Several narrators reported that whenever Abū Hurayrah saw a funeral procession he would say, “Move along, for we shall follow in the morning,” or, “Set out in the morning, for we are coming in the evening.”

More than one transmitter also related that when death approached him he wept. He was asked, “What makes you weep?” He replied, “The scantiness of provisions, the arduousness of the desert crossing, and the fact that I am now at a downward slope leading either to Paradise or to the Fire; I do not know to which of the two I shall be taken.” (1)

Mālik narrated—from Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Maqburī—that Marwān visited Abū Hurayrah during the illness in which he died and said, “May Allah grant you healing, O Abū Hurayrah.” Abū Hurayrah answered, “O Allah, I long to meet You, so love my meeting.” Marwān had not yet reached Aṣḥāb al-qaṭā before Abū Hurayrah passed away. (2)

Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān reported—from Duḥaym, from al-Walīd [from] (3) ibn Jābir, from ʿUmayr ibn Hāniʾ—who said: Abū Hurayrah prayed, “O Allah, do not let me live to see the year sixty.” He died that very year, or a year before it.

Al-Wāqidī likewise stated that he died in 59 AH at the age of seventy-eight.

Al-Wāqidī added: “He is the one who led the funeral prayer over ʿĀʾishah in Ramadan and over Umm Salamah in Shawwāl of the year 59 AH; afterward, in that same year, Abū Hurayrah himself died.” That is what he said, though the correct view is that Umm Salamah survived Abū Hurayrah.

Several authorities have said that he died in 59 AH; others have said 58 or 57, but the most widely accepted opinion is 59.

They also reported that al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah ibn Abī Sufyān, the governor of Madinah, led his funeral prayer. Among the congregation were Ibn ʿUmar, Abū Saʿīd, and many other Companions and others. The prayer was held at the ʿAṣr time. He died in his house at al-ʿAqīq, was carried to Madinah, the funeral prayer was performed over him, and he was buried in al-Baqīʿ—may Allah have mercy on him and be pleased with him.

Al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah wrote to Muʿāwiyah informing him of Abū Hurayrah’s death. Muʿāwiyah replied, “See to his heirs and treat them kindly; give them ten thousand dirhams; be a good neighbor to them and extend every kindness to them, for he was among those who supported ʿUthmān and was with him in the house.” May Allah, Exalted is He, have mercy on them both.