The Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from al-Baqi and found me suffering from a headache. I was saying, "Oh, my head!"He said, "Rather, Ayesha, it is I who should say, 'Oh, my head!'"Then he said, "What harm would it do you if you were to die before me, so that I would tend to you, wash you, shroud you, pray over you, and bury you?"
رجع رسول الله ﷺ من البقيع، فوجدني، وأنا أجد صداعا في رأسي، وأنا أقول: وا رأساه، فقال: بل أنا يا عائشة! وا رأساه ثم قال: ما ضرك لو مت قبلي فقمت عليك، فغسلتك، وكفتتك، وصليت عليك، ودفنتك.
It was narrated by Ibn Majah (1465), Nasai in Kubra (7074), Ahmad (25908), Ibn Hibban (6585), and Bayhaqi (3/396), all of them from the hadith of Muhammad bin Salama, from Muhammad bin Ishaq, from Yaqub bin Utbah, from Zuhri, from Ubaydullah bin Abdullah, from Ayesha, and I mentioned it. Its isnad is hasan on account of Muhammad bin Ishaq, who is a mudallis, except that he explicitly stated "hadatha" in what Bayhaqi narrated in Dalail (7/168), where he said in it, "Yaqub bin Utbah told us," which removes from him the suspicion of tadlis. Busiri said in Misbah Zujaja, "Its narrators are trustworthy, and Bukhari narrated it through another route in abridged form." By this he means what Bukhari recorded in the Book of the Sick (5666) from Yahya bin Yahya Abu Zakariya, who said, Sulayman bin Bilal informed us, from Yahya bin Saeed, who said, I heard Qasim bin Muhammad say, Ayesha said, "Oh, my head!" So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "That would be fine if it happened while I am alive, for I would ask forgiveness for you and pray for you." Ayesha said, "Oh, my calamity! By Allah, I really think you wish for my death, and if that happened, you would spend the rest of your day enjoying the company of one of your other wives." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Rather, it is I who should say, 'Oh, my head!' I had intended, or I wanted, to send for Abu Bakr and his son, and to make a binding declaration, so that no claimants would make claims and no one with wishful desires would harbor them. Then I said to myself, Allah will refuse it and the believers will reject it, or, Allah will reject it and the believers will refuse it."