We noted earlier that he ordered his grave to be dug while he was still alive and that a complete khatma (recitation of the entire Quran) be performed in it (1). He was carried to the site and, when he looked upon it, kept repeating, “To this shall you come, O son of Adam!” while weeping. He then instructed that the grave be widened at the chest and lengthened at the feet. After that he recited:
“My wealth has not benefited me (28); my authority has vanished from me,” [al-Ḥāqqa: 28–29] and he wept (2).
It is also related that when death drew near he said, “O Allah, let our good deeds profit us and forgive our misdeeds. O You who never die, have mercy on one who dies.” His illness was a hemorrhage—others say tuberculosis. Jibrīl the physician concealed the nature of the ailment, so al-Rashīd ordered a man to collect his urine in a flask, take it to Jibrīl, show it to him, and not reveal whose urine it was; should he ask, the man was to say, “It belongs to a patient of ours.” When Jibrīl saw it he said to a companion beside him, “This resembles the urine of that man.” The bearer of the flask understood whom he meant and said, “For Allah’s sake, tell me the condition of the owner of this urine, for I have money with him. If there is hope for him I will wait; otherwise I shall reclaim my property.” Jibrīl replied, “Go and disengage yourself from him, for he will live only a few days.” The messenger returned, informed al-Rashīd, and the latter summoned Jibrīl, but Jibrīl went into hiding until al-Rashīd passed away.
During those final moments al-Rashīd composed the following lines:
“I dwell in Ṭūs, a stranger here—
In Ṭūs I have no friend.
I hope in my Lord for what has befallen me,
For He to me is ever kind.
His unalterable decree has brought me to Ṭūs;
I have naught but contentment,
And patience and submission.”
He died in Ṭūs on Saturday, the third of Jumada al-Ākhira in the year 193 AH. Others say he died in Jumada al-Ūlā, and others in Rabiʿ al-Awwal. He was forty-five—some say forty-seven, others forty-eight—years old. His caliphate lasted twenty-three years, one month, and eighteen days; another report says three months. His son Ṣāliḥ led the funeral prayer over him, and he was buried in a village near Ṭūs called Sanābād (3).
Someone later said: “I read on al-Rashīd’s tents in Sanābād as the people were returning from Ṭūs after his death:
‘The soldiers’ encampments bustle with life,
While the greatest dwelling lies deserted.
Allah’s Caliph is in the abode of decay—
The sweeping winds cast dust upon his grave (4).
The caravans once came boasting of him;
Now the caravans depart lamenting him (5).’”