- “His eyes would sleep, but his heart would not sleep.”
Al-Hakim recorded it (2/431) through Ya‘qub ibn Muhammad al-Zuhri, who said: Abd al-Aziz ibn Muhammad narrated to us, from Sharik ibn Abdullah ibn Abi Namir, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: ... and he mentioned it. He said:
“Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria!”
That is what he said. Al-Dhahabi refuted him, saying:
“I say: Ya‘qub is weak, and Muslim did not narrate from him.”
I say: This hadith is among the reports well known to the early generations, such that this suffices in place of a chain of transmission. Its basis is the hadith of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, concerning the Prophet’s night prayer:
Then he lay down and slept until he began to snore. He then rose for the dawn prayer and prayed without performing ablution.
It was recorded by the two Shaykhs and others, and is cited, in its longer and shorter versions, in Sahih Abi Dawud, nos. 1224–1229. In one version recorded by al-Bukhari (138—Fath), in this hadith through Sufyan, from Amr ibn Dinar, ... he related the hadith, which includes:
We said to Amr: “Some people say that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, his eyes would sleep but his heart would not sleep ...”
There is no doubt that the people to whom Amr was referring were either Companions whom Amr had met, or leading Successors. This is why Sufyan stated it categorically in Muslim’s version (2/180), saying:
Sufyan said: “This was exclusive to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for it has reached us that the Prophet’s eyes would sleep, but his heart would not sleep.”