Jundub told me that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) five days before his passing say:

“I have had among you brothers and companions, but today I absolve every intimate friend (khalīl) of the bond of such intimacy. Were I to take a khalīl from my community, I would surely take Abū Bakr as a khalīl; however, my Lord has taken me as a khalīl just as He took Abraham as a khalīl. A people before you used to turn the graves of their prophets and their righteous into places of worship—so do not turn graves into mosques. I forbid you to do that.”

Muslim (1) recorded this report in his Ṣaḥīḥ through Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh with similar wording. The day mentioned—five days before his death—was the Thursday referred to earlier by Ibn ʿAbbās.

We have also transmitted this sermon through another chain from Ibn ʿAbbās. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī (2) said: Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Muqriʾ informed us; al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; Yūsuf ibn Yaʿqūb (3) narrated, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr narrated to us; Wahb ibn Jarīr narrated to us; my father narrated, saying: I heard Yaʿlā ibn Ḥakīm, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

“The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came out during the illness in which he died, his head wrapped with a cloth. He ascended the pulpit, praised Allah and extolled Him, and then said:

‘No one among the people has been more gracious to me with his life and wealth than Abū Bakr. Were I to take a khalīl from among mankind, I would indeed take Abū Bakr as a khalīl; but the bond of Islam is superior. Close every small doorway (khawkhah) opening into the mosque except the doorway of Abū Bakr.’”

Al-Bukhārī (4)(5) recorded this through ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Juʿfī, from Wahb ibn Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, from his father, with this wording.

Regarding his statement (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), “Close every khawkhah,” the khawkhah refers to the small doors that opened into the mosque. Exempting Abū Bakr’s doorway was an implicit indication of the caliphate, i.e., that he should emerge through it to lead the Muslims in prayer.

Al-Bukhārī (6) likewise transmitted it through ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sulaymān ibn Ḥanẓalah—ibn al-Ghasīl—from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās: that the Messenger of Allah came out during the illness in which he died, his head bound with a band.