or facing the qiblah. Now, however, he can approach from the direction of the qiblah.

For this reason, most scholars recommended facing the chamber when offering him salutations of peace. Others held that one should instead face the qiblah when offering him salutations, as was the view of Abū Hanīfah.

Al-Walīd ibn ‘Abd al-Malik assumed the caliphate after the death of his father, ‘Abd al-Malik, sometime in the eighties AH. All these Companions had already died, as had the great majority of the Companions throughout the lands. Only a very few remained in the various cities, such as Anas ibn Mālik in Basra, who died during al-Walīd’s caliphate, sometime in the nineties AH. Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh died in Medina in 78 AH and was the last Companion to die there. Al-Walīd incorporated the chamber into the mosque long afterward, some ten years later. The construction of the mosque took place after Jābir’s death, so no Companion remained in Medina.

As for ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān, may Allah be pleased with him, he enlarged the mosque while many Companions were still alive, but did not incorporate any part of the chamber into it. Rather, he left the Prophet’s chamber as it had been: outside the mosque, adjoining its eastern side, just as it had been during the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and during the time of Abū Bakr and ‘Umar. ‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, was living in it.

‘Ā’ishah continued to live there until the latter part of Mu‘āwiyah’s caliphate, and she died after al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī. Al-Hasan had asked her permission to be buried in the chamber, and she had granted it. Others, however, objected, holding that since ‘Uthmān, may Allah be pleased with him, had not been buried there, no one else should be buried there either. Strife nearly broke out. When ‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, was dying, she instructed that she be buried with