The Night at al-Baqīʿ

So in the month of Ṣafar, in the eleventh year of the hijrah, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent for Abū Muwayhibah, a servant of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); and this was late at night. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called — he woke Abū Muwayhibah up, and called him, and told him: yā Abā Muwayhibah, innī qad umirtu an astaghfira li-ahli hādhā al-Baqīʿ, fa-nṭaliq maʿī — O Abū Muwayhibah, I have been commanded to ask Allah to forgive the people of al-Baqīʿ, so come with me. Al-Baqīʿ is the cemetery of Madīnah, the blessed cemetery where the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) — who struggled with him, fought with him, supported him — were buried. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was ordered by Allah to go to the cemetery and ask Allah to forgive them. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told Abū Muwayhibah to go with him.

So they went together at night to al-Baqīʿ. And when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) arrived there — subḥān Allāh, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) going in the middle of the night to the cemetery, to keep his Companions company — he said to them: al-salāmu ʿalaykum yā ahla al-maqābir — peace be upon you, O people of the graves. And then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to them — look at these uplifting words for them: li-yahniʾ lakum mā aṣbaḥtum fīhi mimmā aṣbaḥa al-nāsu fīh — congratulations. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was congratulating the people of the cemetery, the people who were dead: congratulations that you do not experience what the people here are experiencing; congratulations that you passed away in the early days of the daʿwah, when the hearts were pure and the people were together, and they were united; congratulations that you died in the difficult days, when the rewards were great. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was telling them that they were in a better position than those who were left behind.

And then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: aqbalat al-fitanu ka-qiṭaʿi al-layli al-muẓlim, yatbaʿu ākhiruhā awwalahā, al-ākhiratu sharrun min al-ūlā — trials and tribulations are coming like portions of the dark night, following one another in succession, the last worse than the first. Trials and tribulations are on their way, and we are living in that time: we are living in the times of trials and tribulations; we are living in a time of fitnah — fitnah in the dunyā, and fitnah in the dīn. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was congratulating the Companions who had died early, and telling them: congratulations that you died early, because now the fitan are coming like dark pieces of the night, one after the other.

And then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) looked at Abū Muwayhibah and said: innī qad ūtītu mafātīḥa khazāʾini al-dunyā wa al-khulda fīhā thumma al-jannah, fa-khuyyirtu bayna dhālika wa bayna liqāʾi rabbī wa al-jannah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told Abū Muwayhibah: I have been given the choice between the keys of the treasures of the dunyā, and living in the dunyā as long as it exists, and then Paradise — wa bayna liqāʾi rabbī wa al-jannah — and meeting my Lord, and Paradise. So the choice is: you can live in the dunyā as long as this world survives, and you will be given the keys to the treasures of this world, and then when you pass away you will be in Paradise — that is choice number one; and the second choice is to meet Allah now, and Jannah.

Abū Muwayhibah said — "choose us" in one narration, and in this narration he says: choose the keys of the treasures, and living in the dunyā as long as it lasts, and then Jannah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: no; I have chosen to meet Allah, and Paradise. And then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sought forgiveness for the people of al-Baqīʿ, and then he left. And when he arrived home, the illness of his death began (Aḥmad 15997).

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was not attached to the dunyā. The concern of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in the dunyā was his ummah; his concern was not building; it was not wealth; he had no attachment to the dunyā. And therefore Ibn Kathīr says: fa-inna al-dunyā bi-ḥadhāfīrihā kānat aḥqara ʿindahu — kamā hiya ʿinda Allāh — min an yasʿā lahā aw yatrukahā baʿdahu mīrāthā, ṣalawātu Allāhi wa salāmuhu ʿalayh. He said: the dunyā was so small in the eyes of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) — and it is also small in the eyes of Allah — that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) left it without leaving anything behind.