Imām Aḥmad (1) said: “Bahz and Abū Kāmil related to us, both saying: Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from Abū ʿImrān al-Jawnī, from Abū ʿAsīb—or Abū ʿAsīm (2).” Bahz added: “He was present at the funeral prayer for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. They asked him, ‘How are we to perform the prayer over him?’ He replied, ‘Enter in small groups, one after another.’ Thus the people would come in through one door, offer the prayer, and leave through the other.

“When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had been placed in his burial niche, al-Mughīrah remarked, ‘There is still something at his feet that has not been set right.’ They said, ‘Then go in and set it right.’ So he entered, put his hand in, and touched the Prophet’s feet, peace be upon him. Then he said, ‘Heap the earth over him.’ They threw soil upon him until it reached halfway up his shins; then he came out and would say thereafter, ‘I am the last of you to have had contact with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.’

When exactly did his burial, peace be upon him, take place? (4)

Yūnus (5) narrated, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: “Fāṭimah bint Muḥammad, the wife of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr, told me—he brought me in to her so I heard it directly (6)—from ʿAmrah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: ‘We did not know that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had been buried until we heard the sound of spades in the depths of the night on Wednesday.’ ”

Al-Wāqidī (7) said: “Ibn Abī Sabrah related to us, from al-Ḥulays ibn Hāshim (8), from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb, from Umm Salamah: ‘While we were gathered together, weeping and sleepless, with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, still in our houses—and finding comfort in seeing him on the bier—we suddenly heard the sound of pickaxes (9) before dawn. Umm Salamah continued: ‘We screamed, the people in the mosque screamed, and Madinah shook with a single outcry. Bilāl then called the adhān for Fajr; when he mentioned the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he wept and sobbed, which only deepened our grief. The people tried to enter his grave, but it was closed to them. What a calamity it was! No misfortune we have faced since has seemed great whenever we remember our loss of him, peace and blessings be upon him.’ ”

Imām Aḥmad (10) also transmitted, in a report from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim, from his father