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The Prophet falls ill 
On the last Monday of Safar, the Prophet attended a 
funeral at Baqi. When he returned, ‘Aishah told him that she had 
a headache. “Nay, it is I who have a headache,” the Prophet
said, “O Aishah, my head.” 
Although the Prophet’s illness worsened, he still gave each of 
his wives his time by staying with a different wife each day. When 
he was with his wife Maymoona, he asked her whom he was to 
stay with the next day. Knowing that he wanted to be with 
Aishah, his other wives waived their rights in favour of Aishah. 
Supported on both sides by Fadl bin Abbas and Ali bin Abu Talib 
, the Prophet went to Aishah . 
 

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Covenant and counselling 
‘Aishah relates that the Prophet’s illness increased at her 
house. He said, “Pour seven unopened water skins on me so that 
I can make a bequest to the people.” The Prophet sat in a tub 
belonging to Hafsah , and ‘Aishah poured water over him until 
he motioned for her to stop. Then he went out and led the people 
in prayer. He addressed them, saying, “Your predecessors made 
graves of their Prophets and ancestors into places of worship. I 
forbid you to do this. May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for 
turning their prophets’ graves into places of worship. You must 
not turn my grave into an idol to be worshipped.” 
The Prophet asked that anyone whom he owed anything 
to should come forward, for he did not want to meet his Lord 
without first being forgiven by those he had wronged, or without 
having repaid his debts. 
The Prophet then turned toward his followers and related:
“Allah gave one of His slaves a choice between the treasures of 
this world and that which lies with Allah. The slave chose that 
which lies with Allah.” 
Abu Saeed Khudri reports: When Abu Bakr heard this, 
he burst into tears and said, “May I be sacrificed for your sake 
along with my mother and father.” We were amazed by his 
behaviour. “Look at Abu Bakr,” we said to each other. “The 
Prophet told us about a slave of Allah who chose the next 
world when given a choice between this world and the hereafter. 
Now why is Abu Bakr reacting like this?” After a few days, 
however, we understood that the salve the Prophet had 
referred to was himself. We then realised that Abu Bakr was 
superior to us in knowledge.” 
The Prophet’s regard for Abu Bakr increased with this 
incident. He then asked for all doors opening into the Mosque to 
be closed, except the door of Abu Bakr’s house. 

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289 
The next day, Thursday, the Prophet’s illness intensified and 
he said, “Let me write something for you so that you will never go 
astray.” 
Umar , however, protested, “The Prophet is in great 
pain. We have the Qur’an, and this is enough for us.” This led to 
a dispute among the Companions at the Prophet’s bedside, and 
he said to them, “Sit down.” 
That same day, the Prophet ordered that all Jews, 
Christians and polytheists be turned out from the Arabian 
Peninsula. He also stressed that delegations to Madinah were to 
be received with honour exactly as he used to receive them. He 
stressed the importance of prayer and the just treatment of slaves 
and servants. In closing he said: “I leave you with two things. As 
long as you hold them tightly, you will never go astray: they are 
the Book of Allah and my Sunnah.”