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and one night he stood in prayer, repeating a single verse until daybreak:
“If You punish them, they are Your servants; but if You forgive them, surely You alone are the Almighty, the All-Wise.” (5:118)
With that verse he would bow, prostrate, and make supplication. When morning came, Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Messenger of Allah, you kept reciting this verse until dawn—bowing, prostrating, and praying with it—yet Allah has taught you the whole Quran. If one of us had done that, we would have thought him excessive!”
He replied, “I asked my Lord for intercession on behalf of my community, and He granted it to me. It shall, Allah willing, reach everyone who does not associate anything with Allah.” (1)
Thawban as a marfuʿ report: “I asked my Lord for my community that He not destroy it by a widespread calamity…”—and the remainder follows the same sense, yet it contains no reference to the night-prayer.
Ahmad also records it through a different route from Muʿadh, and in that version the prayer is mentioned (5/243, 248); the chain is sound.
Muslim, and likewise Ahmad (1/175, 181), transmit it on the authority of Saʿd b. Abi Waqqas.
Ahmad (5/445) relates it from Jabir b. ʿAtik, but the chain includes an unidentified narrator. He narrates it again (6/396) without any mention of the prayer, and there too a man in the chain is unnamed.
(1) Another version is narrated from Abu Dharr al-Ghifari: the Prophet ﷺ stood repeating a single verse until daybreak—the verse being, “If You punish them …” (Quran 5:118).
و " قام ليلة. بآية يرددها حتى أصبح وهي: ﴿إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكَ وَإِنْ
تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنتَ العَزِيزُ الحَكِيمُ﴾ (٥: ١١٨) ؛ [بها يركع، وبها يسجد،
وبها يدعو] ، [فلما أصبح؛ قال له أبو ذر ﵁: يا رسول الله! ما
زلتَ تقرأ هذه الآية حتى أصبحت؛ تركع بها، وتسجد بها] ، [وتدعو بها] ،
[وقد علَّمَك الله القرآن كله] ، [لو فعل هذا بعضُنا؛ لَوَجَدْنَا عليه؟] . [قال:
" إني سألت ربي ﷿ الشفاعة لأمتي؛ فأعطانيها، وهي نَائِلَةٌ إن
شاء الله لمن لا يشرك بالله شيئاً "] " (١) .
ثوبان مرفوعاً:
" سألت ربي لأمتي أن لا يهلكها بسنة عامة ... " الحديث بنحوه. وليس فيه ذكرٌ
للصلاة.
ثم أخرجه أحمد من طريق أخرى عن معاذ، وفيه ذكر الصلاة (٥/٢٤٣ و ٢٤٨) .
وسنده صحيح.
وكذلك أخرجه مسلم، وأحمد (١/١٧٥ و ١٨١) من حديث سعد بن أبي
وقاص.
وأحمد (٥/٤٤٥) من حديث جابر بن عَتِيك.
وفيه جهالة.
ورواه أيضاً (٦/٣٩٦) ، وليس فيه الصلاة.
وفيه رجل لم يسم.
(١) هو من حديث أبي ذر الغفاري ﵁ قال:
قام النبي ﷺ بآية حتى أصبح؛ يرددها. والآية: ﴿إِنْ تُعَذِّبْهُمْ ... ﴾ الآية.