Introduction

The Qurʾān exhorts the believers to obey the Prophet (59:7) and emulate his good example (33: 21). When he died, according to Ibn Hishām's Sīra, some of the mourners wanted to bury him in the mosque. Others, however, recommended interring him with his companions. Then Abū Bakr spoke up: “I heard the Messenger of God say that no prophet has ever been buried anywhere except in the place where he died.” His deathbed was accordingly lifted off the floor and his grave was dug on the spot. Ibn Hishām's account thus credits Abū Bakr with being the first to invoke Muḥammad's words as a source of guidance after his death. In later times, the Prophet's words and deeds, transmitted by such men as Abū Bakr, took on an importance second only to that of the Qurʾān. In the first and second centuries, however, the Prophet's practice was only one component of the sunna – the normative practice of the first Muslims. By force of circumstances, the judgements of the Companions appear to have been an equally rich source of precedent.