Ibn Abbas reported, "I spent a night at the home of my aunt Maymunah. The Prophet ﷺ rose during the night and relieved himself, then washed his face and hands and went back to sleep. He rose again, went to the waterskin, loosened it, and performed a moderate ablution, neither excessive nor sparing, yet thorough. He then stood to pray.So I got up and stretched, not wanting him to notice that I had been watching him. I performed ablution, and when he stood to pray, I positioned myself on his left. He took my hand and moved me around to his right. The Messenger of Allah's ