The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "If people knew what reward lies in the call to prayer and the first row, and they could find no other way to obtain them, they would draw lots for them. If they knew what lies in praying the noon prayer at its earliest time, they would race to it. And if they knew what lies in the night and dawn prayers, they would come to them even if they had to crawl."I said to Malik, "Is it not disliked to use the word atamah for the night prayer?"He replied, "This is how the one who narrated it to me said it."
حدثنا عبد الرزاق أخبرنا مالك عن سمي عن أبي صالح
قال رسول الله ﷺ لو يعلم الناس ما في النداء والصف الأول لاستهموا عليهما ولو يعلمون ما في التهجير لاستبقوا إليه ولو يعلمون ما في العتمة والصبح لأتوهما ولو حبوا فقلت لمالك أما يكره أن يقول العتمة قال هكذا قال الذي حدثني
Its chain of transmission is sahih. It is a repetition of 5225, narrated by Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi from Malik, with the same chain. Here the word used is "Atamah," and Malik's confirmation to Abdul-Razzaq that this is indeed how the one who related it to him said it, meaning Sumayy, agrees with what is found in the Muwatta in the two places we referred to there [Muwatta, pp. 68, 131]. As for the earlier narration from Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi, it has "Isha" instead.Abdul-Razzaq's remark about the dislike of applying the term "Atamah" to Isha refers to the marfu hadith of Ibn Umar prohibiting that usage. The hadith of Ibn Umar on this has already appeared at 4572, 4968, 5100, 6314. Also, Ibn Umar's statement has already appeared at 6148, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ led us in the Isha prayer, which is the one people call Atamah."This prohibition is one of preference rather than strict prohibition, and it is better to call it Isha. This is also the choice adopted by Bukhari in his Sahih (2:37-38), where he said, "Chapter on the mention of Isha and Atamah, and on those who considered it permissible to use either." He then said, "The preferred term is to say Isha, because of Allah's statement, "and after the Isha prayer" [Nur 24:58]!"