Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 2474 — The virtue of visiting the sick

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) missed one of his brothers for three days, he would ask about him; if he was absent (on a journey), he would supplicate for him; if he was present in the city, he would visit him; and if he was ill, he would visit him in his sickness. Once the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) missed a man from the Ansar (from the gathering) and asked about him on the third day, and it was said: "O Messenger of Allah! We left him like a (very weak) chick of a bird; whatever goes down his throat comes straight out (that is, nothing stays in his stomach)." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to some of his Companions: "Visit your brother (in his sickness)." So we set out with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to visit him, and among the group were Sayyiduna Abu Bakr and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both). When we reached him, we found him (in the wretched state) just as he had been described to us. He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "How do you find yourself?" He said: "Whatever goes down my throat comes out at once (by the back passage)." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What caused this (condition)?" He said: "O Messenger of Allah! I passed by you while you were leading the Maghrib prayer, so I prayed with you, and you were reciting this surah, "The Striking Calamity! What is the Striking Calamity?" [Surah al-Qari'ah: 1-2] to its end. So (out of fear of the Hereafter) I made this supplication: 'Allahumma ma kana li min dhanbin anta mu'adhdhibi 'alayhi fi al-akhirati fa'ajjil li 'uqubatahu fi al-dunya' (O Allah, whatever sins I have for which You are going to punish me in the Hereafter, hasten their punishment for me in this world). So now you see me in the state in which I am." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What an evil thing you have said! Why did you not ask Allah Almighty to grant you good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and to protect you from the punishment of the Fire?" The narrator says: Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed him, and he made this very supplication, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also supplicated for him; and the man at once stood up as though an animal had been freed from its tether and become lively and vigorous. When we came out from there, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) submitted: "O Messenger of Allah! You have just urged us to visit the sick; so what reward is there for us in it?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, when a Muslim man sets out from his house to visit his Muslim brother, he wades in the mercy of Allah up to his hips; then when he sits with the sick person, mercy covers him and covers the sick person too. The sick person is in the shade of the Throne of Allah Almighty, while the visitor is in the shade of His holiness (His pure mercy). And Allah Almighty says to His angels: 'Look, how long did these visitors stay with the sick person?' The angels submit: 'O our Lord! The length of a fuwaq (the interval between two milkings of a she-camel).' So Allah Almighty says to His angels: 'Write for this servant of Mine the reward of a thousand years of worship.' And if they stayed for an hour, Allah says: 'Write for him (the reward of) an age.' And an age is ten thousand years. If he dies before that (reward reaches him), he will enter Paradise; and if he lives, not a single sin will be written against him. And if someone visits in the morning, seventy thousand angels pray for mercy for him until the evening, and he is in the orchards of Paradise; and if he visits in the evening, seventy thousand angels pray for mercy for him until the morning, and he is in the orchards of Paradise."
I (Ibn Hajar) say: The first part of the hadith is found in meaning in the Sahih (of Bukhari and Muslim), but not with this full context; and from the question of Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) to the end, Abbad bin Kathir alone narrated it, and he is extremely weak and matruk (abandoned); the signs of fabrication are evident on this text.