When the people gathered to wash the body of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, there was no one in the house except his family. His uncle Abbas bin Abdul-Muttalib, Ali bin Abu Talib, Fadl bin Abbas, Qutham bin Abbas, Usama bin Zayd bin Haritha, and Salih his freedman were the ones who gathered to wash him.While they were gathering, Aws bin Khawli, a man of the Ansar from Banu Awf of the Khazraj, who had fought at Badr, called out from behind the door to Ali bin Abu Talib .He said, "Ali, I implore you by Allah, grant us our share of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ."Ali said to him, "Come in."So he entered and was present at the washing of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, though he took no part in actually washing him.Ali leaned the Prophet's body against his own chest while the shirt remained on him. Abbas, Fadl, and Qutham helped Ali bin Abu Talib
turn the body, while Usama bin Zayd and Salih their freedman poured the water. Ali washed him, and nothing was seen from the body of the Messenger of Allah of what is normally seen from a deceased person. Ali kept saying, "May my father and mother be sacrificed for you, how pure you are in life and in death."When they finished washing the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, having washed him with water and lote-leaves, they dried him, then did with him what is done with the deceased. Then he was wrapped in three garments, two white cloths and a striped Yemeni mantle.Then Abbas summoned two men and said, "Let one of you go to Abu Ubayda bin Jarra," for Abu Ubayda used to dig graves with a side-niche in the Meccan style, "and let the other go to Abu Talha bin Sahl al-Ansari," for Abu Talha used to dig graves with a lateral niche in the Medinan style.Then, as he sent them off, Abbas said, "O Allah, choose for Your Messenger."So they went. The man sent to Abu Ubayda did not find him, but the man sent to Abu Talha found him and brought him, and he dug a lateral niche for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
حدثنا يعقوب حدثنا أبي عن ابن إسحاق حدثني حسين بن عبد الله عن عكرمة
لما اجتمع القوم لغسل رسول الله ﷺ وليس في البيت إلا أهله عمه العباس بن عبد المطلب وعلي بن أبي طالب والفضل بن العباس وقثم بن العباس وأسامة بن زيد بن حارثة وصالح مولاه فلما اجتمعوا لغسله نادى من وراء الباب أوس بن خولي الأنصاري ثم أحد بني عوف بن الخزرج وكان بدريا علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه فقال له يا علي نشدتك الله وحظنا من رسول الله ﷺ قال فقال له علي ادخل فدخل فحضر غسل رسول الله ﷺ ولم يل من غسله شيئا قال فأسنده إلى صدره وعليه قميصه وكان العباس والفضل وقثم يقلبونه مع علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه وكان أسامة بن زيد وصالح مولاهما يصبان الماء وجعل علي يغسله ولم ير من رسول الله شيء مما يرى من الميت وهو يقول بأبي وأمي ما أطيبك حيا وميتا حتى إذا فرغوا من غسل رسول الله ﷺ وكان يغسل بالماء والسدر جففوه ثم صنع به ما يصنع بالميت ثم أدرج في ثلاثة أثواب ثوبين أبيضين وبرد حبرة ثم دعا العباس رجلين فقال ليذهب أحدكما إلى أبي عبيدة بن الجراح وكان أبو عبيدة يضرح لأهل مكة وليذهب الآخر إلى أبي طلحة بن سهل الأنصاري وكان أبو طلحة يلحد لأهل المدينة قال ثم قال العباس لهما حين سرحهما اللهم خر لرسولك قال فذهبا فلم يجد صاحب أبي عبيدة أبا عبيدة ووجد صاحب أبي طلحة أبا طلحة فجاء به فلحد لرسول الله ﷺ
Its isnad is daif, due to the weakness of Husayn bin Abdullah, as we mentioned in 39. Part of it has been narrated there in the course of the musnad of Abu Bakr, and part of it also in Sirat bin Hisham 1019, from Ibn Ishaq. Ibn Kathir related it in full in Tarikh 5:260-261 from this passage, and said, "Ahmad alone transmitted it." In H, "of what he sees regarding the dead," and we have corrected it from K.