When he passed away, it was at a place called al-Hubshī, six miles from Mecca—though some say twelve. Men bore him on their shoulders until he was buried in the upper part of Mecca.
When ʿĀʾishah later arrived in Mecca, she visited his grave and said, “By Allah, had I been present at your death I would not have wept over you, and had I been with you I would not have moved you from the spot where you died.” She then recited the verses of Mutammim ibn Nuwayrah on his brother Mālik:
“We were, for a span of time, like Jadhīmah’s two boon companions,
until people said they would never part;
But once we were separated, it is as though Mālik and I—
after so many years together—had never spent a single night side by side.”
Related by al-Tirmidhī and others ⦗1⦘.
Ibn Saʿd reported that Ibn ʿUmar saw a pavilion erected over ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s grave—put up by ʿĀʾishah after she had departed—so he ordered it removed, saying, “Only his deeds can shade him now.”
According to many historians, his death occurred in that same year. Others maintain that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān died in 53 AH—a view held by al-Wāqidī, his scribe Muḥammad ibn Saʿd, Abū ʿUbayd, and several others—while some place it in 54 AH. Allah knows best.
His encounter with Laylā bint al-Jūdī, ruler of the Arabs of Syria
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār said: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Ḥizāmī narrated to me from his father that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq once travelled to Syria on a trading mission—during his pre-Islamic days. There he saw a woman named Laylā, daughter of al-Jūdī, seated upon a ṭinfsah (2) and surrounded by her maid-servants (3), and she captivated him. Ibn ʿAsākir adds that he saw her in the region of Buṣrā. Concerning her he composed the following lines:
“I recalled Laylā while the sky stretched between us;
what is the daughter of al-Jūdī, Laylā, to me and my wealth? (4)
How could a woman of the Banū Ḥārith win his heart—
one who sets out for Buṣrā or settles in al-Jawābi?
And how might I meet her? Yet perhaps—
if the people perform the ḥajj next year—she too will be there.”
He went on to say: When ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb dispatched his army to Syria, he told the commander, “If you gain possession of Laylā bint…"