563. ʿAbdullāh narrated to us; he said: My father narrated to me; he said: Yazīd narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid informed us, from ʿAbdullāh al-Yamanī, the client of al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, who said:

When Abu Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—was at death’s door, ʿĀʾisha—may Allah be pleased with her—recited the following verse of poetry:

“O censor, what can caution do for a youth
when his breath rattles and his chest grows tight?”

Abu Bakr replied, “Not so, my dear daughter. Instead, say: ‘And the throes of death have come with the truth; that is what you used to try to evade’ (Q 50:19).”

He then said, “Look at these two garments of mine; wash them and shroud me in them, for the living have more need of new clothes than the dead.”