I asked Ayesha, "With what did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ begin his night prayer?"She replied, "You have asked me about something no one has asked me about before you. When he stood up, he would say 'Allahu Akbar' ten times, praise Allah ten times, glorify Him ten times, declare His oneness ten times, and seek forgiveness ten times. Then he would say, 'O Allah, forgive me, guide me, and provide for me,' and he would seek refuge from the distress of standing on the Day of Resurrection."
سألت عائشة: بأي شيء كان يفتتح رسول الله ﷺ قيام الليل؟ فقالت: لقد سألتني عن شيء ما سألني عنه أحد قبلك، كان إذا قام كبر عشرا، وحمد الله عشرا، وسبح عشرا، وهلل عشرا، واستغفر عشرا، وقال: اللهم اغفر لي، واهدني، وارزقني، ويتعوذ من ضيق المقام يوم القيامة.
Abu Dawud (766), Nasai (1618), and Ibn Majah (1356) narrated it, and Ibn Hibban (2602) graded it sahih, all of them from the hadith of Zayd bin Hubab, from Muawiya bin Salih, who said, Azhar bin Saeed narrated to me, from Asim bin Humayd, and he mentioned it. Its chain of transmission is hasan because of Muawiya bin Salih bin Hudayr and Azhar bin Saeed Harazi, for each of them has hasan hadith.Imam Ahmad (25102) narrated it from Yazid, who said, Asbagh informed us, from Thawr bin Yazid, from Khalid bin Madan, who said, Rabia Jurashi narrated to me, who said, I asked Ayesha and said, and he mentioned the hadith, except that he did not mention "praising Allah ten times," and he added after his saying "O Allah, forgive me..." ten times, and he did not mention "and grant me well-being," and he added after "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from hardship on the Day of Reckoning" ten times.Asbagh is Ibn Zayd, Abu Abdullah Warraq Wasiti, about whom there is disagreement, though he has hasan hadith. However, Ibn Adi said in Al-Kamil, "This chain of transmission is not preserved, Yazid bin Harun narrates it from Asbagh, and I do not know of anyone who narrated from this Asbagh other than Yazid bin Harun."I say, Yazid bin Harun was a precise memorizer of hadith, one of the senior teachers of Imam Ahmad. Imam Ahmad said, "He was a memorizer of hadith." And Ibn Madini said, "I have not seen anyone with a better memory than him." This chain of transmission strengthens the one before it.