He said: When the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—passed away, the people differed over his burial, asking, “Shall we bury him among the common graveyards or in his apartments?” Abū Bakr replied, “I heard the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—say, ‘Allah has never taken the soul of a prophet without burying him where he died.’ ” He was therefore buried where his bed had been: the bedding was removed and a grave was dug beneath it.

Al-Wāqidī (1) narrated: ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar related to us from ʿUthmān ibn Muḥammad al-Akhnasī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿīd—meaning Ibn Yarbūʿ—who said: When the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—died, people disagreed about the place of his grave. One said, “In al-Baqqīʿ, for he used to pray for their forgiveness often.” Another said, “Beside his pulpit.” A third said, “In the spot where he led the prayer.” Then Abū Bakr arrived and declared, “I have information on this. I heard the Messenger of Allah say, ‘No prophet is taken except that he is buried where he passes away.’ ”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī (2) remarked: This wording is also found in the report of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd from al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, and in the report of Ibn Jurayj from his father—both mursal reports from Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Al-Bayhaqī (3) further related—through al-Ḥākim, al-Aṣamm, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, Yūnus ibn Bukayr, Salamah ibn Nubayt ibn Sharīṭ, from his father, from Sālim ibn ʿUbayd, one of the Companions of the Bench—that:

Abū Bakr entered upon the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—after he had died, then came out. He was asked, “Has the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—passed away?” “Yes,” he replied, and they knew the matter was as he said. They asked, “Shall we pray over him, and how?” He said, “You will come in groups, group after group, and perform the prayer.” They understood that it was as he had said. They then asked, “Shall he be buried, and where?” He answered, “Where Allah took his soul, for He only took it in a blessed place.” They realised that it was exactly as he stated.

Al-Bayhaqī (4) also narrated, through Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī, and Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, who said:

ʿĀ’ishah presented a dream to her father, who was among the most skilled interpreters of dreams. She said, “I saw three moons fall into my lap.” He replied, “If your dream is true, three of the best people on earth will be buried in your house.” When the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—passed away, he said, “O ʿĀ’ishah, this is the finest of your moons.”

Mālik (5) also transmitted it from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from ʿĀ’ishah, with a broken chain.

And in the two Ṣaḥīḥs (6) she relates: “The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—died in my house, on my day, with his head between my chest and my throat, and Allah joined my saliva with his at the last moment of this world and the first moment of the Hereafter.”