“During his final illness the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed behind Abu Bakr while seated, wrapped in a single garment.” Al-Tahawi adds: “That was the last prayer he ever performed.” Al-Tirmidhi comments: “A hasan sahih report.” I note that it fulfils the conditions of the two Shaykhs. Al-Nasaʾi (1/127) and Ahmad (1/159, 233, 243) also transmit it through other chains from Anas, none of which mention Thabit; al-Tirmidhi remarks, however, that “the first chain is the sounder.” The hadith of Aisha is recorded by Bukhari (2/122, 132, 137–138), Muslim (2/20–24), al-Nasaʾi (1/133–134), al-Darimi (1/287), Ibn Majah (1/371–373), al-Daraqutni (p. 152), al-Tahawi, al-Bayhaqi (2/304), and Ahmad (6/224, 249, 251) with the wording: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was leading the people in prayer while seated, and Abu Bakr was standing, following the Prophet’s prayer, and the people were following Abu Bakr.” In this version the Prophet ﷺ is the imam, whereas in the earlier one he is portrayed as a follower. Scholars have proposed several ways to reconcile the narrations; Ibn Hajar, in Fath al-Bari, judges the most plausible to be that the Prophet ﷺ prayed two congregational prayers in the mosque—acting as a follower in one and as the imam in the other. This view was adopted by Ibn Hazm in al-Muhalla (3/47), by al-Bayhaqi, and, earlier, by Ibn Hibban; al-Zaylaʾi reviews their arguments in Nasb al-Raya (2/44–48), to which the reader may refer if desired.