Muslim likewise records, on the authority of Jundub ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: “I heard the Prophet ﷺ five days before he passed away declaring: ‘I disavow before Allah that I should take any one of you as an intimate friend (khalīl), for Allah has already taken me as an intimate friend just as He took Abraham. Had I been able to choose an intimate friend from among my community, I would have chosen Abū Bakr. Beware! Those who came before you used to turn the graves of their prophets into places of worship. Therefore, do not make graves into places of worship; I forbid you to do so.’” (1)
Biographical notes
- Jundub: Jundub ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sufyān al-Bajalī, a well-known Companion; he died after 60 AH.
- Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿĀmir ibn ʿAmr ibn Kaʿb al-Taymī, the Prophet’s ﷺ successor (caliph) and, by unanimous agreement, the most virtuous of the Companions; he died in 13 AH at the age of sixty-three.
Explanatory phrases
• “Five”—that is, five nights; some say five years.
• “I disavow” means: I refuse and repudiate.
• “Khalīl” refers to one who is loved with the utmost degree of love.
• “Beware (alā)” is a particle used for opening a statement and drawing attention.
• “Those before you” refers to the Jews and Christians.
• “They used to turn the graves of their prophets into places of worship” by praying at them, toward them, and by building structures over them.