Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ used to dig graves in the trench style practised by the people of Mecca, whereas Abū Ṭalḥah, Zayd ibn Sahl, was the grave-digger for the people of Madinah and he dug niche graves (laḥd). ʿAbbās therefore summoned two men and said to one of them, “Go to Abū ʿUbaydah,” and to the other, “Go to Abū Ṭalḥah. O Allah, choose what is best for Your Messenger.” The man who went to Abū Ṭalḥah found him and brought him, and he excavated a niche grave for the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

When the preparation of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was completed on Tuesday, he was placed upon his bier inside his house. The Muslims had differed over where he should be buried. One said, “Let us bury him in his mosque,” and another said, “Let us bury him with his Companions.” Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—say: ‘No prophet is taken by Allah except that he is buried where he passes away.’ ” They therefore removed the mattress on which the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had died, and dug his grave beneath it.

People were then admitted to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in groups to perform the funeral prayer over him: first the men; when they had finished, the women; and when the women were done, the children. No one led the people in prayer over the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He was buried about the middle of the night, the night before Wednesday.

Ibn Mājah narrated the same report through Naṣr ibn ʿAlī al-Jahḍamī, from Wahb ibn Jarīr, from his father, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, with the same chain, adding at its end that those who descended into his grave were ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, al-Faḍl and Qutham—the two sons of ʿAbbās—and Shuqrān, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Aws ibn Khawlī, who was Abū Laylā, said to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, “I adjure you by Allah and by our share of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” ʿAlī replied, “Come down.” Shuqrān, the Prophet’s freedman, had taken a cloak that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—used to wear and buried it in the grave, saying, “By Allah, no one shall ever wear it after you.” Thus it was buried with the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Imām Aḥmad also transmitted the report—through Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad, from Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, from Ibn Isḥāq—in abridged form; Yūnus ibn Bukayr and others likewise transmitted it from Ibn Isḥāq. Al-Wāqidī related—through Ibn Abī Ḥabībah, from Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, from Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, from the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Allah has not taken the soul of any prophet without burying him where he passed away.”

Al-Bayhaqī transmitted—through al-Ḥākim, from al-Aṣamm, from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, or Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr,