Ati said, I asked Ibn Umar what I should recite in the two units of prayer before the dawn prayer.Ibn Umar replied, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to pray during the night in pairs of two units, then conclude with a single witr unit at the end of the night."Anas said, I told him, "I am only asking you what I should recite in the two units before the dawn prayer."He answered, "Quiet, quiet. You are dense. I am simply telling you, or he said, I am simply relating to you the hadith. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to pray during the night two units at a time, then conclude with a single witr unit at the end of the night, then he would rise as though the call to prayer or the iqamah were in his ears."
حدثنا محمد بن جعفر حدثنا شعبة
سألت ابن عمر ما أقرأ في الركعتين قبل الصبح فقال ابن عمر كان رسول الله ﷺ يصلي بالليل مثنى مثنى ويوتر بركعة من آخر الليل قال أنس قلت فإنما أسألك ما أقرأ في الركعتين قبل الصبح فقال به به إنك لضخم إنما أحدث أو قال إنما أقتص لك الحديث كان رسول الله ﷺ يصلي بالليل ركعتين ركعتين ثم يوتر بركعة من آخر الليل ثم يقوم كأن الأذان أو الإقامة في أذنيه
Its chain of transmission is sahih. It is an abridgment of 5096, see also 5483. Muslim narrated something similar (209) via Muhammad bin Jafar, from Shubah.Bah bah, Ibn Athir said, In Sahih Muslim it reads, "Bah bah, indeed you are huge." It has been said that this carries the same meaning as bakh bakh. One says bakh bakh and bah bah, though linguistically this is not easily accommodated except with some stretch, since he said "indeed you are huge," as though rebuking him, and bakh bakh is not used for rebuke.In Mashariq Anwar by Qadi Ayyad (1:102), Ibn Sikkit said, Bah bah and bakh bakh carry one and the same meaning, a word used to magnify a matter, and it can also serve as a rebuke, meaning "stop, stop." This word, bah, pronounced with a fatha on the baa and a sukoon on the haa, is still used in our country, in Upper Egypt, said either singly or repeated, carrying the two meanings that Ibn Sikkit mentioned, magnifying a matter and also rebuking, and in our country it is also used to express disapproval.Regarding his saying, "I have only just done so," in the margin of manuscript م it reads, "I have only just done so to you."