English Translation

Abu al-Yaman told us, Safwan ibn Amr told us, from Shurayh ibn Ubayd al-Hadrami, tracing it back to Abu Dharr, that he said: When the last ten nights of Ramadan came, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) secluded himself in the mosque. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed the afternoon prayer of the twenty-second day, he said: "We will be standing tonight, if Allah wills; so whoever among you wishes to stand, let him stand" — and that was the night of the twenty-third. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed it in congregation after the night prayer until a third of the night had passed, then he withdrew. When the night of the twenty-fourth came, he did not pray anything extra nor did he stand. When the night of the twenty-fifth came, he stood after the afternoon prayer of the twenty-fourth day and said: "We will be standing tonight, if Allah wills" — meaning the night of the twenty-fifth — "so whoever wishes may stand." So he prayed with the people until a third of the night had passed, then he withdrew. When the night of the twenty-sixth came, he said nothing and did not stand. When it was time for the afternoon prayer of the twenty-sixth day, he stood and said: "We will be standing, if Allah wills" — meaning the night of the twenty-seventh — "so whoever wishes to stand may stand." Abu Dharr said: So we braced ourselves for standing, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed with us until two-thirds of the night had passed, then he withdrew to his chamber in the mosque. So I said to him: "We had indeed hoped, O Messenger of Allah, that you would stand with us until dawn." He said: "O Abu Dharr, if you pray with your imam and depart when he departs, the standing in prayer of your whole night is recorded for you." Abu Abd al-Rahman said (a note on the chain follows).