—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—whether to pray beside it, supplicate, or for any other purpose, up to the time when ‘Ā’ishah was alive. She died more than twenty or thirty years before the chamber was incorporated into the mosque, during the caliphate of Mu‘āwiyah. He was succeeded by his son Yazīd, then Ibn al-Zubayr during the civil strife, then ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān, and then his son al-Walīd. Al-Walīd’s reign began after 80 AH, by which time most of the Companions had died. It is said that none remained in Medina except Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh—may Allah be pleased with them both—for he was the last of them to die there, in 78 AH, ten years before the chamber was incorporated into the mosque.

During ‘Ā’ishah’s lifetime—may Allah be pleased with her—people would enter her chamber to hear hadith, seek her legal opinions, and visit her. Those who entered would not go to the honoured grave to pray, supplicate, or for any other purpose. Sometimes, however, someone would ask her to show him the graves, and she would do so. They were neither flush with the ground nor raised high, and were covered with pebbles from the courtyard. There is disagreement over whether they were mounded or flat-topped. The account in al-Bukhārī describes them as mounded. Sufyān al-Tammār said that he saw the grave of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and that it was mounded.

Nevertheless, someone entering would greet the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—with peace, because he said:

“No one greets me with peace but Allah restores my soul to me so that I may return his greeting.”

This greeting was prescribed for those who entered the chamber. It is the greeting offered from close by, which the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—returns to the person offering it. As for the general greeting of peace