The Prophet ﷺ stood one night to lead the evening prayer and prayed with the people. Afterward some of his companions stayed behind, still praying. When he saw them standing there, lingering, he withdrew to his lodging. Then, when he saw that the people had left the place empty, he returned to his spot and began to pray. I came and stood behind him, but he gestured to me with his right hand, so I stood on his right. Then Ibn Masud came and stood behind me and behind him, and the Prophet gestured to him with his left hand, so he stood on his left. So the three of us stood, each man praying on his own, reciting from the Quran whatever Allah willed him to recite. But the Prophet kept standing with a single verse of the Quran, repeating it over and over until he prayed the morning prayer.After daybreak I signaled to Abdullah bin Masud to ask him what he had intended by what he did the night before.Ibn Masud swore by Him in whose hand he was and said, "I will not ask him about anything until he tells me himself."So I said, "May my father and mother be given for you. You stood the whole night with one verse of the Quran, when you have the whole Quran with you. If one of us had done that, we would have found fault with him."He said, "I was praying for my community."I asked, "And what answer were you given? What was the reply to you?"He said, "I was given an answer such that, if many of them caught even a glimpse of it, they would abandon prayer altogether."I asked, "Shall I not go and give the people the good news?"He said, "Yes, do."So I set off at a brisk pace, and had gone about a stone's throw when Umar said, "Messenger of Allah, if you send word of this to the people, they will hold back from worship."So the Prophet called out to me to come back, and I came back.And that verse was, "If You punish them, they are Your servants, and if You forgive them, You are indeed the Mighty, the Wise" [Maidah 5:118].In another wording he said, "they will shrink back from worship."
حدثنا مروان حدثنا قدامة البكري فذكر نحوه وقال ينكلوا عن العبادة