What Does Qur’an 69:44–46 Say About Muhammad’s Death?

Qur’an 69:44–46Qur’an 69:44-47 · Saheeh International⁴⁴ And if he [i.e., Muḥammad] had made up about Us some [false] sayings, ⁴⁵ We would have seized him by the right hand; ⁴⁶ Then We would have cut from him the aorta. ⁴⁷ And there is no one of you who could prevent [Us] from him.Qur’an 69:44-47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (1) is a conditional. If Muhammad had made up sayings about God, God would have seized him and cut the aorta. Sahih al-Bukhari 4428Sahih al-Bukhari 4428 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanNarrated `Aisha: The Prophet (ﷺ) in his ailment in which he died, used to say, "O `Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison."Sahih al-Bukhari 4428 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source (2) says that in the illness of which he died, he told Aisha he still felt the food from Khaybar, as if his aorta were being cut from that poison. The verse does not narrate the meal. The hadith does not say he invented revelation. They use the same word for the cutting.

Key Points

• Qur’an 69:44–46Qur’an 69:44-47 · Saheeh International⁴⁴ And if he [i.e., Muḥammad] had made up about Us some [false] sayings, ⁴⁵ We would have seized him by the right hand; ⁴⁶ Then We would have cut from him the aorta. ⁴⁷ And there is no one of you who could prevent [Us] from him.Qur’an 69:44-47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (1), Saheeh International, says if he had made up about God some false sayings, God would have seized him by the right hand and cut from him the aorta.
• Ibn Kathir’s abridgment reads the conditional as a proof that Muhammad did not forge anything, because the punishment did not fall. Ibn Abbas, in that tafsir, says al-watin is the artery of the heart. (4)
• Sahih al-Bukhari 4428Sahih al-Bukhari 4428 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanNarrated `Aisha: The Prophet (ﷺ) in his ailment in which he died, used to say, "O `Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison."Sahih al-Bukhari 4428 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source (2), Muhammad Muhsin Khan, is Aisha: in the ailment in which he died, he said he still felt the pain of the food at Khaybar, as if his aorta were being cut from that poison.
• Sunan Abi Dawud 4512Sunan Abi Dawud 4512 · sunnah.com EnglishNarrated Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would accept a present, but would not accept alms (sadaqah). And Wahb bin Baqiyyah narrated to us, elsewhere, from Khalid, from Muhammad ibn Amr said on the authority of AbuSalamah, and he did not mention the name of Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to accept presents but not alms (sadaqah). This version adds: So a Jewess presented him at Khaybar with a roasted sheep which she had poisoned. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ate of it and the people also ate. He then said: Take away your hands (from the food), for it has informed me that it is poisoned. Bishr ibn al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur al-Ansari died. So he (the Prophet) sent for the Jewess (and said to her): What motivated you to do the work you have done? She said: If you were a prophet, it would not harm you; but if you were a king, I should rid the people of you. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then ordered regarding her and she was killed. He then said about the pain of which he died: I continued to feel pain from the morsel which I had eaten at Khaybar. This is the time when it has cut off my aorta.Sunan Abi Dawud 4512 · sunnah.com EnglishOpen source (3) says a woman at Khaybar presented a roasted sheep she had poisoned, that he ate of it, and that about the pain of which he died he said the morsel had cut off his aorta.
• Qur’an 3:144Qur’an 3:144 · Saheeh InternationalMuḥammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allāh at all; but Allāh will reward the grateful.Qur’an 3:144 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (1) says Muhammad is a messenger, messengers pass on, and it asks what will happen if he dies or is killed. How Did Muhammad Die? is the age and the poison in the hadith.
• The two aorta sentences are not the same claim. One is a threat if he invents sayings. One is his reported words about a poisoned meal. Jesus is God, and John 20:28John 20:28 · King James VersionAnd Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.John 20:28 · King James VersionOpen source (5) is Thomas calling the risen Jesus Lord and God.

What Does Surah 69 Verse 44–46 Say?

Surah 69 is al-Haqqah, the inevitable reality. The surah opens on peoples who denied, Thamud and ‘Ad and Pharaoh, and on the day the sky is rent. Verses 44–46 sit after an oath by what you see and what you do not see, that this is the speech of a noble messenger.

Qur’an 69:44–47Qur’an 69:44-47 · Saheeh International⁴⁴ And if he [i.e., Muḥammad] had made up about Us some [false] sayings, ⁴⁵ We would have seized him by the right hand; ⁴⁶ Then We would have cut from him the aorta. ⁴⁷ And there is no one of you who could prevent [Us] from him.Qur’an 69:44-47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (1), Saheeh International:

[44] And if he [i.e., Muḥammad] had made up about Us some [false] sayings, [45] We would have seized him by the right hand; [46] Then We would have cut from him the aorta. [47] And there is no one of you who could prevent [Us] from him.

Qur’an 69:44–47 · Saheeh International

Qur’an · accepted by Muslims

The brackets that name Muhammad are the translator’s. The conditional is the case in which he had made up sayings. The cutting of the aorta is what would follow that invention. The verse does not say the aorta was cut. It says it would have been cut if he had invented sayings. It does not mention Khaybar, a sheep, or a Jewess.

What Did Muhammad Say About His Aorta Being Cut?

Sahih al-Bukhari 4428Sahih al-Bukhari 4428 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanNarrated `Aisha: The Prophet (ﷺ) in his ailment in which he died, used to say, "O `Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison."Sahih al-Bukhari 4428 · Muhammad Muhsin KhanOpen source (2), Muhammad Muhsin Khan, reports Aisha. In the ailment in which he died, the Prophet used to say that he still felt the pain caused by the food he ate at Khaybar, and that at this time he felt as if his aorta were being cut from that poison.

