Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad narrated from his father that a group of Quraysh once visited his father ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. He said to them, “Shall I relate to you something from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?”
They replied, “Yes indeed—tell us about Abū al-Qāsim.”
He said: When the Messenger of Allah, ﷺ, fell ill, Gabriel came to him and said, “O Muḥammad, Allah has sent me to you as an honour and distinction especially for you. He—though He knows better than anyone—asks: ‘How do you find yourself?’”
The Prophet answered, “O Gabriel, I feel greatly grieved and deeply distressed.”
Gabriel came again on the second day and asked the same question; the Prophet gave him the same reply. Then he returned on the third day and repeated the question, and the Prophet responded as before.
Thereafter an angel called Ismāʿīl arrived, accompanied by one hundred thousand angels, each of whom was in charge of another hundred thousand angels. He sought permission to enter. Gabriel inquired about him and then said, “This is the Angel of Death asking leave to come in. Never before has he asked permission of a human being, nor will he do so after you.”
The Prophet, ﷺ, said, “Let him enter.” Permission was granted. He came in and greeted the Prophet, then said, “O Muḥammad, Allah has sent me to you. If you command me to take your soul I will take it, and if you command me to leave it I will leave it.”
The Messenger of Allah asked, “Will you really do that, O Angel of Death?” He answered, “Yes, for that is what I have been ordered to do, and I have been commanded to obey you.”
The Prophet looked toward Gabriel, and Gabriel said, “O Muḥammad, Allah longs for your meeting.”
So the Messenger of Allah, ﷺ, said to the Angel of Death, “Carry out what you have been ordered to do,” and the Angel of Death took his soul.
When the Prophet passed away and people began to offer condolences, they heard a voice from the direction of the house saying:
“Peace be upon you, People of the House, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Truly, with Allah is solace for every calamity, compensation for every loss, and recovery for every perished thing. Therefore, put your trust in Allah and place your hope in Him, for the truly stricken is the one who is deprived of reward.”
ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “Do you know who that was? It was al-Khiḍr, peace be upon him.”
This ḥadīth is mursal, and its chain is weak on account of al-Qāsim al-ʿUmari, whom a number of the Imams declared weak, while others abandoned him altogether. Al-Rabīʿ also narrated it from al-Shāfiʿī, from al-Qāsim, from Jaʿfar, from his father, from his grandfather, mentioning only the incident of the condolence with a continuous chain. We have already pointed out the issue with the chain that includes al-ʿUmari so no one will be misled by it.
Nevertheless, al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī transmitted it (4) from al-Ḥākim, from Abū Jaʿfar al-Baghdādī, who said that ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥārith—or ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Murtaʿad al-Ṣanʿānī (5)—told us; Abū al-Walīd al-Makhzūmī told us; Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ told us, from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad (6), from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: When the Messenger of Allah, ﷺ, passed away, (a caller called out) (7) and they heard the sound but could not see the one who spoke.