Chapter: Prompting the Dying Person to Say “There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah”

Hadith 917 – Muʿādh (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever’s last words are ‘There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah’ will enter Paradise.” Related by Abū Dāwūd and al-Ḥākim, who declared its chain of transmission sound.

[Commentary]
The author, al-Nawawī—may Allah have mercy on him—places this narration in his Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn under the heading “Prompting the dying person to say: ‘There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah.’”

The term al-muḥtaḍar (the dying person) refers to one whose soul the angels have come to take. Allah, exalted is He, has appointed angels to watch over every human being during his life and after his death. He, Most High, says, “For each one are successive angels before him and behind him, protecting him by Allah’s command” (Qur’an 13:11). And He says, “Until, when death comes to one of you, Our messengers take him completely, and they never neglect their duty” (Qur’an 6:61).

Thus, when a person’s appointed time arrives, angels descend to him and seize his soul from the hand of the Angel of Death.