Dtbtkn^207
H e told her this during the following days as weU, but every time he
did, Aishah requested that her father be exempted from leading the
prayer; she insisted that he was too se nsiu\'e and that he wept when recit-
ing the Quran. Each time she objected, Aishah received the same firm and
determined answer: Abu Bakr must lead the congregational prayer. Abu
Bakr's sensitivity and tears held a secret, and the Prophet remained firm
in his choice. Two days later, hi s illness allowing him some respite, he was
able to go to the mosque while th e r-.·Iuslims were praying zuhr (th e noon
prayer) behind Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr wanted to step back and leave his
place to th e Prophet, but the latter prevented him fro m doing so and
merely sat on his left. The Prophet led the rest of the prayer while Abu
Balrr repeated, in a louder voice, th e p hrases that accompanied th e differ-
ent movements.
This was the Prophet's last appearance in the mosque. During the day
that followed, he had all his belongings distributed, down to his last
dirhams and his coat of mail, and he continued [0 give o ut some ad vice;
he repeated again and again that slaves, the poor, and the lowly must he
treated weU. The next morning, a Monday, at th e time of dawn prayer, the
Prophet raised a curtain in Aishah's dwelling, enabling him to look at the
Muslims in the mosque, and he was seen to give a smile. T hc Muslims
were surprised at that gesture and thought that th e Prophet was going to
join them, but the curtain went down again and the Prophet did not reap-
pear. D uring the ho urs that followed, Fatimah, his daughtet, came to visit
him and made a compassionate remark about the in tensity of the
Prophet's suffering; at this, he told he r: "After this day, there will be no
more suffering for your father."26 He also whispered into her ea r, as we
have seen, that she would soon join him, and this made her smile through
het tears. The pain was getting more and mote intense, and th e Prophet
was soon unable to speak.
Then Aishah came to sit by th e Prophet's side, pressed him against her,
an d laid his head on her bosom while stro king it to soothe the pain. Abd
ar-Rahman, Abu Bakr's so n and Aishah's brother, came into the roo m
with a SiR!Ok, the small stick Muslims used to brush their teeth, in his hand,
and the Pro phet looked at it in such a way that Aishah understood he
wanted it. She softened it in het mouth and gavc it to the Prophet, who
brushed his teeth with surprising vigor co nsidering his general weakness.