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Muhammad's Death: Difference between revisions
Added academic view, extra sources and removed the Gibbon quote which was based on a Latin mistranslation of the Arabic original with a rather different meaning
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[[File:Muhammad on deathbed.jpg|thumb|330px|right|An illustration of Muhammad on his deathbed. Taken from the book Jami' al-Tawarikh (also known as The Universal History or History of the World), by Rashid al-Din, published in Tabriz, Persia, 1307 A.D. Now at the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland.]] | [[File:Muhammad on deathbed.jpg|thumb|330px|right|An illustration of Muhammad on his deathbed. Taken from the book Jami' al-Tawarikh (also known as The Universal History or History of the World), by Rashid al-Din, published in Tabriz, Persia, 1307 A.D. Now at the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland.]] | ||
This article discusses the [[Muhammad's Death|death]] of Prophet [[Muhammad]] in 632 AD and the circumstances surrounding it. | This article discusses the [[Muhammad's Death|death]] of Prophet [[Muhammad]] in 632 AD and the circumstances surrounding it. According to traditional accounts in Sunni hadiths, Muhammad's death was attributed to a poisoning that had occurred four years earlier after the battle of Khaybar in 628 CE. Historian Stephen Shoemaker says that "Western scholarship has persistently dismissed this tradition as unhistorical; in particular, the four year interval between the attempted poisoning and Muhammad's sudden, fatal illness renders the story highly unlikely."<ref>Stephen Shoemaker, "Death of a Prophet", p. 301 footnotes 72 and 75.</ref> | ||
==Death== | ==Death== | ||
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A Jewess brought a poisoned (cooked) sheep for the Prophet who ate from it. She was brought to the Prophet and he was asked, "Shall we kill her?" He said, "No." I continued to see the effect of the poison on the palate of the mouth of Allah's Apostle .}} | A Jewess brought a poisoned (cooked) sheep for the Prophet who ate from it. She was brought to the Prophet and he was asked, "Shall we kill her?" He said, "No." I continued to see the effect of the poison on the palate of the mouth of Allah's Apostle .}} | ||
{{Quote|{{Muslim|26|5430}}|Anas reported that a Jewess came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) with poisoned mutton and he took of that what had been brought to him (Allah's Messenger). (When the effect of this poison were felt by him) he called for her and asked her about that, whereupon she said: | |||
I had determined to kill you. Thereupon he said: Allah will never give you the power to do it. He (the narrator) said that they (the Companion's of the Holy Prophet) said: Should we not kill her? Thereupon he said: No. He (Anas) said: I felt (the affects of this poison) on the uvula of Allah's Messenger.}} | |||
{{Quote| {{Bukhari|5|59|713}}|....Narrated 'Aisha: The Prophet in his ailment in which he died, used to say, "O 'Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison."}} | {{Quote| {{Bukhari|5|59|713}}|....Narrated 'Aisha: The Prophet in his ailment in which he died, used to say, "O 'Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison."}} | ||
According to biographies, the reason behind her action was the killing of her people and family by Muhammad. | |||
{{Quote|Ibn Sa'd p. 252|The apostle of Allah sent for Zaynab and said to her, "What induced you to do what you have done?" She replied, "You have done to my people what you have done. You have killed my father, my uncle and my husband, so I said to myself, "If you are a prophet, the foreleg will inform you; and others have said, "If you are a king we will get rid of you."}} | {{Quote|Ibn Sa'd p. 252|The apostle of Allah sent for Zaynab and said to her, "What induced you to do what you have done?" She replied, "You have done to my people what you have done. You have killed my father, my uncle and my husband, so I said to myself, "If you are a prophet, the foreleg will inform you; and others have said, "If you are a king we will get rid of you."}} | ||
Ibn Ishaq records that one of Muhammad's companions, Bishr, ate of the poisoned lamb and died immediately whereas Muhammad spat it out, later feeling again the pain from the poison when he eventually became ill and died. He was considered to have died as a martyr: | |||
{{Quote|Muhammad ibn Ishaq. The Life of Muhammad. Translated by Alfred Guillaume (1955). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.516|When the apostle had rested, Zaynab d. al-Harith, the wife of Sallam b. Mishkam prepared for him a roast lamb, having first inquired what joint he preferred. When she learned that it was the shoulder she put a lot of poison in it and poisoned the whole lamb. Then she brought it in and placed it before him. He took hold of the shoulder and chewed a morsel of it, but he did not swallow it. Bishr b. al-Bara b. Ma’rur who was with him took some of it as the apostle had done, but he swallowed it, while the apostle spat it out, saying, ‘This bone tells me that it is poisoned.’ Then he called for the woman and she confessed, and when he asked her what had induced her to do this she answered, ‘You know what you have done to my people. I said to myself, If he is a king I shall ease myself of him and if he is a prophet he will be informed (of what I have done).’ So the apostle let her off. Bishr died from what he had eaten.<BR /> | |||
Marwan b. 'Ithman b. Abu Sa'id b. al-Mu'alla told me: The apostle had said in his illness of which he was to die when Umm Bishr d. al-Bara' came to visit him, 'O Umm Bishr, 'this is the time in which I feel a deadly pain from what I ate with your brother at Khaybar.' The Muslims considered that the apostle died as a martyr in addition to the prophetic office wiht which God had honoured him.}} | |||
It was no secret among the wives, that [[Aisha]] was Muhammad's favorite, and he made this clear as death approached. | It was no secret among the wives, that [[Aisha]] was Muhammad's favorite, and he made this clear as death approached. | ||
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[...]Aisha used to say: If I had known beforehand about my affair what I found out later, none would have washed him except his wives.}} | [...]Aisha used to say: If I had known beforehand about my affair what I found out later, none would have washed him except his wives.}} | ||
===Incredulity=== | ===Incredulity=== | ||