The last hours of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w)

Aly continued to attend Mohammed night and day, never leaving him, except from the most imperative necessity. On one of these occasions when Aly was absent, the prophet said, Call my friend and brother. Auyeshah and Hafsah sent for their fathers, Abubekr and Omar, but he turned from them and covered his face, on which they remarked, lie does not want us, he wants Aly, whom Fâtimah called and Mohammed pressed him to his bosom, and they mingled their perspiration together, and the prophet communicated to him a thousand chapters of knowledge, each opening to a thousand more. One tradition declares that Mohammed kept Aly in his bed till his pure spirit left his body, his arm meanwhile embracing Aly.

Before his departure, Jibrâeel came to Mohammed and asked him if he wished to continue on earth. He replied that he did not, but having accomplished his apostleship, he wished to join his friends the prophets in heaven. He said, After me there will be no prophet, and if any one comes claiming to be a prophet, put him to death. Mohammed said, Rend not your garments nor hair, nor weep for me.

Most of the ulemâs, both sheeàh and sunnee, believe that the departure of the sayyid of the prophets occurred on Monday, the twenty- eighth of the month of Sefer, according to most of the sheeahs, and on the twelfth of the month of Rabeeà-ul-evvel, agreeably to a majority of the sunnees, with whom, on this point, Mohammed-bin~Yakoob-Kulaynee agrees. But the former date is the correct one. The sunnees indeed mention several dates, but there is no disagreement as to the fact that the prophet died at the age of sixty-three, and in the tenth year of the Hijret.

In the book entitled Kashf-ul Ghamah, it is related, on the authority of the imârn Mohammed Baker, that the prophet departed to the eternal world in the tenth year of the Hijret, and when he was sixty- three years old. He had lived at Mekkah to the age of forty years before divine communications were given him, after which event he remained in that city thirteen years longer; and when he removed to Medeonah, fifty-three years of his life had passed. He remained in Medeenah ten years after his Hijret, and died on Monday, the second of the month of Rabeea-ul-evvel. The compiler observes that none of the sheeah ulemâs adhere to this date, which perhaps may be ascribed to religious dissimulation on the part of the imâm. In the same book it is said that he was two years and four months old when his father died, and eight years of age at the death of Abdulmutalib, when Abutâlib became his guardian. Others say that he was not born when his father died, while some again maintain that he was then seven months old, and that his mother died when he was six years of age. His uncle Abutâlib died when he, the prophet, was forty-six years, eight months and twenty-four days old. Three days after the death of Abutâlib, Khadeejah died, for which reasons that was called the year of grief.

After Mohammed's assumption of the prophetship, he remained thirteen years at Mekkah, and was three days, or six days, concealed in the cave immediately before his flight to Medeenah, which city he entered on Monday, the eleventh of Rabeea-ul-evvel. He resided ten years at Medeenah, and departed in the mercy of God on the twenty-eight of the month of Sefer, and in the tenth year of the Hijret. It is related that the curse, Abusâfeeân, one day waited on the prophet;, who told him he had come to ask how long he, Mohammed, should live; the prophet answered that he should live to he sixty-three years old. The imâm Mohammed Baker said, "Do not fast nor journey on Monday, for on that day the prophet died".

The imâm Sâduk says, Let every one attacked by disease think of the prophet, whose disease was more severe than that of any other. It is related that Jibrâeel brought forty dirhems (Drachms) of camphor from paradise to sprinkle on the corpse of the prophet, who divided it into three parts, one for himself, another for Aly, and the third for Fâtimah. My visiting the prophet one day when he was sick, found him asleep, with his head in the lap of an extremely beautiful man, who told AIy to take his place. The prophet on awaking said it was Jibrâeel.