A room like no other

…also published in Daily Trust  

On Monday the 12^th of the month of Rabi’ul-Awwal one thousand four hundred and thirty years ago; and at around mid-morning, the Last Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (SAW) departed this life at the age of 63 after he had delivered the Message and accomplished his mission on earth.

By the way, though his death was indeed on that day and date, Islam never sanctioned any commemorative event for it, as also none of his Sahaba including members of his revered Household ever commemorated it either. Therefore, inasmuch as commemorating his death is an unfounded act of worship i.e. bid’ah even though its day, date, month and year are known for sure, celebrating his birthday i.e. the so-called Maulud on the 12^th of Rabi’ul-Awwal or any other date for that matter is particularly unfounded, because  apart from the absence of any Qur’anic or Sunnatic reference to it, there is absolutely no single categorically reliable historical source about the exact month and date (not day) of his birth, in the first place. Equally, none of his Sahaba including members of his honourable Household ever celebrated it either.

Anyway, the Messenger of Allah was buried the following Tuesday in the night right where he died i.e. Ummuna Aisha’s room who had nursed him diligently throughout his ailment period; and in whose arms his sacred soul ascended to its Creator the Almighty.  

Two years and three months later, his best companion, and first rightly-guided Caliph, Abubakr As-siddeeq (RA) was buried beside him in the same room.  Then after ten years and six months, his second-best companion, and second rightly-guided Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab (RA) was buried there as well.

Interestingly, following the death and burial of Abubakr As-siddeeq who was Aisha’s father, she kept the remaining space in the room for herself to be buried there close to her husband and father; however, Umar ibn Khattab who was apparently unaware of her wish, asked her for a favour to be buried there when it appeared to him that he wouldn’t survive the fatal wounds inflicted on him by Abu Lu’ulu’a Almajoosy, a Persian mole who fatally stabbed him while leading Muslim faithful in a Fajr prayer. Aisha, therefore, obliged Umar.

Aisha remained in the room, which had already been partitioned to enable Muslims to visit the graves without infringing on her privacy. However, following her death in the year 58 after Hijra, the room was permanently sealed off. Also, three decades later the need to expand the Prophet’s mosque necessitated the annexation of the rooms of his wives among other adjacent areas. Consequently, the rooms were removed except Aisha’s room, which was preserved for obvious reason.

Since then the room fell structurally within the mosque albeit strictly insulated within layers of walls and other partitions. The wall that the visitors of the graves see isn’t the room’s wall after all, although the three round-shaped holes on it signify the approximate directions of the graves respectively.

This point is particularly noteworthy because many people wrongly assume that the Prophet’s grave is in his mosque. Bid’ah enthusiasts have always cited this baseless assumption in their futile attempts to justify the act of burying the dead in a mosque including its premises or adopting a gravesite for performing a Salat, which Islam strictly forbids. 

Now, since Aisha’s death, the room remained sealed off; and except on the few occasions when the walls had to be renovated, reinforced or rebuilt, nobody has ever entered it. One of such occasions was more than seven hundred years from the previous similar occasion. It was when As-samhoody who died five hundred and thirty years ago entered the room among a few others to conduct some renovation works on the walls after seven centuries from the previous similar occasion. He described the floor as “reddish, gravelled, moist, sandy but dustless with the heights of the graves barely noticeable”

Perhaps the last entry into the room was during the era of King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when he ordered the renovation of the walls. Ever since then, the room has remained completely sealed off. Also, there has never been any picture of the room; the purported picture of the room circulating on the Internet is a hoax. After all, unlike the Ka’abah in Makkah, even notable Muslim religious personalities and political leaders are never led into the room. 

Interestingly, there were some failed attempts to steal the Prophet’s body; the first and second attempts were between the years 386H and 411H by groups of Obaidiyya Shiites acting under the order of their supreme leader Mansoor ibn Nizar.

Yet even more interesting is how Allah the Almighty has granted the Prophet’s wish to not make his grave worshipped, as it has always been the case with the graves and perceived graves of many prophets, righteous persons and sectarian saints, which their respective purported followers have turned into shrines where they commit all forms of Shirk in the name of venerating them and seeking their Shafa’at i.e. intercession.

As an indication that Allah the Almighty had indeed granted his Messenger’s wish, He has kept the grave over the centuries under the diligent care of successive generations of custodians that have always disallowed bid’ah and Shirk around it.  

In a widely circulated audio clip, a Kano-based Qadiriyya scholar, Sheikh Musal-Qasuyuni, who, by the way, taught me at a point, is heard admitting that Allah the Almighty indeed granted the Prophet’s wish to not make his grave worshipped, hence He keeps it under the care of whom he called “Wahabiyawa” who never allow such practices around it. The Sheikh is also heard admitting that only Allah knows the extent of misguidance that would be perpetrated there if the gravesite were under the Sufis.

Yet, in an inexplicable contradiction, he is still heard in the same audio insulting the Saudis for doing this job, which further proves that the underlying motive behind many Muslims’ hatred against the Saudis is, in reality, their resolve to not allow such practices around the Prophet’s grave and other holy sites in Makkah and Madinah.