al-Harith ibn Yazid, from Kathir al-Aʿraj al-Sadafi, who said: I heard Abu Fatimah, while we were with him at Dhu al-Fawari, say: The Messenger of Allah said—then he mentioned it. The wording is Ahmad’s, while the additional phrase is Ibn Saʿd’s.

This chain of transmission consists of trustworthy narrators, apart from Kathir, who was Kathir ibn Qulayb ibn Mawhib al-Sadafi. Al-Dhahabi said: “An Egyptian unknown narrator; al-Harith ibn Yazid alone narrated from him.”

I say: It has been said that he was Kathir ibn Murrah al-Hadrami, who was trustworthy. This is supported by the fact that Ibn Majah recorded it (1/435) through al-Walid ibn Muslim: ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Thabit ibn Thawban narrated to us, from his father, from Makhul, from Kathir ibn Murrah, that Abu Fatimah related to him, saying: “I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, tell me of a deed upon which I may remain steadfast and practise.’ He said: ‘Devote yourself to prostration, for whenever you prostrate once to Allah, Allah raises you one rank thereby and removes a sin from you thereby.’”

Al-Hafiz said in al-Tahdhib (8/425): “The hadith mentioned is well known through the narration of Kathir ibn Murrah from Abu Fatimah; al-Nasaʾi and Ibn Majah recorded it through this route.”

I say: Perhaps al-Nasaʾi recorded it in his al-Kubra, for I found in his al-Sughra only another hadith (2/182–183), through a different route, from Zayd ibn Waqid, from Kathir ibn Murrah, that Abu Fatimah—that is, he related to him—that he said: then he mentioned it. However, it states: “Devote yourself to emigration, for there is nothing comparable to it.” Whether this Kathir al-Aʿraj was Kathir ibn Murrah al-Hadrami or someone else, al-Hadrami also narrated the hadith, and he was trustworthy, as mentioned above. Thus, the hadith is authentic.

1520 — “When the night has filled the depths of every valley, pray the later ʿIsha prayer.”

Ahmad (5/365) and Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf (1/331) recorded it through