I went to visit Ayesha and said to her, "Won't you tell me about the illness of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?"She said, "Certainly. The Prophet ﷺ grew seriously ill and asked, 'Have the people prayed?'We said, 'No, Messenger of Allah, they are waiting for you.'He said, 'Place some water in the basin for me.' We did so, and he bathed. Then he tried to rise but fainted. When he came to, he asked again, 'Have the people prayed?'We said, 'No, Messenger of Allah, they are waiting for you.'He said, 'Place some water in the basin for me.' We did so, and he bathed. Then he tried to rise but fainted again. When he came to, he asked, 'Have the people prayed?'We said, 'No, Messenger of Allah, they are waiting for you.'He said, 'Place some water in the basin for me.' We did so, and he bathed. Then he tried to rise but fainted once more. When he came to, he asked, 'Have the people prayed?'We said, 'No, Messenger of Allah, they are waiting for you.'"She continued, "The people were gathered in the mosque waiting for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to lead the night prayer. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent word to Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer. The messenger came to him and said, 'The Messenger of Allah ﷺ orders you to lead the people in prayer.'Abu Bakr, who was a tender-hearted man, said, 'Umar, lead the people in prayer.'Umar replied, 'You have more right to do so.'So Abu Bakr led the prayer during those days.Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ felt some relief, so he came out for the noon prayer supported between two men, one of whom was Abbas. Abu Bakr was leading the people in prayer. When Abu Bakr saw him, he started to step back, but the Prophet ﷺ gestured to him not to withdraw. He said to the two men, 'Seat me beside him.' They seated him beside Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr was praying standing, following the prayer of the Prophet ﷺ, and the people were following the prayer of Abu Bakr, while the Prophet ﷺ was seated."Ubayd Allah said, "I then went to Abdullah bin Abbas and said to him, 'May I present to you what Ayesha told me about the illness of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?'He said, 'Go ahead.'I related her account to him, and he did not deny any of it, except that he said, 'Did she name for you the man who was with Abbas?'I said, 'No.'He said, 'It was Ali.'"
دخلت على عائشة فقلت لها: ألا تحدثيني عن مرض رسول الله ﷺ؟ قالت: بلى. ثقل النبي ﷺ، فقال: أصلى الناس؟ قلنا: لا. وهم ينتظرونك يا رسول الله! قال: ضعوا لي ماء في المخضب ففعلنا فاغتسل، ثم ذهب لينوء فأغمي عليه، ثم أفاق فقال: أصلى الناس؟ قلنا: لا. وهم ينتظرونك يا رسول الله! فقال: ضعوا لي ماء في المخضب ففعلنا فاغتسل، ثم ذهب لينوء فأغمي عليه، ثم أفاق فقال: أصلى الناس؟ قلنا: لا. وهم ينتظرونك يا رسول الله! فقال: ضعوا لي ماء في المخضب ففعلنا فاغتسل، ثم ذهب لينوء فأغمي عليه، ثم أفاق فقال: أصلى الناس؟ قلنا: لا. وهم ينتظرونك يا رسول الله! قالت: والناس عكوف في المسجد ينتظرون رسول الله ﷺ لصلاة العشاء الآخرة. قالت: فأرسل رسول الله ﷺ إلى أبي بكر، أن يصلي بالناس، فأتاه الرسول فقال: إن رسول الله ﷺ يأمرك أن تصلي بالناس، فقال أبو بكر، وكان رجلا رقيقا، يا عمر! صل بالناس، قال فقال عمر: أنت أحق بذلك، قالت: فصلى أبو بكر تلك الأيام. ثم إن رسول الله ﷺ وجد من نفسه خفة فخرج بين رجلين، أحدهما العباس، لصلاة الظهر، وأبو بكر يصلي بالناس، فلما رآه أبو بكر ذهب ليتأخر، فأوما إليه النبي ﷺ أن لا يتأخر، وقال لهما أجلساني إلى جنبه فأجلساه إلى جنب أبي بكر، وكان أبو بكر يصلي وهو قائم بصلاة النبي ﷺ، والناس يصلون بصلاة أبي بكر، والنبي ﷺ قاعد. قال عبيد الله: فدخلت على عبد الله بن عباس فقلت له: ألا أعرض عليك ما حدثتني عائشة عن مرض رسول الله ﷺ؟ فقال: هات. فعرضت حديثها عليه فما أنكر منه شيئا. غير أنه قال: أسمت لك الرجل الذي كان مع العباس؟ قلت: لا. قال: هو علي.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Adhan (687), and Muslim in the Book of Prayer (418), both from Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Yunus, who said, "Zaida narrated to us, who said, Musa bin Abu Ayesha narrated to us, from Ubaydullah bin Abdullah," and he related it.Her saying, "Abu Bakr led them in prayer during those days." Ibn Nasir Din Dimashqi said in his book Salwat Kaeeb (p. 110), "During those days, up until his death, there were seventeen prayers, beginning with the night prayer on the eve of Friday and ending with the dawn prayer on Monday." End of quote.The two sheikhs, Bukhari (713) and Muslim (418/95), also narrated it, both through the route of Abu Muawiya, from Amash, from Ibrahim, from Aswad, from her, who said, "When the illness of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ grew severe, Bilal came to call him to prayer, and he said, 'Tell Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer.' I said, 'Messenger of Allah, Abu Bakr is a tender-hearted man, and if he stands in your place, the people will not hear him, so if only you would order Umar.' He said, 'Tell Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer.' So I said to Hafsa, 'Tell him that Abu Bakr is a tender-hearted man, and if he stands in your place the people will not hear him, so if only you would order Umar.' He said, 'You are indeed like the companions of Yusuf, tell Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer.'Then when the prayer had begun, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ felt a lightness in himself, so he got up, supported between two men, his feet dragging along the ground, until he entered the masjid. When Abu Bakr heard him coming, Abu Bakr started to step back, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gestured to him to stay. