I went to Ayesha and said, "Will you tell me about the illness of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?"She said, "Yes. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ grew heavy with illness and asked, 'Have the people prayed?'We said, 'No, they are waiting for you, Messenger of Allah.'He said, 'Place water for me in a basin.' We did so, and he bathed. Then he tried to rise but fainted. When he came to, he asked, 'Have the people prayed?'We said, 'No, they are waiting for you, Messenger of Allah.'He said, 'Place water for me in a basin.' He tried to rise again but fainted.The people were gathered in the mosque waiting for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for the night prayer. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent word to Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer. Abu Bakr was a tender-hearted man, so he said, 'Umar, lead the people in prayer.'Umar replied, 'You are more deserving of that.'So Abu Bakr led them in prayer during those days. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ felt some relief and went out, supported between two men, one of them Abbas, for the noon prayer. When Abu Bakr saw him, he started to step back, but the Prophet ﷺ gestured to him not to step back. He instructed the two men, and they seated him beside Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr was praying standing while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was praying seated."Then I went to Ibn Abbas and said, "Shall I relate to you what Ayesha told me about the illness of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?"He said, "Go on."I related it to him, and he did not object to any of it, except that he said, "Did she name to you the man who was with Abbas?"I said, "No."He said, "He was Ali, may Allah have mercy on him."
حدثنا عبد الرحمن بن مهدي حدثنا زائدة عن موسى بن أبي عائشة
دخلت على عائشة فقلت ألا تحدثيني عن مرض رسول الله ﷺ قالت بلى ثقل رسول الله ﷺ فقال أصلى الناس فقلنا لا هم ينتظرونك يا رسول الله قال ضعوا لي ماء في المخضب ففعلنا فاغتسل ثم ذهب لينوء فأغمي عليه ثم أفاق فقال أصلى الناس قلنا لا هم ينتظرونك يا رسول الله قال ضعوا لي ماء في المخضب فذهب لينوء فغشي عليه قالت والناس عكوف في المسجد ينتظرون رسول الله ﷺ لصلاة العشاء فأرسل رسول الله ﷺ إلى أبي بكر بأن يصلي بالناس وكان أبو بكر رجلا رقيقا فقال يا عمر صل بالناس فقال أنت أحق بذلك فصلى بهم أبو بكر تلك الأيام ثم إن رسول الله ﷺ وجد خفة فخرج بين رجلين أحدهما العباس لصلاة الظهر فلما رآه أبو بكر ذهب ليتأخر فأومأ إليه أن لا يتأخر وأمرهما فأجلساه إلى جنبه فجعل أبو بكر يصلي قائما ورسول الله ﷺ يصلي قاعدا فدخلت على ابن عباس فقلت ألا أعرض عليك ما حدثتني عائشة عن مرض رسول الله ﷺ قال هات فحدثته فما أنكر منه شيئا غير أنه قال هل سمت لك الرجل الذي كان مع العباس قلت لا قال هو علي رحمة الله عليه
Its isnad is sahih. It belongs to the musnad of Ayesha, and also to the musnad of Ibn Abbas by virtue of his confirming what she reported, and I found no fitting reason to place it here in the musnad of Ibn Umar. It will come again with this same isnad in the musnad of Ayesha, 6:251. It was also narrated by Uqba from Abdul-Samad and Muawiya bin Amr, from Zaida. It was likewise narrated in similar form through other chains many times, among them 6:34 and 228-229. A similar account with the same meaning has already passed through another route in the musnad of Ibn Abbas, 3355, 3356.Ibn Kathir cited the hadith in his history, 5:233, from the Musnad with this same isnad, and said, "Bukhari and Muslim both narrated it from Ahmad bin Yunus, from Zaida," through the same chain.Zaida is Ibn Qudama.Musa bin Abu Ayesha's reliability was established earlier at 1910, and here we add that Bukhari gave him a biographical entry in his al-Kabir, 1/4/289, and said, "Yahya Qattan said, Sufyan, meaning Thawri, used to praise Musa bin Abu Ayesha." He was also declared reliable by Ibn Uyayna and Ibn Main. In al-Tahdhib, it is reported from Ibn Abu Hatim, "I heard my father say, I am troubled by Musa bin Abu Ayesha's narration of Ubaydullah bin Abdullah's hadith concerning the Prophet's ﷺ illness," meaning this very hadith. The Hafiz responded to this, saying, "Abu Hatim meant that he was inconsistent in it, but this is excessive strictness on his part, for otherwise it is a sahih hadith."Ubaydullah is Ibn Abdullah bin Utba bin Masud."The Messenger of Allah grew heavy" means his illness intensified. It is stated in Lisan, "A man becomes thaqil, so he is thaqeel or thaqil, when his illness intensifies. It is said, so-and-so became thaqil, meaning the illness weighed him down."Al-Mikhdab, Ibn Athir said, it resembles a mirkan, which is a basin in which clothes are washed."He set out to rise with effort," from their saying, naa bi-hamlihi yanoo'u naw'an wa tanwa'an, meaning he rose with effort and hardship.Ukuf is the plural of aakif, from their saying, akafa ukoofan, so he is aakif, and i'takafa, so he is mu'takif, meaning to remain settled upon a thing or in a place and to keep to it persistently."He found lightness." Lightness is the opposite of heaviness, and it applies to the body, the mind, and to activity. What is meant here is that he found lightness in his body and renewed energy after the illness had weighed him down.