I have never seen anyone more closely resembling the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in manner, conduct, and bearing, whether standing or sitting, than Fatimah, daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.Whenever she came in to visit the Prophet ﷺ, he would rise to greet her, kiss her, and seat her in his own place. And whenever the Prophet ﷺ came in to visit her, she would rise from her seat, kiss him, and seat him in her place.When the Prophet ﷺ fell ill, Fatimah came in. She leaned over him and kissed him, then raised her head and wept. Then she leaned over him again, raised her head, and laughed.I said to myself, "I used to think this one was among the most sensible of our women, but she is just like the rest of them."After the Prophet ﷺ passed away, I said to her, "Do you remember when you leaned over the Prophet ﷺ, then raised your head and wept, then leaned over him again and raised your head and laughed? What made you do that?"She replied, "I would be a gossip if I told. He informed me that he would die of this illness of his, so I wept. Then he told me that I would be the first of his family to follow him, so that is when I laughed."
ما رأيت أحدا أشبه سمتا ودلا وهديا برسول الله في قيامها وقعودها من فاطمة بنت رسول الله ﷺ قالت: وكانت إذا دخلت على النبي ﷺ قام إليها فقبلها، وأجلسها في مجلسه، وكان النبي ﷺ إذا دخل عليها قامت من مجلسها فقبلته وأجلسته في مجلسها، فلما مرض النبي ﷺ دخلت فاطمة، فأكبت عليه فقبلته، ثم رفعت رأسها فبكت، ثم أكبت عليه ثم رفعت رأسها فضحكت، فقلت: إن كنت لأظن أن هذه من أعقل نسائنا فإذا هي من النساء، فلما توفي النبي ﷺ قلت لها: أرأيت حين أكببت على النبي ﷺ فرفعت رأسك فبكيت، ثم أكببت عليه فرفعت رأسك فضحك ما حملك على ذلك؟ قالت: إني إذا لبذرة أخبرني أنه ميت من وجعه هذا فبكيت، ثم أخبرني أني أسرع أهله لحوقا به فذاك حين ضحكت.
Abu Dawud (5217), Tirmidhi (3872), Bukhari in Adab al-Mufrad (947), and Nasai in Sunan al-Kubra (8311) narrated it, and Ibn Hibban (6953) and Hakim (4/272–273) graded it sahih, all of them through the route of Israel, who said, Maysara bin Habib informed us, Mithal bin Amr informed me, Ayesha bint Talha narrated to me, from Ayesha, Mother of the Believers, and he related it.The wording given here is that of Tirmidhi, and the rest are similar to it, except that Abu Dawud gave only the first half.Its chain of transmission is sahih.Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan sahih gharib hadith from this route, and this hadith has been narrated through other routes from Ayesha."Hakim said, "This is a hadith sahih according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs, though they did not narrate it with this wording. They only agreed on the hadith of Shaybi, from Masruq, from Ayesha ."I say, the hadith of Shaybi referred to is found in Bukhari, in the Book of Virtues (3623, 3624), and in Muslim, in the Book of the Virtues of the Companions (2450:98), but it is limited to the account of the illness, and the first half of the hadith is not found in either of them.