The death of Abu Dharr at al-Rabadha

Ibn Ishaq relates from Burayda ibn Sufyan al-Aslami, from Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi, from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: when Uthman exiled Abu Dharr to al-Rabadha and his appointed end came to him there, only his wife and his servant boy were with him. He charged them to wash him, shroud him and lay him on the open road; a party of the people of Iraq passed by with Ibn Mas'ud, who helped them bury him — and Ibn Mas'ud recalled what the Prophet had said to him on the march to Tabuk. ¹

Ibn Ishaq relates from Burayda ibn Sufyan al-Aslami, from Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi, from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, that when Uthman exiled Abu Dharr to al-Rabadha and his appointed end came to him there, no one was with him but his wife and his servant boy. ¹

He charged them: wash me, shroud me, then lay me on the open road; and to the first riders who pass you, say — this is Abu Dharr, Companion of the Messenger of God — help us bury him. ¹

When he died they did so, and Abdullah ibn Mas'ud arrived with a party of the people of Iraq; they were startled only to find a bier in the middle of the road that the camels had nearly trodden. The servant boy went to them, told them and asked their help. ¹

Ibn Mas'ud broke into weeping and said: the Messenger of God spoke true — "you walk alone, you die alone, and you are raised alone"; then he and his companions dismounted and buried him, and he told them the hadith and what the Prophet had said to him on the march to Tabuk. ¹

• The phrase "Uthman exiled Abu Dharr to al-Rabadha" is from Ibn Mas'ud's account in Ibn Ishaq's chain; the text here presents neither the reasons for the exile nor the dispute over them, so the museum offers no interpretation and no verdict.
• The chain of the account: Burayda ibn Sufyan al-Aslami from Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (p. 168).