I asked, “Then what did you do with the man?”

He replied, “During the day, we dug thirteen graves in separate places. When night came, we buried him and levelled all the graves to conceal his whereabouts from people so that they would not dig him up.”

I asked, “What did they hope to gain through him?”

He replied, “Whenever rain was withheld from them, they would bring out his bier, and rain would fall upon them.”

I asked, “Who did you think the man was?”

He replied, “A man called Daniel.”

I asked, “How long had he been dead when you found him?”

He replied, “Three hundred years.”

I asked, “Had anything about him changed?”

He replied, “No, except for a few hairs at the back of his head. The earth does not cause the flesh of prophets to decay, nor do wild beasts devour it.”

The Companions left no prophet’s grave openly known in Islam for people to be led astray through it, travel to it, invoke it, or take it as a mosque. Indeed, they screened off even the grave of our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, within the chamber and prevented people from accessing it as far as possible. They erased the traces of other graves as far as possible if people were being led astray through them. If people were not being led astray through a grave, however, there was no harm in knowing its location, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, related when describing how the Angel of Death came to Moses, peace be upon him:

“The angel said, ‘Answer your Lord’s call.’ Moses slapped him and put out his eye. The angel returned to Allah and said, ‘You sent me to a servant of Yours who does not want to die, and he has put out my eye.’ Allah restored his eye and said, ‘Go back to Moses and say to him: “Do you wish to live? If you wish to live, place your hand on the back of a bull. For every hair your hand covers, you will live one year.”’ Moses said, ‘Then what?’