ANGEL and MAN
THE DEATH OF HAZRAT MUHAMMAD
 
Due to the extraordinary efforts of Hazrat Muhammad and his companions, Islam quickly spread and the number of Muslims increased dramatically over a short period of time. In particular, after the conquest of Mecca, people began to embrace Islam, one tribe after another. Thus, in a short time, nearly the entire Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam.

....THE DEATH OF HAZRAT MUHAMMAD
....Allah Almighty declares: "Every soul will taste of death." (Ankaboot, 57)
....How about the last Prophet?
....Allah Almighty declares:
...."We appointed immortality for no mortal before thee. What! if thou diest, can they be immortal!" (Anbiya, 34)
....The Companions of the Prophet experienced their most exciting and most blessed days during the farewell pilgrimage.
....In particular, when the Prophet was giving his historical talk, the Farewell Speech, people held their breath, the spiritual excitement swelled up in them and their hearts burned with longing for God.
....When Gabriel brought down the Qur'anic verse, "Today I have completed your religion" people became even more excited, but Hazrat Abū Bakr wept.
....When our beloved Prophet asked why he was crying, Abū Bakr answered: "O the messenger of God! You came to communicate this religion. Since the religion is completed, I fear that your mission is complete and you may soon depart from us." Hearing this, all the companions wept. Hazrat Abū Bakr's assumption was correct. After the pilgrimage, the Companions and the Prophet returned to Medina and our Prophet became ill; first he had a headache and then he started to have a fever. He came to the mosque at the ritual prayer times, performed the prayers in the community with his companions. But he could not spend any more time with his companions to talk with them. Instead he immediately went home and rested.
....His companions felt terrible seeing the Prophet so ill. They did not know what they should do; indeed, what could they have done?
....There was nothing that they could do except to weep and bustle about, in confusion!
....Upon hearing that his companions were so sad about his illness, our beloved Prophet came to the mosque, with the help of Ali and Fadl, and sitting on the first stair of the minbar said to his companions: "I heard that you are very sad because of me. No prophet stayed with his community forever. Thus I will not stay with you for eternity."
....Then he gave advice on essential issues concerning predestination. He and his companions granted forgiveness to each other for any offense or right. Then the Prophet went home, and lay down on his bed.
....Hazrat Bilāl used to recite the Morning Prayer call, then he would go the door of the Prophet and say "as-Salāh yā Rasulallāh," waiting for the Prophet to come out and they used to go to the mosque together.
....Three days before our beloved Prophet died, Hazrat Bilal recited the Morning Prayer in a more emotional way than usual. He went to the door and said "as-Salāh yā Rasulallāh", waiting for him to come out.
....However, our beloved Prophet was ill and he did not feel that it would be possible for him to go to the mosque.
....Our beloved Prophet said to Hazrat Aisha: "Say to Bilāl that Abū Bakr should lead the prayer and that they should perform the ritual prayer."
....Bilāl, who had endured the brutal tortures of the polytheists in Mecca with stoicism, collapsed. His heart burned and his eyes filled with tears; he could not speak, and with difficulty he proceeded to the mosque.
....When all the eyes in the mosque, which were turned to the door, waiting for the Prophet, saw Bilāl come in alone, looking exhausted, they realized that something was wrong.
....Hazrat Bilāl went immediately to Hazrat Abū Bakr. He could not speak, but with a gesture of his hand he indicated that Abū Bakr should lead the prayer.
....All the companions felt great sorrow; nobody could speak. They had no power to perform the ritual prayer.
....Hazrat Abū Bakr pulled himself together with difficulty, and went to the pulpit, and starting the prayer he said: "Allah'u Akbar." However, he was weeping so hard that he could not recite the remaining.
....All the companions, men and women, performed the ritual prayer with difficulty, as they too were weeping.
