Umar's denial of the Prophet's death and Abu Bakr's reply

On the day of the Prophet's death Umar ibn al-Khattab stood up and said that some of the hypocrites claimed that the Prophet had died, and that he had not died but had gone to his Lord as Moses had gone, and was absent from his people forty nights and then returned; he said that he would return and cut off the hands and feet of men who claimed he had died. ¹

Abu Bakr came in and entered upon the Prophet in the house of Aisha, uncovered his face and kissed him, and said: "My father and mother for you; the death that God had written for you, you have tasted, and no death will ever befall you again." ² Then he went out while Umar was speaking, and said: "Gently, Umar, be silent"; when Umar refused, he turned to the people, praised God and said: "Whoever worshipped Muhammad, Muhammad has died; and whoever worshipped God, God is living and does not die." ² Then he recited verse 144 of Al 'Imran: "Muhammad is only a messenger; messengers have passed away before him." ² Ibn Ishaq relates from Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) from Umar: "By God, it was only that I heard Abu Bakr recite it, and I was struck down until I fell to the earth, my legs could not carry me, and I knew that the Prophet had died." ²

The scene is among the most restrained scenes of death: he who denied the death submitted at once with the verse. The museum reads the scene as Ibn Ishaq relates it, and sets out its dispute over the portico at its entrance.

• The chain: Ibn Ishaq from al-Zuhri from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib from Abu Hurayra. ¹
• The words of the verse are rendered here in meaning, and the text is in the edition.
• The statement attributed to Umar in the presence of the hypocrites is related by Ibn Ishaq without comment. ¹