Khilafat-e-Rashidah — Page 49
KHILAFAT-E-R A SHIDAH 49 die and they would live, though they did not consider him God. They considered him a human being, but due to the intensity of their love, they could not expect such a thing to happen in their lifetime. What happened at the time of his death is a very clear illustration of this point. Condition of Companions ra on the Death of the Holy Prophet sa A ha d i th and history reveal that when news of the death of the Prophet sa spread, Hadrat Umar ra stood up with sword in hand and said that the rumour was a mischief of the hypocrites; rather, the Prophet sa was alive and had not died, he had gone to heaven to receive some command of God and would return in a short time and punish the hypocrites. He was so strong in his assertion that he declared that if anyone said that the Prophet sa had died, he would kill him. After this, he paced back and forth in the mosque— impassioned and enraged—with sword in hand. 8 This assertion appealed to the people so much that none of them felt any need to contradict it, even though it is clearly mentioned in the Holy Quran, about the Prophet sa , that: ( A l-e-‘Imr a n, 3:145) 8 As-S i ratul H albiyyah, Vol. 3, p. 500, by Abul Farj Nuruddin Ali bin Ibr a h i m bin Ahmad, Published by D a rul Kutubil ‘Ilmiyyah Beirut, Lebanon. First edition, AH. 1422, AD. 2002.