“Umm Bishr bint al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr entered upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the illness in which he died, while he was feverish. She touched him and said, ‘I have never found such severe fever upon anyone as I find upon you.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then mentioned it.”

I say: This chain of transmission is extremely weak. All its narrators are trustworthy and narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, except for Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar—al-Wāqidī—who was accused of lying.

However, the hadith has two corroborating reports. The first is from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said: “A man placed his hand upon the Prophet ﷺ and said, ‘By Allah, I cannot bear to keep my hand upon you because of the intensity of your fever.’ The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘We, the company of Prophets, have our afflictions multiplied for us just as our reward is multiplied for us. A prophet may be afflicted with lice until they kill him, and a prophet may be afflicted with poverty until he takes a cloak and cuts it, making in it an opening like that of a garment. They would rejoice at affliction just as you rejoice in prosperity.’”

Aḥmad recorded it (3/94): ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us: Maʿmar informed us, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from an unnamed man, from him. This is an authentic chain of transmission, its narrators being trustworthy, were it not for the unnamed man. However, Hishām ibn Saʿd named him, saying: from Zayd ibn Aslam, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, with this wording. Ibn Mājah recorded it (2/490), as did al-Aṣbahānī in al-Targhīb (folio 60/2), who said: “‘He cuts it’ means that he cuts it and makes in it something resembling a garment-opening.”

Al-Būṣīrī said in al-Zawāʾid (245/1): “This is an authentic chain of transmission; its narrators are trustworthy.”

I say: Al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī also authenticated it, as mentioned above under no. 144. Yet it is only good, because of the well-known criticism concerning Hishām ibn Saʿd. Yes, it is authentic by virtue of the corroborating report that follows, as well as another which has already preceded.