The Life of Muhammad

by M. Husayn Haykal

  Actually, this complaint had always been on al Ansar’s lips, even during the Prophet’s lifetime. When ‘Umar heard it being voiced again, he could hardly restrain himself. Indeed, he was ready to put an end to this situation once and for all by the sword, if needed. Fearing that harsh treatment might aggravate rather than improve matters, Abu Bakr held ‘Umar back and asked him to act gently. He then turned to al Ansar, saying: “O men, we, the Muhajirun, were the first men to convert to Islam. We enjoy the noblest lineage and descendence. We are the most reputable and the best esteemed as well as the most numerous of any group in Arabia. Furthermore, we are the closest blood relatives of the Prophet. The Qur’an itself has given us preference. For it is God-may He be praised and blessed-Who said, ‘First and foremost were al Muhajirun, then al Ansar, and then those who have followed these two groups in virtue and righteousness.’ [Qur’an, 9:100] We were the first to emigrate for the sake of God, and you are literally ‘al Ansar’, i.e., the helpers. However, you are our brethren in religion, our partners in the fortunes of war, and our helpers against the enemy. All the good that you have claimed is truly yours, for you are the most worthy people of mankind. But the Arabs do not and will not recognize any sovereignty unless it belongs to the tribe of Quraysh. The princes shall be from among us, whereas your group will furnish the viziers.” At this, a member of al Ansar became furious and said: “Rather am I, the experienced warrior! On my arm every verdict shall rest. And my verdict is that the people of Quraysh may have their prince as long as we, too, may have our own.” Abu Bakr repeated his proposition that the princes of the Muslims must be of the Quraysh whereas their vizers must be of al Ansar. Taking the hand of ‘Umar ibn al Khattab as well as that of Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn al Jarrah, who were sitting on either side of him, Abu Bakr said, “Either one of these two men is acceptable to us as leader of the Muslim community. Choose whomsoever you please.”

  Nomination of Abu Bakr to the Caliphate

  At that moment, all the men present began to talk at the same time, and the meeting itself was on the verge of disintegration. With his usual clear and loud voice, ‘Umar said: “O Abu Bakr, stretch forth your hand and I will give you my oath of fealty. Did not the Prophet himself command you to lead the Muslims in prayer? You, therefore, are his successor. We elect you to this position. In electing you, we are electing the best of all those whom the Prophet of God loved and trusted.” ‘Umar’s words touched the hearts of the Muslims present, as they truly expressed the Prophet’s will up to and including the last day of his life. On that day they had witnessed his insistence that Abu Bakr lead the prayer even in his presence. Thus, the difference between al Muhajirun and al Ansar was dissolved, and members of both camps came forward to give their oath of fealty.

  Abu Bakr’s Election

  On the following day, as Abu Bakr took his place at the pulpit of the mosque, ‘Umar ibn al Khattab rose before the congregation and said, after offering due praise to God: “Yesterday, I presented to you a novel idea. I drew it neither from the Book of God, nor from any memory I have of the Prophet of God. It just occurred to me that the Prophet of God would continue to lead us in this world forever and that he would survive us all. But now I know better. God has left us His Holy Book, the Repository of His Prophet’s guidance. If we hold closely to it, God will surely guide us to the same felicity to which he guided His Prophet. God has consolidated you together under the leadership of the best man among you, of the companion of the Prophet of God-may God’s peace and blessing be upon him-who was blessed by God with the honor of the Prophet’s company in the cave when the Makkans were following in close pursuit. Rise and give him your oath of fealty.” All the men rose and pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr. That was the public bay’ah, [In Islamic political theory, “bay’ah” means the investment of the caliph with political authority. It consists of a “private” and “public” investment. The former amounts to nomination of the caliph by a number of supporters; the latter to confirmation of the private bay’ah by the electorate at large. It is only when the two bay’ahs have taken place and have been accepted by the caliph that he is said to have legitimately acceded to the caliphate. -Tr.] following the private bay’ah in the courtyard of Banu Sa’idah.

