Ubaidullah bin Abdullah bin Utbah narrated that I went to Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and said, "If only you would describe to us the illness of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), it would be good." She said, "Yes, certainly, listen. The illness of the Prophet (peace be upon him) intensified, so he asked, 'Have the people performed the prayer?' We replied, 'No, O Messenger of Allah, the people are waiting for you.' The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'Place a basin of water for me.' Lady Aisha said, 'We placed the water, and he sat and performed ghusl (ritual bath). Then he tried to get up, but he fainted. When he regained consciousness, he again asked, 'Have the people performed the prayer?' We replied, 'No, O Messenger of Allah, the people are waiting for you.' The Prophet (peace be upon him) again said, 'Place a basin of water for me.' Lady Aisha said, 'We again placed the water, and he sat and performed ghusl. Then he tried to get up, but (again) he fainted.' When he regained consciousness, he again said, 'Have the people performed the prayer?' We replied, 'No, O Messenger of Allah, they are waiting for you.' The people were sitting in the mosque waiting for the Prophet (peace be upon him) for the Isha prayer. Finally, the Prophet (peace be upon him) sent a man to Abu Bakr and ordered that he should lead the prayer. The man who was sent came to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and said, 'The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has ordered you to lead the prayer.' Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was a very soft-hearted man, so he said to Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), 'You lead the prayer.' But Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) replied, 'You are more deserving of it.' So, during those (illness) days, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) continued to lead the prayers. Then, when the Prophet (peace be upon him) felt a little better, he came out of the house for the Zuhr prayer, supported by two men, one of whom was Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was leading the prayer. When Abu Bakr saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), he wanted to step back, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) gestured to him not to step back. Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to the two men, 'Seat me beside Abu Bakr.' So they seated him beside Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). The narrator said, 'Then Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was following the Prophet (peace be upon him) in prayer, and the people were following Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) in prayer, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) was praying while sitting.' Ubaidullah said, 'Then I went to Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) and said, "Should 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 be upon him)?" He said, "Certainly, narrate it." So I narrated the hadith to him. He did not deny anything except that he said, "Did Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) mention to you the name of the person who was with Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him)?" I said, "No." He said, "He was Ali (may Allah be pleased with him)."