Abdullah bin Abdullah (bin Utbah) said: I went to Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and asked her: Will you not describe to me the illness of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? She said: Certainly, (listen). When the illness of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) intensified, he asked:“Have the people performed the prayer?”We said: No, O Messenger of Allah! The people are waiting for you. He said:“Put water for me in the tub.”Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: We put water for him, he sat and performed ghusl (ritual bath), and when he tried to get up, he fainted. When he regained consciousness, he again asked:“Have the people performed the prayer?”We said: No, O Messenger of Allah! The people are waiting for you. He (again) said:“Put water for me in the tub.”She said: We again put water for him and he sat and performed ghusl, then he tried to get up but again fainted. When he regained consciousness, he again said the same:“Have the people performed the prayer?”We said: No, O Messenger of Allah! The people are waiting for you. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said that the people were sitting in the mosque waiting for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for the Isha prayer. She said: Finally, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a man to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) to lead the people in prayer. That man went to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commands you to lead the prayer. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was a very soft-hearted man. He said: Umar! You lead the prayer. Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: You are more deserving of it. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Thus, during those days of illness, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) continued to lead the prayers. Then, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) felt a little better, he came out for the Zuhr prayer supported by two men, one of whom was Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him). At that time, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was leading the prayer. When Abu Bakr saw him, he wanted to step back, but the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gestured to him not to step back. Then he said to those two men: Seat me beside Abu Bakr. So they seated him beside Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), and now Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was standing, praying following the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and all the people were praying following Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was praying while sitting. Ubaydullah said: Then I went to Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) and said to him: Shall I narrate to you the hadith that Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated about the illness of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Certainly, narrate it. So I narrated the whole hadith to him. He did not deny anything in it, except that he said: Did (Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her) mention the name of the man who was with Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him)? I said: No. Then he informed me that the (other person) was Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him and may He be pleased with him).