الشَّمَائِلُ وَالْوَفَاة

From those who described him

Neither tall nor short. A wide brow, black eyes with a natural line of kohl in them, a fine nose, a thick beard, hair to his earlobes. Broad-shouldered and wide-chested; when he turned, he turned his whole body. Anas رضي الله عنه, who served him ten years, said he never touched silk softer than his palm and never smelled a scent better than his scent. Those who saw him said: I have never seen anyone like him, before or after.

لَمْ يَكُنْ بِالطَّوِيلِ الْبَائِنِ وَلَا بِالْقَصِيرِ، أَزْهَرُ اللَّوْنِ، وَاسِعُ الْجَبِينِ، أَدْعَجُ الْعَيْنَيْنِ، كَثُّ اللِّحْيَةِ، إِذَا الْتَفَتَ الْتَفَتَ جَمِيعًا. قَالَ أَنَسٌ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ: مَا مَسِسْتُ حَرِيرًا أَلْيَنَ مِنْ كَفِّ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ، وَلَا شَمِمْتُ رِيحًا أَطْيَبَ مِنْ رِيحِه.

at-Tirmidhī, ash-Shamāʾil al-Muḥammadiyyah

What his wife said of him

Asked to describe his character, ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها said: his character was the Qur’an. He never struck anything with his hand — not a servant, not a woman — except in the way of Allah. Given a choice between two things he took the easier, so long as it was not a sin. He never took revenge for himself. Anas رضي الله عنه served him ten years and was never once asked why he had done a thing, or why he had not.

سُئِلَتْ عَائِشَةُ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا عَنْ خُلُقِهِ فَقَالَتْ: كَانَ خُلُقُهُ الْقُرْآنَ. وَمَا ضَرَبَ بِيَدِهِ شَيْئًا قَطُّ إِلَّا أَنْ يُجَاهِدَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ، وَمَا انْتَقَمَ لِنَفْسِهِ قَط.

وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَى خُلُقٍ عَظِيم

And indeed, you are of a tremendous character.

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim · Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, ash-Shifāʾ

At night

He stood in the night until his feet swelled. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها asked him why, when Allah had already forgiven him what came before and after. He said: shall I not be a thankful servant? He wept in prayer, and there was a sound from his chest like a boiling pot. He fasted until it was said he never broke his fast, and broke it until it was said he never fasted.

كَانَ يَقُومُ حَتَّى تَتَفَطَّرَ قَدَمَاهُ، فَقِيلَ لَهُ: أَتَصْنَعُ هَذَا وَقَدْ غَفَرَ اللَّهُ لَكَ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ؟ فَقَالَ: أَفَلَا أَكُونُ عَبْدًا شَكُورًا. وَكَانَ يُصَلِّي وَلِصَدْرِهِ أَزِيزٌ كَأَزِيزِ الْمِرْجَل.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī · Sunan Abī Dāwūd

What they saw indoors

Asked what he did in his house, ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها said: he was in the service of his family — mending his own sandal, patching his own garment, milking his sheep — until the prayer was called, and then he went out. He raced her in the desert and let her win, and reminded her of it years later when he won. He never once criticised food: if he wanted it he ate it, and if not he left it.

سُئِلَتْ عَائِشَةُ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا: مَا كَانَ يَصْنَعُ فِي بَيْتِهِ؟ قَالَتْ: كَانَ فِي مِهْنَةِ أَهْلِهِ، يَخْصِفُ نَعْلَهُ وَيَرْقَعُ ثَوْبَهُ وَيَحْلُبُ شَاتَهُ، فَإِذَا حَضَرَتِ الصَّلَاةُ خَرَجَ إِلَيْهَا.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī · ash-Shamāʾil

Everywhere in the account

He shortened the prayer because he heard a child crying and knew what it did to the mother. He stood for a passing funeral, was told whose it was, and said: was it not a soul? He forbade the burning of an ant-hill and the taking of fledglings from a nest, and told a man who said he had ten children and had never kissed one of them that whoever shows no mercy is shown none. The whole of it is one verse: We sent you only as a mercy to the worlds.

كَانَ يُخَفِّفُ الصَّلَاةَ إِذَا سَمِعَ بُكَاءَ الصَّبِيِّ رَحْمَةً بِأُمِّهِ، وَقَامَ لِجَنَازَةٍ مَرَّتْ بِهِ فَقِيلَ لَهُ فَقَالَ: أَلَيْسَتْ نَفْسًا؟ وَقَالَ: مَنْ لَا يَرْحَمْ لَا يُرْحَم.

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِين

And We have not sent you except as a mercy to the worlds.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī · Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, ash-Shifāʾ

Ṣafar to Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 11 AH

The fever took him, and he asked his wives’ leave to be nursed in ʿĀʾishah’s room, and walked there between two men with his feet dragging. He told Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه to lead the prayer. He came out one last time, on the Monday morning, and pulled back the curtain to see the rows of them praying — and smiled; and Abū Bakr stepped back thinking he was coming out, and he signalled them to finish. His last instructions were: the prayer, the prayer, and those your right hands possess.

اشْتَدَّ بِهِ الْوَجَعُ فَاسْتَأْذَنَ أَزْوَاجَهُ أَنْ يُمَرَّضَ فِي بَيْتِ عَائِشَةَ، وَأَمَرَ أَبَا بَكْرٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ أَنْ يُصَلِّيَ بِالنَّاسِ، وَكَشَفَ السِّتْرَ يَوْمَ الِاثْنَيْنِ فَنَظَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ صُفُوفًا فَتَبَسَّمَ. وَكَانَ آخِرَ مَا أَوْصَى بِهِ: الصَّلَاةَ الصَّلَاةَ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُم.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī · Ibn Saʿd

Monday, Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 11 AH

He was taken on a Monday, in the forenoon, in the room of ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها, his head against her chest, a vessel of water beside him that he kept putting his hands into and wiping his face with, saying: there is a hardship in death. His last words, spoken looking upward, were: with the highest company. He was sixty-three. Anas رضي الله عنه said: no day was ever brighter than the day he entered Madinah, and no day darker than the day he was taken from it.

تُوُفِّيَ ﷺ يَوْمَ الِاثْنَيْنِ ضُحًى فِي بَيْتِ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا وَرَأْسُهُ عَلَى صَدْرِهَا، وَكَانَ آخِرُ كَلَامِهِ: مَعَ الرَّفِيقِ الْأَعْلَى، وَلَهُ ثَلَاثٌ وَسِتُّونَ سَنَة.

اللَّهُمَّ الرَّفِيقَ الْأَعْلَى

O Allah — the highest company.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Muslim

The same day

Madinah would not accept it. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه stood with his sword and said he would strike the hands and feet off any man who said the Messenger of Allah was dead. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه came in, uncovered his face, kissed his forehead and said: you are good in life and in death. Then he went out and said: whoever worshipped Muḥammad — Muḥammad is dead. Whoever worships Allah — Allah is alive and never dies. And he recited the verse, and it was as though the people had never heard it until that moment.

قَامَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ فَقَالَ: مَنْ كَانَ يَعْبُدُ مُحَمَّدًا فَإِنَّ مُحَمَّدًا قَدْ مَاتَ، وَمَنْ كَانَ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ حَيٌّ لَا يَمُوتُ. ثُمَّ تَلَا: وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُل.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī