Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam transmitted from Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb, who said: Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl related to me from Thābit, who in turn related from Anas that the Prophet ﷺ once prayed behind Abū Bakr while wearing a single mantle (burd), its two ends crossed over his shoulders. When he wished to stand he said, “Call Usāmah ibn Zayd for me.” Usāmah came, and the Prophet ﷺ leaned his back against Usāmah’s chest; that was the last prayer he ever performed. Sulaymān ibn Bilāl narrated the same report, adding Thābit al-Bunnānī to the chain.

This indicates that the prayer in question was the dawn (fajr) prayer, for it was the final prayer he performed, and it was immediately afterward that he summoned Usāmah and instructed him concerning the expedition, as the writers of the Prophetic campaigns relate. This prayer was different from the one in which Abū Bakr followed the Prophet ﷺ as imam; that earlier occasion was the ẓuhr prayer on either Saturday or Sunday.

Thus the various reports are harmonised, and the ḥāfiẓ, the eminent scholar Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī—may Allah have mercy on him—has treated them exhaustively.

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah said: The Prophet ﷺ fell ill in Ṣafar and was seized by a severe fever. His wives gathered round him and nursed him for several days, yet he would still try to join the prayers until he was overpowered. The muʾadhdhin then came to inform him of the prayer; he rose but was too weak to stand, so he said to the muʾadhdhin, “Go to Abū Bakr and tell him to lead the people.” ʿĀʾishah said, “Abū Bakr is a tender-hearted man; if he stands in your place he will be moved to tears. Instruct ʿUmar to lead instead.” He replied, “Tell Abū Bakr to lead.” She repeated her request, and he said, “You are like the women who tried to turn Joseph aside.” Abū Bakr therefore continued to lead the people until the night before Monday in Rabīʿ al-Awwal, when the fever lifted from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and he awoke restored. At dawn he came out for the prayer, leaning on al-Faḍl and on a servant of his called Nūbah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ walking between them. The congregation had already prostrated with Abū Bakr in the dawn prayer, and he was standing in the second rakʿah. The rows opened for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until he stood beside Abū Bakr. Abū Bakr started to step back, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took hold of his garment and drew him forward to