Allah SWT reveals to His Prophet what He likes including, if He likes, knowledge of the "five things" that are hidden to all and which includes the time and place of death.

This knowledge, in turn, may be passed on to those purified awliya' who are close to the Prophet . Thus we see that countless awliya' announced news of their death hours, or days, or weeks before it took place as is well-known in the biographical sources.

So the truth is that Allah SWT reveals this to whomever He likes. Allah SWT is not bound by anything or anyone to reveal this only to the angel of death.

The Prophet himself certainly knew of his own passing in advance (if you ask how long, the face of the evidence says: a year; and probably earlier than that; and possibly before the angel of death was appraised of it).

Here is a report to that effect:

At the time the Messenger of Allah was sending Mu`adh ibn Jabal to Yemen, the Messenger of Allah went out with him to give him his last recommendations. Mu`adh was mounted while the Messenger of Allah was walking by Mu`adh's mount. When he finished he said: "O Mu`adh. It may be that (`asa an) you shall not meet me again after this year in which I find myself. Perhaps you will (la`allaka) pass by my mosque here, and my grave [i.e. to visit me]?" At this Mu`adh wept uninterruptedly at the thought of parting with the Messenger of Allah . Then he [the Prophet] turned and, facing Madina, said: "Those closest to me are those who guard themselves from Allah (al-muttaqun), whoever they are and wherever they are." Another version adds: "Do not weep, O Mu`adh! Weeping is from Shaytan."

Both versions are narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad with two sound chains as stated by al-Haythami in Majma` al-Zawai'd.

This is a highly charged hadith which contains so much that I ask forgiveness of Allah to pass over it so quickly, but the person who is asking for information seems impatient to get answers to the question asked. (Namely, it is a proof for travelling to visit the Prophet's grave, Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam.)

So it suffices to say that the hadith contains information about the Prophet's knowledge of the *time and place* of his death, because in the speech of the Messenger of Allah just as in the Qur'an, the word `asa on his part or on the part of Allah Subhan wa Ta`ala denotes certainty rather than probability as in normal usage; and he communicated that knowledge to Mu`adh; while the word la`allaka here denotes a strong wish on the part of the Prophet to Mu`adh, whom he loved especially, to visit him at his grave. And Allah Almighty knows best.

GF Haddad ©
[2000-05-04]