from al-Aʿmash, from Abu Sufyan, from Jabir, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prepared an army one night until half the night had passed, or nearly so. Then he came out and said: ‘The people have prayed and gone to sleep, while you have been waiting for this prayer. Indeed, you will remain in prayer as long as you await it.’” I say: This chain of transmission is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria.
- “The Praiseworthy Station is intercession.”
Ahmad (2/478) and Abu Nuʿaym in al-Hilyah (8/372) narrated it by way of Dawud al-Awdi, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet. Ahmad also narrated it (2/441, 444, and 528), as did al-Tirmidhi (2/193), al-Dulabi in al-Kuna (2/164), al-Tahawi in Mushkil al-Athar (1/449), Ibn Abi Asim in al-Sunnah (784, edited by me), Ibn Khuzaymah in al-Tawhid (p. 198), al-Marwazi in Zawaʾid al-Zuhd (1312), Abu Amr al-Dani in al-Muktafa (51/2), Tamam in al-Fawaʾid (125/2), and al-Sahmi in Tarikh Jurjan (153), through other chains from al-Awdi, with the wording: “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say regarding the words of Allah, the Exalted: ‘It may well be that your Lord will raise you to a Praiseworthy Station’ (1): ‘It is the station at which I will intercede for my community.’”
I say: Dawud is Dawud ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Awdi al-Zaʿafiri, Abu Yazid al-Kufi, who is