Imam Aḥmad said (1): Ibn Idrīs narrated to us, Yazīd narrated, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was shrouded in three pieces of cloth: the very shirt in which he passed away and a Najrānī hullah—the hullah being two garments.

Abū Dāwūd (2) recorded the same report from Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah, while Ibn Mājah (3) related it through ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad; all three chains go back to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs, from Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās with wording to that effect. This narration is exceedingly unusual (4).

Imam Aḥmad also said (5): ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us, Sufyān, from Ibn Abī Laylā, from al-Ḥakam, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was shrouded in two white cloths and a red mantle.” (6) Aḥmad alone transmits it through this chain.

Abū Bakr al-Shāfiʿī said: ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan narrated to us; Ḥumayd ibn al-Rabīʿ; Bakr—that is, Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān; ʿĪsā—that is, Ibn al-Mukhtār; from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, namely Ibn Abī Laylā; from ʿAṭāʾ; from Ibn ʿAbbās; from al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “The Messenger of Allah was shrouded in two white cloths and a red mantle.” (7)

Abū Yaʿlā (8) said: Sulaimān al-Shādhakūnī narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Abī al-Haytham; ʿUthmān ibn ʿAṭāʾ, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from al-Faḍl, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was shrouded in two white Saḥūlī cloths.” Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā added: “and a red mantle.”

Several other transmitters have also reported—through Abū Ismāʿīl al-Muʾaddib, from Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAṭāʾ, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from al-Faḍl—that “the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was shrouded in two white cloths,” while another wording states, “two Saḥūlī cloths.” Allah knows best.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir further narrated, via Abū Ṭāhir al-Mukhalliṣ: Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq [al-Bahlūl] related to us; ʿAbbād ibn Yaʿqūb narrated to us; Sharīk, from Abū Isḥāq, said: “I entered upon the gathering of Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib while they were…"