The Prophet ﷺ said, "The merit of a man's prayer in congregation over his prayer alone is twenty-five degrees."Hajjaj said, "Shuba did not raise this hadith to the Prophet for me, though he raised it for others." Shuba said, "I am hesitant to raise it, because Abdullah rarely raised hadiths to the Prophet ﷺ."
حدثنا محمد بن جعفر حدثنا شعبة وحجاح قال سمعت عقبة بن وساج عن أبي الأحوص
عن النبي ﷺ أنه قال فضل صلاة الرجل في الجميع على صلاته وحده خمس وعشرون درجة قال حجاج ولم يرفعه شعبة لي وقد رفعه لغيري قال أنا أهاب أن أرفعه لأن عبد الله قلما كان يرفع إلى النبي ﷺ
Its isnad is sahih. Uqbah bin Wassaj, with a fatha on the waw and a doubled unpointed sin, ibn Husayn Azdi, was a trustworthy taabi. Ibn Main and others deemed him trustworthy, and Ibn Abu Hatim gave his biography in Jarh wa Tadil 3/1/318. Abu Dawud said, "No one narrated from him except Qatada," but this is a mistake, for Shuba heard from him and narrated from him, as is the case here. We have already discussed Shuba's caution regarding raising some hadiths to the Prophet's own words, and that this does not constitute a flaw in it, at 4128. This hadith is a repetition of 3564 and 3567.