Yūsuf ibn Mūsā narrated to us, saying: Jarīr and Ibn Fudayl narrated to us from Ibrāhīm al-Hajarī. Muhammad ibn Yahyā also narrated to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn narrated to us, saying: Ibrāhīm al-Hajarī narrated to us from Abū al-Ahwas, from ʿAbd Allāh, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said ⦗137⦘—while Ibn Yahyā said, tracing the report back to the Prophet, that he said:

“Allah Most High opens the gates of heaven in the remaining third of the night and stretches out His two hands, saying: ‘Is there no servant who will ask Me, so that I may give to him?’” He said: “He continues thus until dawn breaks.”

Ibn Yahyā’s wording was:

“He stretches out His hand: ‘Is there no servant who will ask Me, so that I may give to him?’”

Abū Bakr said: I have cited this hadith in full later, when discussing the descent of the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, every night, without specifying how He descends. For we describe the One we worship only as He has described Himself, either in the Book of Allah or through the words of His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, transmitted by one upright narrator from another through a connected chain reaching him. We do not rely as evidence on disconnected reports or unsound narrations, nor do we rely on opinions and analogical reasoning concerning the attributes of the One we worship.