Excellent Qualities and Description of the Prophet

Anas told that one very dark night Usaid b. Hudair and `Abbad b. Bishr talked with the Prophet about a matter which concerned them till a short part of the night had passed. They then left God's messenger and went away, each having a small staff in his hand. The staff of one of them gave them light so that they walked by its light, and when their paths separated the other's staff gave him light, so each walked by the light of his staff till he reached his family. Bukhari transmitted it.

Before the battle of Uhud began my father called me 1 during the night and said, "I feel that I shall be among the first of the Prophet's companions to be killed, and apart from God's messenger himself I shall leave no one dearer to me than you. I owe a debt, so pay it; and look after your sisters well." In the morning he was the first to be killed, and I buried him in a grave along with another. Bukhari transmitted it.

The people in the Suffa were poor men, and the Prophet said, "Let him who has food for two take a third, and let him who has food for four take a fifth, or a sixth*." Abu Bakr brought three men and the Prophet went off with ten. Abu Bakr had supper with the Prophet, then remained till the evening prayer was said, after which he went back and stayed till the Prophet had had his supper. Then when so much of the night as God willed had passed, he came home and his wife asked what had kept him away from his guests. He asked if she had not given them their supper, and when she told him they had refused to take it till he came he was angry and said, "I swear by God that I will never taste it." His wife swore that she would not taste it, and the guests swore that they would not taste it; so Abu Bakr, saying this came from the devil, called for the food and ate, and they ate also. Whenever they raised a morsel to their mouths the place from which it was taken increased in quantity, so Abu Bakr said to his wife, "You who come from the B. Firas, what does this mean?" She replied, "I swear by my wellbeing that it is three times as great as it was." They ate and he sent it to the Prophet, and it is mentioned that he ate some of it. *It is not clear whether there is doubt about whether a fifth or a sixth is correct, or whether the words "or a sixth" indicate that two extra people may be invited when there is enough for four. The construction of the sentence rather suggests this latter meaning.(Bukhari and Muslim.)

`A'isha said that when the Negus died, they discussed the fact that a light continued to be seen over his grave. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

She told that when they intended to wash the Prophet, they said they did not know whether they should strip him of his clothes as they did with their dead, or wash him with his clothes on. When they disagreed, God cast sleep upon them, so that every man's chin was on his breast. Then someone of whose identity they were unaware addressed them from the comer of the house saying, "Wash the Prophet with his clothes on," so they got up and washed him with his shirt on, pouring the water over the shirt and rubbing him with the shirt. Baihaqi transmitted it in Dala'il an nubuwa.

Ibn al-Munkadir told that Safina, God's messenger's client, missed the army in the land of the Byzantines, or was taken prisoner, and went in flight in search of the army. He met a lion and said, "Abul Harith[*], I am the client of God's messenger, and such and such has happened to me." The lion came forward wagging its tail and stood beside. him, and as often as it heard a sound it rushed towards it. It then went forward walking at his side till he reached the army, after which the lion went back. *This is a name in the form of a kunya commonly applied to a lion.It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna.

The people of Medina were afflicted by a severe famine and complained to `A'isha who said, "Look at the Prophet's grave and make windows opening from it towards the sky so that there will be no ceiling between it and the sky." When they had done so they were given rain to such an extent that the herbage sprouted and the camels were bursting with fat. It was called the year of the bursting. *He was Aus b. 'Abdallah ar-Rab'i. He belonged to Basra and died in 83.Darimi transmitted it.

During the days of the battle of the harra[*] neither the call to prayer nor the declaration that the time for prayer had come was made for three days at the Prophet's Mosque. Sa'id b. al-Musayyib did not leave the mosque, and the only means by which he knew the time for prayer was a whinnying he heard coming from the Prophet's grave.*When the people of Medina rebelled against the Umayyad Caliph Yazid he sent an army under Muslim b. 'Uqba al-Murri towards the end of 63 A.H. The Medina troops were defeated in a battle known by the name given above.Darimi transmitted it.

Abu Khalda[1] told that he asked Abul `Aliya[2] whether Anas had heard anything from the Prophet, and he replied that he had served him for ten years and that the Prophet had prayed for a blessing on him. He had a garden which produced two crops of fruit annually, and in it there was basil which gave off the odour of musk. He was Khalid b. Dinar at-Tamimi as-Sa'di. He was Rufai' b. Mihran ar-Rayahi.Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a hasan gharib tradition.

'Urwa b. az-Zubair told that Arwa daughter of Aus brought a dispute with Sa'id b. Zaid b. `Amr b. Nufail before Marwan b. al-Hakam claiming he had taken some of her land. Sa'id said, "Would I take any of her land after what I heard from God's messenger?" He was asked what he had heard from God's messenger and replied that he had heard him say, "If anyone takes a span of land wrongfully it will be tied round him like a necklace to a depth of seven earths." Marwan said he would ask him for no proof after that, and Sa'id said, "0 God, if she is lying make her blind and kill her in her land." Urwa said she did not die till after she had lost her eyesight. And while she was walking on her land she fell into a hole and died. (Bukhari and Muslim.)Something to the same effect is given in a version by Muslim on the authority of Muhammad b. Zaid b. `Abdallah b. `Umar who said he had seen her blind, feeling for walls, and saying she had been smitten by Sa'id's curse; and that she had come past a well in the region about which she had disputed with him and fallen into it, and it was her grave. Muslim

Ibn `Umar told that 'Umar sent off an army over which he appointed a man called Sariya as commander. While `Umar was addressing the people he began to shout, `Keep near the mountain, Sari[*]" A messenger came later from the army and said, "Commander of the faithful, we met our enemy and they routed us, then someone began to shout, `Keep near the mountain, Sari,' so we set our backs to the mountain and God most high routed them."*A shortened form of the man's name.Baihaqi transmitted it in Dala'il an-nubuwa.

