The Prophet ﷺ prayed in the mosque, and a group of people prayed along with him. He prayed again the next night, and more people joined him. Then they gathered on the third night, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not come out to them.In the morning he said, "I saw what you did, and nothing prevented me from coming out to you except that I feared it would be made obligatory upon you."This took place during Ramadan.
حدثنا القعنبي عن مالك بن أنس عن ابن شهاب عن عروة بن الزبير
أن النبي ﷺ صلى في المسجد فصلى بصلاته ناس ثم صلى من القابلة فكثر الناس ثم اجتمعوا من الليلة الثالثة فلم يخرج إليهم رسول الله ﷺ فلما أصبح قال قد رأيت الذي صنعتم فلم يمنعني من الخروج إليكم إلا أني خشيت أن تفرض عليكم وذلك في رمضان
This was narrated by Muslim in the Book of the Traveler's Prayer, chapter "Encouragement to Perform Night Prayer in Ramadan, Which Is Tarawih," hadith no. 761, from the hadith of Malik, and by Bukhari in the Book of Tarawih Prayer, chapter "The Merit of One Who Performs Night Prayer in Ramadan," hadith no. 2012, from the hadith of Ibn Shihab Zuhri, with the same wording. It is also found in Muwatta (Yahya's recension), 1/113 (and Qanabi's recension, p. 153).