She related that she heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and listened closely to him before he died while he was reclining against her chest, saying, “O Allah, forgive me, have mercy on me, and join me to the Companion [on high].” The two Ṣaḥīḥ compilers (1) recorded it through the narration of Hishām ibn ʿUrwah.
Imām Aḥmad said (2): Yaʿqūb narrated to us, my father narrated to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Yahyā (3) ibn ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr told me, from his father ʿAbbād: I heard ʿĀʾishah say, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ died between my bosom and my throat, during my allotted day, and I did not infringe on anyone’s right. Yet, out of my foolishness and the rashness of youth, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away while in my lap I placed his head on a cushion and went out to wail with the women, striking my face (4).”
Imām Aḥmad also said (5): Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr narrated to us, Kathīr ibn Zayd narrated to us, from al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: ʿĀʾishah said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to say, ‘No prophet’s soul is taken until he is shown his reward; then it is returned to him and he is given the choice—whether to remain or to go on.’ I had memorised that from him. So when I was holding him to my chest and his neck inclined, I said, ‘He has passed away,’ and I immediately remembered what he had said. Then he raised himself and looked up. I exclaimed, ‘By Allah, then he will not choose us.’ He said, ‘With the Highest Companion in Paradise,’ and recited: ‘Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger will be with those upon whom Allah has bestowed His favour—the prophets, the ever-truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous; what excellent companions they are’ (al-Nisāʾ 4:69).” This report is unique to Aḥmad; the other compilers did not include it.
Imām Aḥmad further said (6): ʿAffān narrated to us, Hammām narrated to us, Hishām ibn ʿUrwah informed us, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away while his head lay between my bosom and my throat. When his soul departed, I never perceived a fragrance more pleasant than it.” This chain is sound according to the criteria of the two Ṣaḥīḥs, yet none of the authors of the six books recorded it. Al-Bayhaqī (7) transmitted it as well through Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq, from ʿAffān.
Al-Bayhaqī also said (8): Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us; Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Aṣamm informed us; Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār narrated to us; Yūnus narrated to us, from Abū Maʿshar, from Muḥammad ibn Qays ibn Abī ʿUrwah, from Umm Salamah, who said, “I placed my hand on the chest of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the day he died. Many Fridays passed in which I continued to eat and perform ablution, yet the scent of musk never left my hand.”