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came and sat on the left side of Abu Bakr. So Abu Bakr prayed standing, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed sitting, Abu Bakr followed the prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the people followed the prayer of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him."Bukhari titled this chapter, "A man follows the imam, and the people follow the one who is following the imam."This contains an indication of abrogation of the ruling that those praying behind a sitting imam should also sit. This is the view held by the two imams Abu Hanifa and Shafii. Imam Ahmad denied that any abrogation occurred in this matter.Instead, he reconciled the two hadiths by applying them to two different situations. The first is when the regular imam begins the prayer sitting due to an illness that is expected to be cured, in which case those praying behind him should also sit. The second is when the regular imam begins the prayer standing, in which case those praying behind him must pray standing, regardless of whether something later arises that requires their imam to sit or not.As in the hadiths concerning the illness that led to the death of the Prophet ﷺ, for his allowing them to remain standing indicates that sitting was not required of them in that situation, because Abu Bakr began the prayer with them standing, and they prayed with him standing. This is unlike the first situation, in which he ﷺ began the prayer sitting, so when they prayed behind him standing, he objected to them doing so.Hafiz said in Fath al-Bari (176/2), after quoting the statement of Imam Ahmad, "A group of Shafii scholars of hadith held the same view as Ahmad, such as Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn Munzir, and Ibn Hibban, and they answered the hadith of this chapter with other responses, among them Ibn Khuzayma's statement, 'The hadiths that came instructing the one following the imam to pray sitting in accordance with his imam are not disputed regarding their sahih status or their wording, but as for his ﷺ praying sitting, there is disagreement over whether he was leading or following.' He said, 'What is not disputed should not be abandoned for what is disputed.'" This is the summary of Ibn Khuzayma's statement (53/3-57).And it is as he said. In the narration of Zaida bin Qudama, from Musa bin Abu Ayesha, from Ubaydullah bin Abdullah, from Ayesha, Abu Bakr began praying following the prayer of the Prophet ﷺ, while the people followed the prayer of Abu Bakr.Shuba differed from him, narrating it from Musa with the wording, "Abu Bakr led the people in prayer, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in the row behind him." Ibn Khuzayma narrated it (1621), and from him Ibn Hibban (2117), from Muhammad bin Bashshar, who said, "Badal bin Muhabbar narrated to us, who said, Shuba narrated to us, from Musa bin Abu Ayesha," with the same wording. A similar version was narrated by Bakr bin Isa and Shababa bin Sawwar, from Shuba, from Naeem bin Abu Hind, from Abu Waail, from Masruq. Both were narrated by Imam Ahmad (25257, 25256). Nasai also narrated it (786) through the route of Bakr bin Isa, and Tirmidhi narrated it (362) through the route of Shababa bin Sawwar.Some scholars adopted the approach of preferring one narration over another, giving precedence to the narration stating that Abu Bakr was the one following, considering it more certain. Others said the opposite, preferring that he was the one leading. Others took the approach of reconciliation, treating the incident as having occurred more than once. See Fath al-Bari.The third approach is supported by Shuba's own narrations. In the previous narrations, Abu Bakr was the one leading, and the Prophet ﷺ was the one following. But Abu Dawud Tayalisi narrated it, saying, "Shuba narrated to us, from Musa bin Abu Ayesha," with the same chain, and its wording is, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in front of Abu Bakr, leading the people in prayer while sitting, and Abu Bakr was leading the people in prayer, with the people behind him." Imam Ahmad narrated it (26113) from Sulayman bin Dawud, and Nasai (797) from Mahmud bin Ghaylan, both from Abu Dawud.In this narration, the Prophet ﷺ was the one leading, while Abu Bakr followed him standing, and the people followed Abu Bakr. This is clear evidence that the incident occurred more than once.As for those who cited as evidence the hadith of Jabir Jafi, from Shaybi, who said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'No one shall lead in prayer sitting after me,'" this is a mursal, daif hadith. It was narrated by Abdul-Razzaq (4088), Daraqutni (398/1), and Bayhaqi (3/80), all of them through the route of Jabir Jafi. Daraqutni said, "No one narrated it from Shaybi except Jabir Jafi, and he is discarded as a narrator, and the hadith is mursal, so it cannot serve as proof."Ibn Hibban said in his Sahih (474/5), "It is astonishing that anyone would use such a mursal report as evidence, when their own leading figure criticized its transmission. Husayn bin Abdullah bin Yazid Qattan informed us at Raqqa, who said, Ahmad bin Abu Hawari narrated to us, who said, I heard Abu Yahya Himani say, I heard Abu Hanifa say, 'I have not seen anyone among those I met more excellent than Ataa, nor have I met anyone among those I met more of a liar than Jabir Jafi. Whenever I brought him something based on my own reasoning, he would bring me a hadith for it, and he claimed to have such and such thousands of hadiths from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he had not yet related.'"