Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 3645

Jasrah bint Dajajah narrates that she set out to perform Umrah and reached "al-Rabadhah", and (she said): I heard Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) narrating: One night the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up and began leading the people in prayer, and his Companions kept praying behind him. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw them standing and remaining behind, he went to his house. Then, when he saw that the people had left the place, he came back to his place and prayed. I stood behind him to pray, and he gestured to me with his right hand, so I came and stood on his right side. Then Abdullah bin Mas'ud came and stood behind me and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gestured to him to come to the left side, so he stood on the left side of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So the three of us stood praying in such a way that each one of us was praying individually and reciting whatever portion of the Qur'an he wished to recite. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept reciting one verse of the Qur'an and repeating it. When he had offered the Fajr prayer, I gestured to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) to ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) what his purpose was in what he had done the previous night. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I will not ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about anything until he himself tells me." So I said: "May my father and mother be sacrificed for you! You kept reciting one verse of the Qur'an, though you know so much more of the Qur'an? If one of us were to do this, we would show displeasure with him." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I was supplicating for my Ummah." Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "Then what answer were you given?" (Here the narrator is in doubt about one word.) The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The answer I was given is such that, if people came to know of it, many people would abandon prayer altogether." Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Shall I not give the people these glad tidings?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Very well." He had gone only a short distance, about as far as a stone goes when it is thrown, when Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! You are sending this to the people; they will abandon worship and rely on this alone." So he called out loudly to Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him): "Come back!" And he came back. That verse (which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had been reciting) was: "If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, then indeed You are the Almighty, the Wise."
(Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Imam al-Nasa'i (may Allah have mercy on him) recorded part of this narration: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept repeating a single verse until morning came.
Ahmad and al-Bazzar recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).