Nubaiha b. Wahb told th at once when Ka'b[1] went in to visit `A'isha and those present mentioned God's messenger, Ka'b said, "Not a day begins without seventy thousand angels descending, surrounding the grave of God's messenger, beating their wings and invoking blessings on him. When evening comes, they ascend and a like number come down and do the same as that. This will go on till the earth is cloven[2] and he comes forth escorted by seventy thousand angels." i.e., Ka'b al-Ahbar On the day of resurrection.Darimi transmitted it.

The first of the companions of God's messenger to come to us were Mus'ab b. `Umair and Ibn Umm Maktum who began to teach us the Quran[1]. Then `Ammar,[2] Bilal[3] and Sa'd[4] came. Then `Umar b. al-Khattab came with twenty of the Prophet's companions. Then the Prophet came, and I never saw the people of Medina so happy about anything as they were about him. I even saw the little girls and boys saying, "This is God's messenger who has come." By the time he came I had learned "Glorify the name of your most high Lord"[5] along with similar suras from al-Mufassal. 1. These two were sent to Medina before the Hijra to teach the people who had sworn allegiance to the Prophet. 2. 'Ammar b. Yasir. 3. Bilal b. Rabah. 4. Sa'd b. Abu Waqqe. 5. Quran:87Bukhari transmitted it.

God's messenger sat on the pulpit and said, "A man was given his choice by God as to whether He should give him as much worldly comfort as he wished, or whether he should have what was with Him, and he chose what was with Him." Abu Bakr then wept and said, "We would ransom you with our fathers and our mothers." We were surprised at him, and some people said, "Look at this old man who says when God's messenger is telling about a man who was given his choice by God as to whether He should give him worldly comfort or whether he should have what is with Him, `We would ransom you with our fathers and our mothers'." Now God's messenger was the one who was given his choice and Abu Bakr was the one among us who had most knowledge. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

`Uqba b. `Amir told that God's messenger prayed eight years after the battle of Uhud over those who were slain there like one who was bidding farewell to the living and the dead. He then mounted the pulpit and said, "I am one who goes before you and I shall be a witness to you. Your appointed place is the Pond at which I am looking while I am where I am just now. I have been given the keys of the treasures of the earth, and I do not fear for you that you should become polytheists after I am gone, but I fear lest you should long for worldly things (some adding, and fight), and perish like your predecessors." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

One of God's favours to me was that God's messenger died in my house on my day resting on my breast, and that God joined his saliva with mine[*] when he died. When I was supporting God's messenger `Abd ar-Rahman b. Abu Bakr came in to -visit me with a tooth-stick in his hand. I saw the Prophet looking at it, and I knew it was a characteristic of his to like a tooth-stick, so I asked if I would get it for him and he nodded his assent. He took it, but it was too hard for him, so I suggested softening it for him and he nodded his assent. I softened it and he moved it over his teeth. There was a jug of water in front of him and he began to put his hands into the water and wipe his face with them saying meanwhile, ``There is no god but God. Death has pangs." The he raised his hand and began to say, ["Put me] among the highest companions" until he died and his hand dropped. *The reference is to the detail mentioned later in the tradition telling that she softened the tooth-stick in her mouth before the Prophet used it.Bukhari transmitted it.

I heard God's messenger say, "No prophet becomes ill without being given his choice between this world and the next. "During his complaint of which he died he was afflicted by severe hoarseness, and I heard him say, "With those of the prophets, upright, martyrs and pious ones to whom Thou hast shown favour," so I knew that he had been given his choice. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Anas told that when the Prophet's illness became heavy, he began to be overwhelmed by anxiety, and Fatima said, "Alas for the anxiety, father!" He replied to her, "Your father will have no anxiety after to-day." Then when he died, she said, "0 my father! He has responded to a Lord who summoned him. 0 my father! In the garden of Firdaus is his destination. 0 my father[*] To Gabriel we shall announce his death!" Then when he was buried Fatima said, "Anas, have you people found it an easy task to scatter earth over God's messenger?" Bukhari transmitted it.

I have never seen a day which was better or brighter than the day when God's messenger entered to us; and I have never seen a worse or a darker day than the I day on which God's messenger died. Darimi.In Tirmidhi's version he said: When the day came on which God's messenger entered Medina, everything in it shone; but when the day came on which he died, everything; in it was dark. We did not brush the earth off our hands when we were engaged in burying him, and we felt sore at heart.

`A'isha told that when God's messenger died the people disagreed about his burial, and Abu Bakr said he had heard something from God's messenger. He had said, "God takes a prophet only in the place where he wishes to be buried." So, he told them to bury him where his bedding lay. Tirmidhi transmitted it.