60- THE PROPHET GIVES HINTS OF HIS DEATH
On the way back, the Prophetsa again informed his Companions of his approaching death. He said, “O men I am but one like you. I may receive the Call any day and I may have to go. My Kind and Vigilant Master has informed me that a Prophetsa lives up to half the years of the Prophetsa before him.[1] I think I shall soon receive the Call and I shall depart. O my Companions, I shall have to answer God, and you will have to answer also. What will you then say? “
Upon this the Companions said, “We will say that you delivered well the Message of Islam and devoted all your life to the service of the Faith. You had the most perfect passion for the good of man: We will say: Allah, give him the best of rewards.”
Then the Prophetsa asked, “Do you bear witness that God is One, that Muhammadsa is His Servant and Prophetsa, that Heaven and Hell are true, that death is certain, that there is life after death, that the Judgement Day must come, and that all the dead will one day be raised from their graves, restored to life and assembled?”
“Yes,” said the Companions. “We bear witness to all these truths.”
Turning to God, the Prophetsa said, “Be Thou also a witness to this—that I have explained Islam to them.”
After this Pilgrimage, the Prophetsa was very busy teaching and training his followers, trying to raise their moral standard and to reform and refine their conduct. His own death became his frequent theme and he prepared the Muslims for it.
One day, rising for an address to the Faithful, he said, “Today I have had the revelation:
When the help of Allah comes, and victory, and thou seest men entering into the religion of Allah in troops, extol thou the glory of thy Lord, with His praise, and seek forgiveness of Him. Verily He is Oft-Returning with compassion “
(110: 2-4).
That is to say, the time was coming when, with the help of God, multitudes were to join the Faith of Islam. It was then to be the duty of the Prophetsa—and of his followers—to praise God and pray to Him to remove all obstacles in the way of the establishment of the Faith.
The Prophetsa made use of a parable on this occasion: God said to a man, ‘If it please you, you may return to Me, or you may work a little longer at reforming the world.’ The man said that he preferred to return to his Lord.
Abu Bakrra was among the audience. He had been listening to this last address of the Prophetsa, with fervour and anxiety the fervour of a great believer and the anxiety of a friend and follower who could see in this address the portents of the Prophet’ssa death. On hearing the parable Abu Bakrra could contain himself no longer. He broke down. The other Companions, who had taken a surface view of what they had been listening to, were amazed when Abu Bakrra burst into tears. What could be the matter with Abu Bakrra? they asked. The Prophetsa was relating the coming victories of Islam, yet he was weeping. ‘Umarra, particularly, felt annoyed at Abu Bakrra. The Prophetsa was giving glad news, yet this old man was crying. But only the Prophetsa understood what was happening. Only Abu Bakrra, he thought had understood him. Only he had perceived that the verses which promised victories also portended the Prophet’ssa approaching death.
The Prophetsa went on to say, “Abu Bakrra is very dear to me. If it were permissible to love anyone more than others, I would so have loved Abu Bakrra. But that degree of love is only for God. O my people, all the doors which open to the mosque should be closed from today except the door of Abu Bakrra.”
There was no doubt that this last instruction implied a prophecy that after the Prophetsa Abu Bakrra would be the First Khalifah. To lead the Faithful in prayers he would have to come to the mosque five times a day and, for this, he would have to keep open the door of his house into the mosque. Years afterwards, when ‘Umarra was Khalifah, he asked some of those present the meaning of the verse, “When the help of God and victory come.” Evidently he remembered the circumstances in which the Prophetsa taught Muslims this and the verses which follow. He must have remembered also that then only Abu Bakrra understood the meaning of these verses. ‘Umarra was trying to test Muslims for their knowledge of these verses. They had failed to understand them at the time of their revelation: did they know the meaning now? Ibni ‘Abbasra, who must have been ten or eleven years of age at the time of their revelation and who was now seventeen or eighteen, volunteered to answer. He said, “Leader of the Faithful, these verses contained a prophecy about the death of the Holy Prophetsa. When a Prophet’ssa work is done, he wishes no longer to live in the world. The verses spoke of the imminent victory of Islam. This victory had a sad side and that was the impending departure of the Prophetsa from this world.” ‘Umarra complimented Ibn ‘Abbasra and said that when the verses were revealed only Abu Bakrra understood their meaning.
[1] This was not meant as a general law. It referred only to the Holy Prophetsa. A tradition puts down the age of Jesus at one hundred and twenty or so. As he had already attained to sixty-two or sixty-three, he thought his death must be near.—Ed.
(Source: LIFE OF MUHAMMAD (pbuh))
BY HADRAT MIRZA BASHIRUDDIN MAHMUD AHMAD
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