Quote · 9 AH — covered in full in a later episode
Give me one of your cloaks and I will use it as a kafan for my father, perhaps Allah will forgive him.
~9 AH (c. 631 CE) — covered in full in a later episode · 9 AH
In brief
Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul was the leader of the hypocrites of Madinah and the last surviving senior chief of the city from before Islam. He had accepted Islam only reluctantly and repeatedly worked against the Muslims: at Uhud, at the Trench, after the Banu al-Mustaliq expedition and in the Slander of Aisha RA. Umar RA more than once asked leave to execute him, and the Prophet ﷺ always refused. About a month after Tabuk, in 9 AH, Ibn Ubayy fell fatally ill and asked the Prophet ﷺ to visit him and seek forgiveness for him, which he did, hoping the gesture would bring others to Islam. After his death, his believing son asked the Prophet ﷺ for one of his own cloaks as a shroud and asked him to lead the funeral prayer. As the Prophet ﷺ stood to pray, Umar RA held his garment and asked whether Allah had not forbidden praying for the hypocrites; the Prophet ﷺ answered that Allah had given him a choice, not a prohibition, and that if seventy-one prayers for forgiveness would have helped, he would have prayed them. He led the funeral prayer and went to the grave himself to help bury him.
This was before the verses of Surah al-Tawbah prohibiting funeral prayer for hypocrites were revealed; after the Prophet ﷺ had already prayed janazah for Abdullah ibn Ubayy, Allah revealed [Quran, 9:84] and [Quran, 9:80], permanently forbidding the Prophet ﷺ from ever praying for or seeking forgiveness for a hypocrite who died in that state. His deathbed request for forgiveness illustrates the paradox of nifaq that Sh. Yasir Qadhi highlights: unlike an ordinary disbeliever, who simply does not know Allah and His Messenger ﷺ or does not believe, a munafiq knows at some level that the Prophet ﷺ is a true Messenger yet remains too arrogant to submit, which is why the munafiqun are considered worse than open disbelievers, destined for the lowest depths of the Fire [Quran, 4:145]. The Prophet ﷺ giving his own shirt, leading the funeral prayer, and personally helping lower the body into the grave for a man who had spent years opposing him is held up, alongside the closing verses of Surat al-Tawba [Quran, 9:128-129], as an illustration of the Prophet ﷺ mercy and tenderness extended even to his fiercest opponent.
The Expedition of Tabuk·Chapter 13 of 15The leader of the hypocrites dies
See the whole storyOther events recorded in 9 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
Give me one of your cloaks and I will use it as a kafan for my father, perhaps Allah will forgive him.
Ya Rasulullah, will you visit such an enemy of Allah?
Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, gravely ill, had sent word asking the Prophet ﷺ to visit him on his deathbed.
I hope that through him, Allah will cause many people to embrace Islam.
Ya Rasulullah, will you pray for him after he has done such-and-such, and then such-and-such, and then such-and-such? Has Allah not already prohibited you from praying for them?
This was after Ibn Salul died, as the Prophet ﷺ stood to lead his funeral prayer.
Rather, Allah has given me a choice, and I have chosen to ask. If I knew seventy-one times would have forgiven him, I would ask seventy-one times.
Ya Rasulullah, give me permission to execute this hypocrite.
Umar had asked the Prophet ﷺ more than once for permission to execute Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, the hypocrite leader of Madinah.
Let him be. Allah did not ask me to open up the hearts of men. Let not others say Muhammad ﷺ kills his own followers.
Ask forgiveness for me.
Ibn Salul said this to the Prophet ﷺ, who had come to visit him as he lay dying.
وَلَا تُصَلِّ عَلَىٰٓ أَحَدٍۢ مِّنْهُم مَّاتَ أَبَدًۭا وَلَا تَقُمْ عَلَىٰ قَبْرِهِۦٓ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ وَمَاتُوا۟ وَهُمْ فَـٰسِقُونَ
“And do not ever offer [funeral] prayers for any of their dead, nor stand by their grave [at burial], for they have lost faith in Allah and His Messenger and died rebellious”
Revealed after the Prophet ﷺ prayed janazah for Abdullah ibn Ubayy.
اسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ إِن تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً فَلَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ
“[It does not matter] whether you [O Prophet] pray for them to be forgiven or not. Even if you pray for their forgiveness seventy times, Allah will never forgive them. That is because they have lost faith in Allah and His Messenger. And Allah does not guide the rebellious people”
Revealed after the Prophet ﷺ prayed janazah for Abdullah ibn Ubayy.
اسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ إِن تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً فَلَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ
“[It does not matter] whether you [O Prophet] pray for them to be forgiven or not. Even if you pray for their forgiveness seventy times, Allah will never forgive them. That is because they have lost faith in Allah and His Messenger. And Allah does not guide the rebellious people”
This ayah -- on asking forgiveness for the hypocrites being futile even "seventy times" -- is what the post responds to, with the Prophet ﷺ saying he would ask even more.