  Inaugural Speech of the First “Rashidun” Caliph

  Thereafter, Abu Bakr rose and delivered a speech, which may be regarded as one of the most illustrious embodiments of wisdom and sound judgment. After thanking God and praising Him, Abu Bakr said

  “O Men! Here I have been assigned the job of being a ruler over you while I am not the best among you. If I do well in my job, help me. If I do wrong, redress me. Truthfulness is fidelity, and lying is treason. The weak shall be strong in my eyes until I restore to them their lost rights, and the strong shall be weak in my eye until I have restored the rights of the weak from them. No people give up fighting for the cause of God but God inflicts upon them abject subjection; and no people give themselves to lewdness but God envelops them with misery. Obey me as long as I obey God and His Prophet. But if I disobey God’s command or His Prophet’s, then no obedience is incumbent upon you. Rise to your prayer, that God may bless you.”

  The Quest for a Burial Site

  Throughout the Muslims’ disputing of the question of success at the courtyard of Banu Sa’idah and in the mosque, the Prophet’s remains were lying on his bed surrounded by his next of kin. After the election of Abu Bakr, the people came to the Prophet’s house to prepare for his funeral and burial. There was disagreement as to where the Prophet was to be buried. Some Muhajirun advised that he ought to be buried in Makkah, his native town, in the proximity of his own relatives. Others advised that he ought to be buried in Jerusalem where the Prophets were buried before him. The latter was certainly a baffling view considering that Jerusalem was in the hands of the Byzantines, and the relations between them and the Muslims were most hostile, especially since the Mu’tah and Tabuk campaigns. Indeed, an army which the Prophet himself had mobilized and placed under the leadership of Usamah was supposed to fight them and avenge the Muslim defeat in those campaigns. At any rate, the proposals to bury the remains in Makkah or in Jerusalem were both rejected. The Muslims resolved to bury him in Madinah, the city which gave him shelter and assistance and which was the first one to raise the banner of Islam. Once this decision was made, they proceeded to look for a proper location for burial. Some advocated burial in the mosque where he used to address the people, preach the faith, and lead them in prayer. They thought that the most appropriate place was either the very spot of ground where the pulpit stood or the spot next to it. This opinion, however, did not meet with approval. ‘A’ishah had related that in his last days, whenever his pain increased, the Prophet used to uncover his face to curse such people as had taken the grave of their prophets as places of worship. Abu Bakr solved the issue when he proclaimed that he had heard the Prophet say that prophets should be buried wherever they die. This opinion carried the day.

  Preparing the Body for Burial

  Washing the Prophet’s body before burial was performed by his next of kin, by ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib, al ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al Muttalib and his two sons, al Fadl and Qutham, as well as by Usamah ibn Zayd. Usamah ibn Zayd and Shuqran, the Prophet’s client, poured the water while ‘Ali washed the body, covered as it was by Muhammad’s nightgown. It was decided that the Prophet’s body should not, under any circumstance whatever, be fully exposed. As they performed their washing, contrary to what is usual in such cases, the body emitted beautiful smells, so that ‘Ali said continually: “By God, what would I give for you! How sweet you are and how wholesome you are, both alive and dead!” Some western Orientalists sought to explain this fair scent emitted from the body of the Prophet by calling it the result of the perfume which he used so lavishly, remembering that he once declared it one of the good things he truly loved in this world. When the washing was completed, the Prophet’s body was wrapped in three shrouds: two made in Suhar and the third in Hibarah in Yama
n. When this operation was completed, the body was left where it was and the doors were flung open for the Muslims to enter from the mosque, to take a last look at their Prophet, and to pray for him. [The reader may be thrown off by this usage of “pray upon” instead of the commonplace “pray for.” In the Muslim practice nobody “prays for” the Prophet in the sense that one prays for a departed loved one. Prayer upon the Prophet is much more formal and is commanded by the Qur’an (33:56). It is a main part of Muslim worship to use the Qur’anic “pray upon” in invoking God’s blessing upon His Prophet. -Tr.] Undoubtedly, they emerged deeply moved and conscious of their terrible bereavement.

