The Final Days: The Prophet's Illness and Passing

The final chapters of the Shama'il shift in tone entirely. Al-Tirmidhi includes narrations describing the Prophet's illness and death — not as an afterthought, but as an integral part of the portrait. For those who loved him, knowing how he died is inseparable from knowing how he lived.

The illness began in the final weeks of Safar in the eleventh year of the Hijra, likely after returning from the cemetery of al-Baqi'. He began to experience severe headaches and a high fever. The Companions reported that his fever was more intense than that of ordinary people — one could feel the heat through his blanket without touching him. He described this as the reality of prophethood: the prophets receive the most severe tests of people, then those closest to them in rank.

During his illness he continued to pray with the community as long as he could stand. When he could no longer, he directed Abu Bakr to lead the prayers. This appointment carried significance that some Companions recognized immediately, though many were too grief-stricken to think clearly about its implications. Aisha reported that the Prophet came to the mosque leaning on Ali and al-Fadl ibn Abbas, his feet dragging along the ground, on one of his last days, and sat beside Abu Bakr while Abu Bakr finished leading the prayer.

One of the most reported details of his final days is his request for water. He would ask to be bathed with water from seven waterskins, hoping the cold would relieve his fever. Aisha and others poured water over him while he repeated: 'Pour more, pour more.' Even in this vulnerability, those around him were focused entirely on him — trying to ease what could not be eased.

On the morning of his passing, the veil of Aisha's apartment lifted during Fajr prayer, and the Companions saw his face — described as like a page of a book, luminous and peaceful. Abu Bakr has described this in narrations collected in the Shama'il and the major collections. The Companions were so gladdened that some broke their rows to go toward him. He gestured to them to complete the prayer, smiled, and lowered the veil.

He passed away that Monday morning, his head in Aisha's lap, with his finger raised. His final words are recorded as a supplication for the highest companions — 'al-Rafiq al-A'la' — the highest companions, meaning the prophets and the righteous whom Allah mentions in the Quran as the companions of those whom Allah has blessed.

Al-Tirmidhi ends the Shama'il with these narrations rather than with a summary or conclusion. The ending is itself the teaching: to know the Prophet is to eventually arrive at this moment and to feel its weight. The scholars who commented on the Shama'il often noted that readers and students would weep at this chapter. Ibn Hajar al-Haytami wrote that he could not complete teaching it without losing composure. This response is not considered weakness in the tradition — it is considered the proper response of a heart that has truly come to know him.