In Sahīh Muslim, Abū Hurayrah said:

“The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—used to encourage night prayer during Ramadan without making it obligatory. He would say, ‘Whoever spends the nights of Ramadan in prayer, with faith and seeking Allah’s reward, will have his past sins forgiven.’ The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—passed away, and matters remained as they were throughout Abū Bakr’s caliphate and the early part of ‘Umar’s caliphate (1).”

Al-Bukhārī reported that ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn ‘Abd al-Qārī said:

“I went out with ‘Umar to the mosque one night during Ramadan. The people were scattered in separate groups: some prayed alone, while others led small groups in prayer. ‘Umar said, ‘I think it would be better if I brought these people together behind a single reciter.’ He then resolved to do so and brought them together behind Ubayy ibn Ka‘b. I went out with him another night, and the people were praying behind their reciter. ‘Umar said, ‘What an excellent innovation this is (2)! Yet the prayer you sleep through is better than the prayer you perform.’ He meant prayer at the end of the night, whereas the people were praying at its beginning (3).”

Since this gathering of all the worshippers had not taken place before, he called it an innovation, because something done for the first time