either from inside the chamber or from outside it. In their time, the chamber could be entered through its door, since ‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, was living there. It remained accessible afterward, until the other wall was built. Yet despite being able to reach his grave, they did not enter it to greet him with peace, invoke blessings upon him, supplicate for themselves, or ask about a hadith or a matter of knowledge.

Nor did Satan entertain hopes of deceiving them by making them hear speech or greetings of peace, so that they would think that he himself had spoken to them, given them legal opinions, and explained hadiths to them, or that he had returned their greetings in a voice audible from outside. Satan did entertain such hopes concerning others and led them astray at his grave and the graves of others. They came to think that the occupant of the grave was speaking to them in person, giving them legal opinions, and issuing commands and prohibitions; that he would emerge from the grave and they would see him outside it. They imagined that the very bodies of the dead had emerged from their graves to speak to them, and that the deceased person’s soul had taken bodily form before them, so that they saw it just as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw them on the night of the Ascension while awake, not in a dream.

The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were the best generation of this community, which is the best community ever brought forth for humanity. They received the religion directly from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, without an intermediary. They thus understood his intentions, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, witnessed his actions, and heard directly from him what those who came after them did not. Likewise, they learned from one another things unavailable to later generations. They had broken with all the peoples of the earth and shown them enmity, forsaken all communities and their religions, and waged jihad against them with their lives