Also of this type is what Ibn Abi Shaybah recorded in al-Musannaf (1/132), through a chain whose transmitters are trustworthy, from Ibrahim:

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, slept in the mosque until he began to snore. He then rose and prayed without performing ablution. The Prophet’s eyes would sleep, but his heart would not sleep.

This Ibrahim was Ibrahim ibn Yazid al-Nakha‘i, the jurist Successor.

I say: The convergence of these mursal reports and reports with two or more consecutive missing narrators lends strength to the hadith. Also among them is the hadith of Shahr ibn Hawshab, who reported that Ibn Abbas said:

One day, a group of Jews came to the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “O Abu al-Qasim, tell us about certain matters concerning which we shall ask you, which none but a prophet knows.” He said:

“Ask me whatever you wish …”

He then mentioned their questions and the Prophet’s answers to them, including his saying to them:

“Do you know that this unlettered Prophet’s eyes sleep, but his heart does not sleep?”

They said, “By Allah, yes.”

This account has also come through another chain, better than this one and shorter; in it, they said, “Tell us about the sign of a prophet.” He said:

“His eyes sleep, but his heart does not sleep.”

It was recorded by a number of scholars, including al-Tirmidhi, who authenticated it. It has been cited in al-Sahihah (1873).

This shows that the basis of those mursal reports, as well as the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, is in fact a statement of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Muhammad ibn Ajlan likewise narrated it from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. It too has been cited in al-Sahihah (696).