Ibn Hibban

Lady Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) fell unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he asked: Has the call to prayer (adhan) been given for the prayer? We replied: No. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Tell Bilal to hasten the prayer and let Abu Bakr lead the people in prayer. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: We said: O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)! Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) is a soft-hearted man; he will not be able to stand in your place. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: The Prophet (peace be upon him) looked at me, and when he finished speaking, he again fell unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he asked: Has the call to prayer (adhan) been given? Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: I replied: No. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Tell Bilal to give the call to prayer and let Abu Bakr lead the people in prayer. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: I gestured to Hafsa, and she said: O Prophet of Allah! Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) is a soft-hearted man. He will not be able to recite (the Qur'an) and will keep weeping. The narrator states: When the Prophet (peace be upon him) finished listening to her, he looked at her, and then again fell unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he asked: Has the call to prayer been given? Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: I replied: No. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Tell Bilal to give the call to prayer and let Abu Bakr lead the people in prayer. You women are like the women of Yusuf's time. Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) again fell unconscious. Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) gave the iqamah for the prayer, and then Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) began to lead the people in prayer. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) regained consciousness, he went with Nubah and Barirah. Both of them were supporting him. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: The sight of the toes of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is still before my eyes; they were making marks on the ground. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: When Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) sensed the arrival of the Prophet (peace be upon him), he intended to step back, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) gestured to him to remain in his place. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: The Prophet (peace be upon him) was brought and seated in the row next to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). (Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says): This narration confuses the one who does not have expertise in the science of hadith and does not understand authentic narrations, and he believes that this is contrary to all the other narrations that we have mentioned before. However, there is no contradiction or difference in the narrations transmitted from the Prophet (peace be upon him), nor does any one of them belie another, nor can any narration be used to abrogate the command of the Qur'an. Rather, through it, the concise and ambiguous rulings of the Book are clarified, and its difficult and brief rulings are explained. By the grace and mercy of Allah, we have already guided towards the fact that all these narrations that have been transmitted are about two prayers, not one prayer, as we have previously mentioned. As for the first prayer, the Prophet (peace be upon him) went walking between two persons to perform that prayer, and he joined that prayer as the imam. He led the people in prayer while sitting, and he also instructed the people to pray sitting in that prayer. And this is the prayer for which the Prophet (peace be upon him) went walking between Lady Barirah (may Allah be pleased with her) and Lady Nubah (may Allah be pleased with her), who were slave women. He participated in it as a follower (muqtadi), and he performed the prayer sitting in the row behind Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him).