He would weep until his ribs shook. Yet this is not to be considered wailing; it is merely an expression of the true merits of the Prophet—may the finest prayers and peace be upon him. We make this point because the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—forbade wailing.

Imām Aḥmad (1) and al-Nasāʾī (2) relate—through the chain of Shuʿbah, who said, “I heard Qatādah say, ‘I heard Muṭarrif narrate from Ḥakīm ibn Qays ibn ʿĀṣim, from his father, in the course of the counsel he gave his sons—
that he said: ‘Do not wail over me, for the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—was not wailed over.’”

Ismāʿīl ibn Isḥāq al-Qāḍī also recorded it in “al-Nawādir,” from ʿAmr ibn Marzūq (3), from Shuʿbah with the same chain. He further transmitted it (4) from ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, from al-Mughīrah ibn Salamah, from al-Ṣaʿq ibn Ḥazn, from al-Qāsim ibn Muṭayyib, from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, from Qays ibn ʿĀṣim, who said:
‘Do not wail over me, for the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—was not wailed over, and I heard him forbid wailing.’ He also passed it on from ʿAlī, from Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl, from al-Ṣaʿq, from al-Qāsim, from Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd, from al-Ḥasan, from ʿĀṣim with the same wording.

The ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār (5) said: “ʿUqbah ibn Sinān narrated to us; ʿUthmān ibn ʿUthmān narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr narrated to us, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—was not wailed over.”

Imām Aḥmad (6) also said: “ʿAffān narrated to us; Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān narrated to us; Thābit narrated, from Anas, who said:
‘On the day the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—entered Madinah, every part of it was illuminated; but on the day he died, every part of it was cast into darkness.’
He added, ‘We had not finished brushing the dust from our hands after burying the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—before we felt our hearts estranged.’”

Al-Tirmidhī (7) and Ibn Mājah (8) both recorded it through Bishr ibn Hilāl al-Ṣawwāf, from Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān al-Ḍubāʿī with this chain. Al-Tirmidhī remarked, “This ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ and gharīb.”

I say: Its chain meets the conditions of the two Ṣaḥīḥs; it is soundly preserved from Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān, and all the compilers have cited his reports, transmitting it from him in this very form.

Al-Kudaymī—Muḥammad ibn Yūnus, may Allah have mercy on him—produced an unusual variant when he said (9): “Abū al-Walīd Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Ṭayālisī narrated to us; Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān al-Ḍubāʿī narrated to us, from Thābit, from Anas, who said:
‘When the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—passed away, Madinah was plunged into darkness so that we could not see one another; a man would stretch out his hand and not be able to see it, or…’