Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 16616 — One night I missed the Isha (prayer)

Sayyiduna Abu Bakr bin Abi Quhafah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: One night I missed the Isha (prayer), and I kept tossing and turning; sleep would not come to me. I thought: Why should I not go out to the mosque and pray whatever is possible for me? So I did that, then I sat leaning against a corner of the mosque. Then Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came in; when he saw me he did not recognise me and said: Who is this? I said: Abu Bakr. He said: What brought you out at this hour? I said: Hunger. He said: And nothing brought me out except what brought you out. Only a little while had passed when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came (there). When he (peace and blessings be upon him) saw our dark shapes, he did not recognise them and said: "Who are these two?" Umar answered before me and said: This is Abu Bakr and this is Umar. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What brought the two of you out at this hour?" We told him (peace and blessings be upon him) the whole matter, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "And nothing brought me out except what brought the two of you out. Come with us to the house of al-Waqimi." We reached the door and asked permission, and a woman came out. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Where is so-and-so?" She said: He has gone to fetch sweet water for us from the garden of Banu Harithah. She opened the door and we went in. Only a little while had passed when he came carrying a waterskin on his back, until he hung it on the stump of a branch of a date palm. Then he turned to us and said: Welcome! No one has ever been visited by better guests than those who have visited me tonight. Then he brought a bunch of half-ripe dates, and we began picking them out in the moonlight and eating. Then he took a knife and went among the goats, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Beware of the milking one," or he said: "the one with milk." So he slaughtered a goat for us, skinned it, cut it into pieces and put it in the pot, and he instructed the woman, so she kneaded dough and baked bread. Then he brought us tharid and meat, and we ate. Then he got up and went to the waterskin, which the wind had swayed and cooled, and gave us to drink from it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Praise be to Allah! Nothing brought us out except hunger, and then we did not return until we received this blessing. This is part of the blessings about which you will be asked on the Day of Resurrection." Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to al-Waqimi: "Do you not have a servant who can do this work for you?" He said: No, O Messenger of Allah. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When the first captives come to me, come to me, and I will have a servant given to you." Not long afterwards captives came to him (peace and blessings be upon him), and he came to him. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What has brought you?" He said: The promise that you made to me. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Get up and choose from among them." He said: O Messenger of Allah! You choose for me. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Take this boy, and treat him well." He went to his wife and told her what he had said to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and what he (peace and blessings be upon him) had said to him. She said: He (peace and blessings be upon him) has ordered you to treat him well, so treat him well. He said: What is treating him well? She said: That you free him. He said: He is free for the sake of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.