Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 156
حَدَّثَنَا حَفْصُ بْنُ عُمَرَ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا عُمَرُ بْنُ الْفَضْلِ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا نُعَيْمُ بْنُ يَزِيدَ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالِبٍ صَلَوَاتُ اللهِ عَلَيْهِ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَمَّا ثَقُلَ قَالَ: يَا عَلِيُّ، ائْتِنِي بِطَبَقٍ أَكْتُبْ فِيهِ مَا لاَ تَضِلُّ أُمَّتِي بَعْدِي، فَخَشِيتُ أَنْ يَسْبِقَنِي فَقُلْتُ: إِنِّي لَأَحْفَظُ مِنْ ذِرَاعَيِ الصَّحِيفَةِ، وَكَانَ رَأْسُهُ بَيْنَ ذِرَاعِي وَعَضُدِي، فَجَعَلَ يُوصِي بِالصَّلاَةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ، وَقَالَ كَذَاكَ حَتَّى فَاضَتْ نَفْسُهُ، وَأَمَرَهُ بِشَهَادَةِ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، مَنْ شَهِدَ بِهِمَا حُرِّمَ عَلَى النَّارِ.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Hafs ibn Umar narrated to us. He said: Umar ibn al-Fadl narrated to us. He said: Nuaym ibn Yazid narrated to us. He said: Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah bless him, narrated to us that when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, became gravely ill, he said, 'Ali, bring me a tray on which I can write something after which my community will not go astray.' I feared he might die before I could bring it, so I said, 'I can preserve it better than [the writing on] the sheet'—the wording here is unclear. His head was between my forearm and upper arm. He continued to enjoin prayer, zakat, and those under your authority, repeating this until his soul departed. He instructed him to bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger; whoever bears witness to both is protected from the Fire.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
فَخَشِيتُ أَنْ يَسْبِقَنِي فَقُلْتُ: إِنِّي لَأَحْفَظُ مِنْ ذِرَاعَيِ الصَّحِيفَةِ،
The phrase involving the forearm-length sheet is syntactically and semantically unclear in this source text.
Can this phrase be checked against a reliable parallel witness before fixing its English wording?
وَأَمَرَهُ بِشَهَادَةِ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ
The pronoun in 'he instructed him' is not explicit in isolation, though the narrative suggests the Prophet addressed Ali.
Should the English retain an explicit 'him' or phrase this as an impersonal instruction?