....On 12 Rabiulawwal Monday, in the morning, our beloved Prophet felt better and slowly proceeded to the mosque. He saw his companions performing the ritual prayer under the leadership of Hazrat Abū Bakr, and he was greatly touched. He followed the leadership of Abū Bakr and performed the last ritual prayer sitting down. After the prayer, he immediately went to his home and lay down on his death-bed.
....The people who had seen our beloved Prophet in the mosque thought that he was recovering, and they were very happy. While some people dispersed to take care of business, the majority of people remained around the mosque.
....The signs of death, which is the common predestination of all of humanity, were visible. The face of the last Prophet had turned yellow, like a ray of light, and drops of sweat like pearls began flowing from his forehead.
....Hazrat Aisha kept wiping away the tears from her eyes as well as the drops of sweat from the Prophet's forehead, while his head was leaning on her chest.
....Hazrat Fatima kept weeping, without pause. Our beloved Prophet said: "Dear daughter, do not cry. Angels cannot bear your tears."
....Fatima was weeping, Aisha was weeping. The pure wives of the Prophet and Umm Ayman were weeping. The Companions outside and the angels in Heaven were weeping and the last Prophet of Allah Almighty was departing from this world.
....Gabriel came for the last time, and informed the Prophet that the angel of death was coming.
....Soon the angel of death came and said: "O Prophet of God, if you want to stay in the world, I will just visit you and return. But if you want to reach the Lord, I will take your soul with me."Our beloved Prophet looked at Gabriel. When Hazrat Gabriel said "O the Prophet of God, the angels in the malau'l-a'lā (heavenly multitude) are waiting for you," our beloved Prophet said to the angel of death "Carry out your duty."
....The angel of death carried out the most difficult task of his lifetime. He took the sacred soul of our beloved Prophet and climbed up to the Heavens.
....The companions who were waiting outside of the house of the Prophet realized what had happened inside when they heard the cries and sounds of mourning, and they began to weep.
....The news about the death of our beloved Prophet spread around Medina immediately. Everybody, women, men, elderly, sick and children took to the roads, all weeping.
....Hazrat Uthmān was unable to speak. Hazrat Ali stood before a wall, weeping and then kneeled down and put his head in his hands. Hazrat Umar, out of his mind with grief, was running around with a sword in his hand, and shouting out "I'll kill whoever says that Hazrat Muhammad is dead."
....Outside, there was complete chaos and confusion, and nobody knew what to do.
....Hazrat Abū Bakr, who had returned to his home, heard the sad news and came back. He went directly to the house of our Prophet.
....He removed the veil from the face of our beloved Prophet and looked at his face, kissing his forehead, and said, "Let my mother, father and myself be sacrificed for you." Then he began crying.
....He was the first free man to believe in the prophethood of the Prophet. He never abandoned the Prophet, but he

never felt that he had had enough of the Prophet's company. Now he could not stop weeping and his heart was burning.
....But he felt that he must do something. The community was now orphaned, and outside there was a frightening chaos and confusion.
....He got up with difficulty, went to the mosque and said to the people who gathered around him: "Be sure that Hazrat Muhammad is dead. But God, his Lord, is alive, and does not die." Then he recited the Qur'anic verse "Muhammad is but a messenger." (Aal-e-Imran, 144)
....Hazrat Umar came to himself; it was as if he was hearing this verse for the first time; now he believed that the Prophet was dead, and he collapsed.
....For the companions life seemed meaningless, even unnecessary. The world without the Prophet, for them, was colorless and tasteless. But the religion had been entrusted to them and without them the reality of the Qur'an and the tradition of the Prophet could not be transmitted to following generations. This is why they had to go on living, for the sake of religion, and they had to exert themselves for the sake of religion.
....Most important of all, in such an atmosphere of chaos and confusion, Islam could not remain without a state nor the Muslims without a caliph.
....Hazrat Abū Bakr was elected as the Caliph, and people sworn allegiance to him. Then they buried our beloved Prophet, weeping for him.