3325—“We would pray the night prayer with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Whenever he prostrated, al-Hasan and al-Husayn would leap onto his back; and whenever he raised his head, he would take them [gently by hand from behind] and set them down gently. Whenever he returned to prostration, they would return; and when he finished praying, he placed them [upon his thighs], one here and the other here.”

Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “I came to him and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, shall I not take them to their mother?’ He said, ‘No.’ Then there was a flash of lightning, and he said, ‘Go to your mother.’ They continued walking by its light until they entered [upon their mother].”

Al-Hakim recorded it (3/167)—the wording is his—and through his chain al-Bayhaqi in al-Dala'il (6/76); Ahmad in al-Musnad (2/513)—the first addition is his; his son ʿAbd Allah, in his supplementary additions to his father’s Fada'il al-Sahabah (2/785/1401)—the final addition is his; al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (3/45/2659)—the second addition is his; al-ʿUqayli in al-Duʿafa' (4/9); and Ibn ʿAdi in al-Kamil (6/81). All of them narrated it through Kamil ibn al-ʿAla', from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: … and then cited it.

Al-Hakim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

I say: Rather, it is only good, because of the well-known disagreement concerning Kamil ibn al-ʿAla'. Hence, al-Hafiz said of him: “Truthful, but makes errors.”