In the House of ʿĀʾishah

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was still going round to the houses of his wives, but eventually it was becoming difficult for him. So he was carried into the house of ʿĀʾishah, and he gathered all of his wives and sought their permission to let him stay in the house of ʿĀʾishah while he was ill, and they agreed. So ʿĀʾishah had the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in her house, and she was the one tending him; and she said: this is the first time I have nursed a sick person. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) spent the rest of his life in the house of ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her); the end of his life was in the house of ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her).

ʿĀʾishah said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), when he became ill, would recite the muʿawwidhāt into his hands and then blow into them, and then wipe his body. But when he became ill this time, he could not do that for himself. So ʿĀʾishah would recite these sūrahs into the hands of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and then she would use his hands to wipe his body for him (al-Bukhārī 4439). She would not do it into her own hands, because the hands of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) are more blessed. So even though she did the recitation, she would not do it into her hands, but into the hands of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

One day her brother ʿAbd al-Raḥmān came in, and he had a miswāk. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was staring at the miswāk, and ʿĀʾishah understood that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted it. So she said to him: do you want it? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gestured: yes. So she took it from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and she softened the other end, and she gave it to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and he used the miswāk — she said — as if he were healthy (al-Bukhārī 4449). So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), even though he was at the end of his life, did not leave the sunnah of the miswāk.

Usāmah ibn Zayd and the Muslims who were camped outside Madīnah heard the news of the illness of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), so they came back. And Usāmah came to visit the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and the Messenger of Allah was so ill that he could not speak. And then Usāmah said: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) raised his hands up and then pointed at me; he would raise his hands up and then point at me. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was making duʿāʾ for Usāmah. Usāmah said: I understood that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was making duʿāʾ for me. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was in those difficult moments, the agony and pain of illness; nevertheless, he was making duʿāʾ for Usāmah ibn Zayd. And this shows how much the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) loved Usāmah ibn Zayd.