people into the Fire upon their faces—or, he said, upon their noses—except the harvests of their tongues?” (1)
Abu al-Fadl Ziyad ibn Muhammad al-Hanafi narrated to us; Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad al-Makhladi informed us; Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Jabbar al-Rayani informed us; Hammad ibn Zanjawayh informed us; Abu Abd Allah ibn Salih informed us; Muawiyah ibn Salih narrated to me; Rabi'ah ibn Yazid narrated to me, from Abu Idris al-Khawlani, from Abu Umamah al-Bahili, from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: “Hold fast to the night prayer, for it was the practice of the righteous before you; it brings you nearer to your Lord, expiates evil deeds, and restrains one from sin.” (2)
Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Sam'an informed us; Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Jabbar al-Rayani narrated to us; Humayd ibn Zanjawayh informed us; Rawh ibn Aslam informed us; Hammad ibn Salamah informed us; Ata ibn al-Sa'ib informed us, from Murrah al-Hamdani, from Ibn Mas'ud, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Our Lord wonders at two men: a man who rises from his bed and blanket, leaving his beloved and his family, to perform his prayer.” Allah then says to His angels: “Look at My servant: he rose from his bed and blanket, leaving his beloved and his family, to perform his prayer, desiring what is with Me and fearing what is with Me.” “And a man who fights in the path of Allah; his companions are put to flight, yet he knows the consequence he faces in fleeing and the reward that awaits him in returning. So he returns and fights until his blood is shed.” [Allah then says to His angels: “Look at My servant: he returned, desiring what is with Me and fearing what is with Me, until his blood was shed.”] (3) (4)
(1) Reported by al-Tirmidhi in Kitab al-Iman, chapter: The sanctity of prayer, 7:362-365, who said, “This is a sound and authentic hadith”; by al-Nasai in al-Tafsir, 2:156-158; by Ibn Majah in Kitab al-Fitan, chapter: Restraining the tongue during tribulation, no. 3973; by Abd al-Razzaq in al-Musannaf, 11:194; by Abd ibn Humayd in al-Muntakhab min al-Musnad, no. 112, pp. 68-69; and by Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi in Ta'zim Qadr al-Salah, 1:220. It was also reported at length by al-Hakim, 2:412-413, who authenticated it according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and al-Dhahabi agreed with him. Ibn Rajab said: “All its chains from Muadh are weak,” p. 255. However, taken together, its various chains and narrations raise it to the level of sahih (authentic). See Shaykh al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, 3:115.
(2) Reported by al-Tirmidhi in Kitab al-Da'awat, chapter: The Prophet's supplication, 9:536; by al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan, 2:502; by al-Hakim, 1:308, who authenticated it according to the criteria of al-Bukhari, and al-Dhahabi agreed with him; and by the compiler of Sharh al-Sunnah, 4:34. Al-Haythami stated in Majma al-Zawa'id, 2:251: “It was narrated by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir and al-Awsat. Its chain includes Abdullah ibn Salih, the scribe of al-Layth. Abd al-Malik ibn Shu'ayb said: ‘Ibn al-Layth was trustworthy and reliable,’ though a number of leading scholars deemed him weak. Al-Tabarani also narrated it in al-Kabir from Salman al-Farisi; its chain includes Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman, whom Duhaym, Ibn Hibban, and Ibn Adi considered trustworthy, while Abu Dawud and Abu Hatim deemed him weak.” Al-Albani graded the hadith hasan (sound) in Irwa al-Ghalil, 2:199-202. See also al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, 1:216.
(3) The text within the parentheses is omitted in manuscript “B.”
(4) Reported by Imam Ahmad, 1:416; Ibn Hibban in Mawarid al-Zam'an, no. 643, p. 168; and the compiler of Sharh al-Sunnah, 4:42-43. Individual passages of the hadith have supporting reports in Abu Dawud, in the chapter on the merit of steadfastness in battle, and in al-Haythami's Majma al-Zawa'id, 2:255.