Ayesha said, "When the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah, Abu Bakr and Bilal fell ill with fever. I went in to visit them and said, 'Father, how are you feeling? And Bilal, how are you feeling?'"She continued, "Whenever the fever gripped Abu Bakr, he would recite,Every man is greeted by his family in the morning, yet death is closer to him than the strap of his sandal.And whenever the fever left Bilal, he would raise his voice and recite,Would that I knew whether I shall spend a night again in a valley with idhkhir and jalil grasses around me,And shall I one day come down to the waters of Majannah, and shall Shamah and Tafil ever appear before me?"Ayesha said, "So I went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and told him about it. He said, 'O Allah, make Madinah as beloved to us as Mecca, or even more so. Make it healthy for us, bless us in its sa and its mudd, and remove its fever and place it in al-Juhfah.'"
لما قدم النبي ﷺ المدينة وعك أبو بكر وبلال، قالت: فدخلت عليهما فقلت: يا أبت كيف تجدك؟ ويا بلال كيف تجدك؟ قالت: فكان أبو بكر إذا أخذته الحمى يقول: كل امرئ مصبح في أهله والموت أدنى من شراك نعله وكان بلال إذا أقلع عنه يرفع عقيرته فيقول: ألا ليت شعري هل أبيتن ليلة بواد وحولي إذخر وجليل وهل أردن يوما مياه مجنة وهل يبدون لي شامة وطفيل قالت عائشة: فجئت رسول الله ﷺ فأخبرته فقال: اللهم حبب إلينا المدينة كحبنا مكة أو أشد. وصححها وبارك لنا في صاعها ومدها وانقل حماها فاجعلها بالجحفة.
Malik narrated it in the Jami chapter (14) from Hisham bin Urwa, from his father, from Ayesha, as mentioned.Bukhari narrated it in the Manaqib chapter (3926) from Abdullah bin Yusuf, from Malik, with his chain.Muslim narrated it in the Hajj chapter (1376) via another route from Hisham, with his chain, in abridged form.Bukhari narrated it in the Fadail Madinah chapter (1889) via another route from Hisham, from his father, from Ayesha, and he added, after mentioning the verses, that he said,"O Allah, curse Shayba bin Rabia, Utba bin Rabia, and Umaya bin Khalaf, just as they drove us out of our land to the land of plague."Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "O Allah, make Madinah beloved to us..." the hadith continues.She said, meaning Ayesha, "We came to Madinah when it was the most disease-ridden of Allah's lands."She said, "Bathan used to flow with najl," meaning stagnant, foul water.