  The Funeral Prayer

  The room was practically full when Abu Bakr and ‘Umar entered the room and joined the Muslims in a funerary prayer for the Prophet. The prayer was performed without a leader. When it was over, Abu Bakr began to pray aloud, saying: “Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you, O Prophet of God. We witness that the Prophet of God and His apostle conveyed the message entrusted to him by his Lord and that he exerted himself and fought in His cause until God gave victory to His religion. We equally witness that the Prophet of God and His apostle fully performed his promise and that he commanded us to worship none but God alone who has no associates.” At the end , of every phrase, the Muslims responded together, “Amen, Amen.” When this prayer was complete, the men left and the women and children took turns taking a last look at the Prophet. One and all, every man, woman and child, emerged from that room torn with sorrow and crushed by a sense of bereavement for the loss of the Prophet of God, the Seal of His apostles. They were full of apprehension that some calamity might befall the religion of God in the future.

  A Grave Moment of History

  No man can today reconstruct this thirteen-centuries-old scene in his imagination without being filled with awe and reverence. The anguishing view of this body laid down in a corner of the room which was to become a grave the following day and which until the day before reverberated with Muhammad’s vitality, mercy, and light, filled the hearts of the faithful mourners with apprehension. It could not have been otherwise. For, there lay the man who had called men to truth, to the path of righteousness and had struck for them the highest example of goodness, mercy, courage, chastity, purity, and justice. As the crowds of Muslims passed by his bier despondent, disheartened, and dispirited, every man, woman, and child among them saw in the body that lay motionless before him his own father, brother, friend, trustworthy companion, Prophet, and Apostle of God. To recall that hour is surely to reconstruct a pathetic scene. Even as he writes about it, this author is seized by the grip of its terror and can hardly overcome the consequent anguish.

  Confusion of the Men of Little Faith

  It was natural for the Muslims to be apprehensive of the future. Indeed, as soon as the news of the Prophet’s death spread in Madinah and reached the Arab tribes in the surrounding area, Jews and Christians sprang to their feet, hypocrisy took a new lease on life, and the faith of many weak Arabs fell into confusion. The Makkans sought to abjure Islam, and they did so to the extent of instilling fear in ‘Attab ibn Asid, their governor appointed by the Prophet to rule them. Suhayl ibn ‘Amr, following the news of the Prophet’s death, stood up in their midst and said: “The Prophet’s death shall increase the power of Islam and strengthen it. Whoever attacks us or abjures our cause, we shall strike with the sword. O People of Makkah! you were the last to enter Islam. Do not, therefore, be the first to desert it. Have faith that God will bring you final victory just as the Prophet of God-may God’s peace and blessing be upon him-has promised you.” Only then did the Makkans change their minds.

  The Prophet’s Burial

  The Arabs knew two ways of digging graves. The Makkans made their graves flat at the bottom while the Madinese made them curved. Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn al Jarrah was the gravedigger for the Makkans, and Abu Talhah Zayd ibn Sahl was gravedigger for the Madinese. The Prophet’s relatives could not choose between them. The Prophet’s uncle, al ‘Abbas, sent two men to call the two gravediggers for a consultation. Only one was found and could respond to the call, and that was Abu Talhah, the Madinese. He therefore was commissioned to dig a grave for the Prophet of God as he knew best. When evening came and the Muslims had taken leave of the body of their Prophet, Muhammad’s relatives prepared for the burial. They waited until a quarter or a third of the night had passed before proceeding with the burial. In the grave, they spread out a red mantle that once belonged to the Prophet, and the men who had washed the body lowered it to its last repose. They built over it a bridge with bricks and then covered the grave with sand. ‘A’ishah said: “We did not learn of the burial of the Prophet of God-may God’s peace and blessing be upon him until midnight or later”; and so did Fatimah report. The Prophet was buried on Tuesday night, 14th of Rabi‘ I, two days after his death, in the year 10 A.H.

