Early Islamic traditions claimed that there were tens, or even hundreds, of prophets buried in the cities and regions spread throughout the Near Eastern world. One of these many prophets buried underground, unknown and uncelebrated, was Khālid b. Sinān: a wonder-worker from the Arab tribe of ʿAbs, who was said to have appeared in the Ḥijāz in the generations immediately preceding the birth of the Prophet Muḥammad. In a story found in early ḥadīth and akhbār texts, Khālid's daughter (named Muḥayyāt in some versions) visits Muḥammad in Medina. The Prophet welcomes her: ‘Greetings, daughter of my brother, daughter of a prophet abandoned by his people!’

With this mention of ‘a prophet abandoned by his people’, Muḥammad evokes the story of Khālid b. Sinān's death and burial, and his grave's abandonment by Khālid's community. According to this story, when Khālid neared death, he called his tribesmen and announced:

Three days after Khālid's death and burial, the herd arrived and the tail-less donkey acted just as Khālid had predicted. When his people were on the verge of exhuming Khālid as he had commanded, disagreement broke out among them about the acceptability of disinterring the dead. In several versions, Khālid's family dislike the idea, with Khālid's son worrying that he would be derisively known as Ibn al-Manbūsh, ‘Son of the Disinterred’. In other versions, members of Khālid's tribe, the ʿAbs, are anxious over what their reputation among the Arabs will be for such actions with the dead. As a result of these reservations, they leave Khālid in his grave: abandoned, and apparently never to be uncovered.

Although Khālid's status as a prophet was debated among early Muslims, traditions indicate that many people (including the Prophet Muḥammad) recognised him as such. With this in mind, Khālid's prediction – that he would emerge after three days with knowledge of all that would happen until the end of time – is compelling. In some versions, Khālid specifies that he will be found ‘alive’ (ḥayy) in his grave after three days.