Then, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, entered and drew the curtain**.

Then, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, entered and drew the curtain**. He (Anas) said: The Messenger of Allah breathed his last ON THAT VERY DAY of his .[^2] This hadith is interesting. Anas made it absolutely clear that they were already performing the salat (في الصلاة), in their congregational rows, before the appearance of the Prophet.

Yet, the Sahabah were able, during salat , to see the Messenger of Allah draw the curtain, to view his bright face and his happy smile, to witness how Abu Bakr stepped back, to notice how the Prophet’s hand gesture to him, and to look at him returning to his room. What kind of salat was that?! Where were they really looking during the prayer? Were they even concentrating at all?

Muslim has this further riwayah as well: وحدثنيه عمرو الناقد وزهير بن حرب قالا حدثنا سفيان بن عيينة عن الزهري عن أنس قال آخر نظرة نظرتها إلى رسول الله عليه وسلم كشف الستارة يوم الاثنين ‘Amr al-Naqid and Zuhayr b. Harb – Sufyan b. ‘Uyaynah – al-Zuhri – Anas: The last glance which we had of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was when he drew the curtain aside ON MONDAY .[^3] Therefore, the Prophet did not participate in congregational salat on Monday, the day of his death.

He also did not pray in his mosque throughout the three days before that. That means that he stopped leading his Sahabah on Thursday, most probably in its afternoon or evening. So, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, he did not come out to his followers at all. On Monday, the day he died, he showed himself to them but did not join them in the salat . The direct implication of all this is that his last ever salat with his Sahabah was offered on Thursday. Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir (d.

774 H) agrees with our conclusions: قلنا فعلى هذا يكون آخر صلاة صلاها معهم الظهر كما جاء مصرحا به في حديث عائشة المتقدم، ويكون ذلك يوم الخميس لا يوم السبت ولا يوم الأحد كما حكاه البيهقي عن مغازي موسى بن عقبة وهو ضعيف We say: based upon this, the last salat which he performed with them would be Zuhr , as it is explicitly reported in the foregoing hadith of ‘Aishah, and that would be on Thursday – and not on Saturday or Sunday as al-Bayhaqi quoted from Maghazi of Musa b. ‘Uqbah, and it (i.e.

that submission of Musa) is ḍa’if .[^4] Imam al-Salihi al-Shami (d.