  ‘A’ishah and the Grave Room

  ‘A’ishah lived thereafter in her quarters, next door to the Prophet’s grave, contented with her proximity to this holy precinct. When Abu Bakr died, he was buried in the immediate vicinity of the Prophet’s grave, as was ‘Umar ibn al Khattab thereafter. It is related that ‘A’ishah used to visit the grave room without veil until ‘Umar was buried therein, i.e., during the time it contained only the grave of her father and husband. But after ‘Umar’s burial, she entered the room only when fully veiled.

  Expediting Usamah’s Army on Its March

  As soon as the burial of the Prophet was completed, Abu Bakr commanded that the army of Usamah begin its march on al Sham in execution of the commandment the Prophet of God had issued in his last days. Some Muslims objected to this measure just as they had during the sickness of Muhammad. ‘Umar joined the ranks of these objectors on the grounds that the Muslim forces ought not to be dispersed in this grave hour. Abu Bakr, however, did not hesitate to follow the commandment left unfulfilled by the Prophet at his death. He refused to give credit to those who counseled that an older and more experienced general in war than Usamah be appointed to lead that army. Al Jurf remained the rallying place for the army, and Usamah remained its leading general. Abu Bakr went out in person to see the army off on its march. It was there that Abu Bakr asked Usamah to absolve ‘Umar ibn al Khattab from his duty to go forth in the army so that he might remain in Madinah in close proximity to Abu Bakr who needed his advice in his first days of administration. Twenty days after the army began its march northward, the Muslims launched their attack against al Balqa’ and avenged the Muslims’ setback in Mu’tah where Usamah’s father fell under Byzantine arms. The war cry in that campaign was “O Victor! Give death to the enemy!” Thus Abu Bakr and Usamah fulfilled the commandment of the Prophet, and the army returned to Madinah victorious. Usamah was at its head, riding the very horse on which his father died at the Battle of Mu’tah, and carrying high the banner which the Prophet of God had entrusted to him in person.

  Prophets Leave No Inheritance

  After the death of the Prophet, his daughter Fatimah asked Abu Bakr to return to her the land the Prophet kept for himself at Fadak and Khaybar. Abu Bakr, however, answered her by quoting her father’s words: “We, the Prophets, do not leave any inheritance for anyone. Whatever we do leave shall be given out in charity.” Continuing with his own words, Abu Bakr said “However, if it was the case that your father had made a grant to you of this property, then I shall certainly honor your word to this effect and fulfill for you his commandment.” At this, Fatimah answered that her father had not made any such grant to her at all, but that Umm Ayman had informed her that that might have been Muhammad’s purpose. Abu Bakr therefore resolved that the lands of Fadak and Khaybar should be kept by the public treasury of the Muslims as state domain.

  Muhammad’s Great Spiritual Legacy

  Thus Muhammad left this world just as he had entered, without material shackles. His only inheritance left to mankind was the religion of truth and goodness. He had paved the ground and laid the
foundation for the great civilization of Islam which had covered the world in the past and would cover the world in the future. It was a civilization in which tawhid, or the unitization of God, was the cornerstone; and an order in which the word of God and His commandments are always uppermost, while those of unfaith are nethermost. It was a civilization purged absolutely clean of all paganism and of all idolatrous forms and expressions, a civilization in which men were called upon to cooperate with one another for the good and moral felicity of all men, not for the benefit of any group or people. Muhammad left to this world the Book of God, a guidance and mercy to mankind, while the memory of his own life gave the highest and noblest example for man’s emulation. One of the last sermons which the Prophet delivered to the people during his illness contained the following words: “O Men! If I have lashed the back of anyone, let him come forward and lash my back in return. If I have insulted anyone, let him come forth and take satisfaction of me. If I have dispossessed anyone of any wealth, let him come forth and seize his wealth from me. If there be any such men as these, let them come forth without fear of retaliation or hatred, for neither of these become of me.” Only one man came forth to make a claim, that Muhammad owed him three dirhams; he was paid in full by Muhammad on his deathbed. The Prophet left this world an inheritance of a great spiritual legacy whose light continues to illumine the world and will continue to illumine the world until God completely fulfills His promise and gives victory to His religion over all the religions despite all unbelievers. May God’s peace and blessing be upon Muhammad!