Some of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ were looking for water for ablution.The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, "Does any of you have water?"He then placed his hand in the water and said, "Perform ablution in the name of Allah."I saw water flowing out from between his fingers until every last one of them had performed ablution.Thabit said, I asked Anas, "How many were they, in your estimation?"He replied, "Around seventy."
طلب بعض أصحاب النبي ﷺ وضوءا، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: هل مع أحد منكم ماء؟ فوضع يده في الماء ويقول: توضؤوا باسم الله، فرأيت الماء يخرج من بين أصابعه حتى توضؤوا من عند آخرهم قال ثابت: قلت لأنس: كم تراهم؟ قال: نحوا من سبعين
Nasai (78) and Ahmad (12694) narrated it, and Ibn Khuzayma (144) graded it sahih, all of them transmitting from the hadith of Abdul-Razzaq, it is found in his Musannaf (20535), where he said, Maamar narrated to us, from Thabit and Qatada, from Anas, and he mentioned something similar.Nasai and Ibn Khuzayma used it as evidence for the legitimacy of mentioning the name of Allah before wudu, and both of them titled their chapters accordingly.The core of the story is found in Sahihayn without mention of naming Allah, and it is also mentioned in Dalail al-Nubuwwah.Bayhaqi said, after narrating the hadith, "It is the most sahih narration concerning the mentioning of Allah's name," Sunan al-Kubra (1/43).As for what has been narrated from Abu Hurairah, Ayesha, Abu Saeed, Sahl bin Saad, and Asma bint Saeed bin Zayd from her father, of the saying of the Prophet ﷺ, "There is no wudu for one who does not mention the name of Allah over it," all of these narrations are defective. That is why Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal said, "I do not know of any hadith in this chapter with a good chain of transmission."