held back (1) by anything short of the Throne.” (2)
It is authentically established that, when standing upright after bowing in the night prayer, he (peace and blessings be upon him) would say: “To my Lord belongs all praise; to my Lord belongs all praise.” (3) He would remain standing for a long time.
He prescribed for his community the best and most complete praise, both here and elsewhere. If saying, “Praise be to Allah—a praise that does justice to His blessings and matches His further bounty,” were the best praise, then this occasion and others like it would have been the most fitting occasions for it.
Glory be to Allah! Yet this supposedly most complete, excellent and comprehensive praise is never reported from him on even a single occasion, whether as something he said or taught; nor does any Companion say it, nor
(1) “Yunahnihhā” (restrain it): the first nūn bears a fathah, the following hā’ a sukūn, the second nūn a kasrah, and the final hā’ a shaddah, because the verb’s hā’ is assimilated into the pronoun’s hā’. This is Ahmad’s wording.
Al-Nasā’ī, Ibn Mājah and al-Tabarānī have “fa-mā nahnahahā” (nothing restrained it), without assimilation.
Al-Tayālisī has “fa-mā tanāhā” (it did not stop).
The meaning is that nothing prevented or restrained it from reaching the Throne. Ibn al-Athīr, al-Nihāyah, 5/139.
(2) Reported by al-Tayālisī, no. 1116; Ahmad, 4/318, no. 18860; al-Nasā’ī, 2/145–146, and in al-Kubrā, no. 1006; Ibn Mājah, no. 3870; and al-Tabarānī in al-Kabīr, 22/25–27, and al-Du‘ā’, nos. 517–520.
Al-Albānī graded it authentic in Sahīh al-Nasā’ī, no. 893.
(3) Reported by al-Tayālisī, no. 416; Ahmad, 5/399, no. 23375; Abū Dāwūd, no. 874; al-Tirmidhī in al-Shamā’il, no. 275; al-Nasā’ī, 2/199–200 and 231; and others, from Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him).
The hadith itself appears in Sahīh Muslim, no. 772, but without the passage cited as evidence by the author.