When they intended to wash the body of the Prophet ﷺ, they said, "By Allah, we do not know whether we should strip the Messenger of Allah ﷺ of his garments as we strip our dead, or wash him with his clothes still on him."When they disagreed, Allah cast sleep upon them until there was not a man among us whose chin was not resting on his chest. Then a speaker spoke to them from a corner of the house, and they did not know who he was, saying that they should wash the Prophet ﷺ with his clothes still on him.So they rose to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and washed him while his shirt was upon him, pouring water over the shirt and rubbing him through the shirt rather than with their bare hands.Ayesha used to say, "Had I known beforehand what I came to know later, none would have washed him but his wives."
لما أرادوا غسل النبي ﷺ قالوا: والله ماندري أنجرد رسول الله ﷺ من ثيابه كما نجرد موتانا، أم نغسله وعليه ثيابه؟ فلما اختلفوا ألقى الله عليهم النوم حتى ما منا رجل إلا وذقنه في صدره، ثم كلمهم مكلم من ناحية البيت لا يدرون من هو؟ أن اغسلوا النبي ﷺ وعليه ثيابه، فقاموا إلى رسول الله ﷺ فغسلوه، وعليه قميصه يصبون الماء فوق القميص، ويدلكونه بالقميص دون أيديهم، وكانت عائشة تقول: لو استقبلت من أمري ما استدبرت ما غسله إلا نساءه.
Reported by Abu Dawud (3141), Ibn Majah (1464), Ahmad (26306), Ibn Hibban (6627), and Hakim (3/59-60), all of them from the hadith of Muhammad bin Ishaq, who said, Yahya bin Abbad told me, from his father Abbad bin Abdullah bin Zubayr, who said, I heard Ayesha, and he mentioned it. The wording given is that of Abu Dawud. As for Ibn Majah, he confined himself to Ayesha's statement, "If I had known beforehand about my affair."Its chain is hasan because of Muhammad bin Ishaq, for he was a mudallis, except that he stated clearly that he had heard it directly. Hakim said, Sahih according to the standard of Muslim.