And in her heart she said, “Who could possibly be better than Abu Salama?”—for she truly believed the Prophet’s words. When her waiting period came to an end, the Prophet ﷺ sought her hand in marriage, and he was, beyond any doubt, better for her than Abu Salama.

The important point here is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ closed Abu Salama’s eyes and then said:

“O Allah, forgive Abu Salama, raise his rank among the rightly guided, illuminate his grave, make it spacious for him, and be the Guardian over his offspring.”

Five brief petitions—yet each is worth more than the whole world:

1. “O Allah, forgive Abu Salama,” that is, wipe away his sins so he is not punished for them; pardon him and overlook his faults.
2. “Raise his rank among the rightly guided,” meaning in Paradise, for all who dwell there are rightly guided.
3. “Make his grave spacious,” that is, widen it for him; although graves are tangibly narrow compared with earthly dwellings, they are expanded for the believer until they stretch as far as the eye can see and become a garden from the gardens of Paradise.
4. “Illuminate it for him,” for the grave is perceptibly dark—there is no daylight there, nor the light of a lamp or anything else—so grant him light.
5. “Be the Guardian over his offspring,” meaning: take charge of his children after him.

Of these five supplications, part of them we have already witnessed, and part we continue to hope for.