Muhammad had once said that a prophet should be
buried where he had died, they explained later. Since he
had died on the sleeping platform in Aisha’s chamber,
that was where he had to be buried, so they dug the
grave at the foot of the platform, and when it was deep
enough, they tipped up the pallet holding the Prophet’s
shrouded body, slid it down into the earth, quickly
covered it, and placed the stone slab of the platform on
top.
None of the wives was present, nor any of the other
Emigrants, nor any of the Helpers. It was a fait accompli,
as ɹnal in its way as the decision of the shura. Aisha’s
chamber, the place she had lived and eaten and slept,
was now the grave of the Prophet, and her father was
the new leader of Islam, the ɹrst of three Caliphs over
the next twenty-ɹve years—none of them Ali. What he
was to call his “years of dust and thorns” were about to
begin.