Sunan Abi Dawud 4512Sunan Abi Dawud 4512 · sunnah.com EnglishNarrated Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would accept a present, but would not accept alms (sadaqah). And Wahb bin Baqiyyah narrated to us, elsewhere, from Khalid, from Muhammad ibn Amr said on the authority of AbuSalamah, and he did not mention the name of Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to accept presents but not alms (sadaqah). This version adds: So a Jewess presented him at Khaybar with a roasted sheep which she had poisoned. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ate of it and the people also ate. He then said: Take away your hands (from the food), for it has informed me that it is poisoned. Bishr ibn al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur al-Ansari died. So he (the Prophet) sent for the Jewess (and said to her): What motivated you to do the work you have done? She said: If you were a prophet, it would not harm you; but if you were a king, I should rid the people of you. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then ordered regarding her and she was killed. He then said about the pain of which he died: I continued to feel pain from the morsel which I had eaten at Khaybar. This is the time when it has cut off my aorta.Sunan Abi Dawud 4512 · sunnah.com EnglishOpen source (3) is the meal. A Jewess at Khaybar presented a roasted sheep she had poisoned. He ate of it, and the people ate. He said the food had informed him that it was poisoned. Bishr ibn al-Bara’ died. The woman said that if he were a prophet it would not harm him, and if he were a king she would rid the people of him. The report says he then ordered regarding her and she was killed. About the pain of which he died, he said, “I continued to feel pain from the morsel which I had eaten at Khaybar. This is the time when it has cut off my aorta.”

Bukhari’s wording is “as if my aorta is being cut”. Abi Dawud’s wording is “it has cut off my aorta.” Both tie the pain to the Khaybar poison, and both place the saying in the illness of his death. How Did Muhammad Die? also records Bukhari 4466, that he died at sixty-three. These reports are Sunni hadith. Which Muslims Accept Which Hadith?

Ibn Kathir’s Reading

Ibn Kathir’s abridgment on 69:44 says that if Muhammad had forged something against Allah, added or removed anything from the message, or said anything from himself while attributing it to Allah, Allah would have been swift in punishing him. The abridgment then says Muhammad did not do any of this, as the disbelievers claimed. It explains the seizure by the right hand as a strong grip, and it quotes Ibn Abbas: al-watin is the artery of the heart, the vein attached to the heart. The meaning of the passage, in that tafsir, is that Muhammad is truthful, because Allah determined what he would convey. (4)

That is the Muslim reading, and it is a fair one of the conditional taken by itself. If the threatened punishment never happened, the condition was not met, and he did not invent sayings. The tafsir does not discuss Bukhari 4428. It does not say the aorta was cut by poison. It says the punishment for forgery did not fall, and that the artery in the verse is the heart’s artery.

What the Two Sentences Do and Do Not Say

The Qur’an verse is about inventing sayings. The hadith is about a poisoned sheep and a pain he said he still felt while dying. A reader can hold Ibn Kathir’s reading and still have Bukhari 4428 in the collection: the word the verse uses for the threatened cut is the word the hadith uses for the pain of the poison. The hadith does not say God cut the aorta because Muhammad forged a verse. The verse does not say a meal at Khaybar was the cut. Putting them together as if the hadith narrates the verse’s punishment is a step the sources do not take. Leaving the hadith unmentioned, as the tafsir does, leaves out a report in which he says the aorta was being cut as he died.

Qur’an 3:144Qur’an 3:144 · Saheeh InternationalMuḥammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allāh at all; but Allāh will reward the grateful.Qur’an 3:144 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (1) says Muhammad is not but a messenger, other messengers have passed on before him, and it asks whether the hearers will turn back if he dies or is killed. The verse treats his death as a real possibility. It does not mention the aorta.

Jesus is God. The Gospel’s claim is not that a prophet’s death disproves him by itself. Qur’an 3:144Qur’an 3:144 · Saheeh InternationalMuḥammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allāh at all; but Allāh will reward the grateful.Qur’an 3:144 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source is right that a messenger can die. The Gospel says Jesus died and did not stay dead. John 20:28John 20:28 · King James VersionAnd Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.John 20:28 · King James VersionOpen source (5): Thomas answered and said to him, “My LORD and my God.” The Resurrection of Jesus

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Meaning of Surah 69?

Al-Haqqah is the sure event, the day the surah describes, when the sky splits and the earth is crushed. Verses 44–46 are the warning inside that surah about inventing sayings. They are not a biography of the death at Medina. The biography in the hadith is How Did Muhammad Die?.

What Is Verse 69:47?

Qur’an 69:47Qur’an 69:44-47 · Saheeh International⁴⁴ And if he [i.e., Muḥammad] had made up about Us some [false] sayings, ⁴⁵ We would have seized him by the right hand; ⁴⁶ Then We would have cut from him the aorta. ⁴⁷ And there is no one of you who could prevent [Us] from him.Qur’an 69:44-47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (1) says there is no one of you who could prevent God from him. It completes the conditional. If the seizure happened, no one could stop it.

Did the Poison Kill Him, on These Reports?

Bukhari 4428 says that in the illness of which he died he felt the Khaybar food as if it were cutting his aorta. Abi Dawud 4512 says that of the pain of which he died, this was the time the morsel had cut off his aorta. The reports connect the poison to the fatal illness in his own words. They do not give a physician’s account. How Did Muhammad Die?

Keep Reading

• How Did Muhammad Die?
• Was Muhammad Sinless?
• Who Was Muhammad?
• Are There Missing and Abrogated Verses in the Qur’an?
• Has the Qur’an Been Changed?
• The Resurrection of Jesus
• Is Jesus God?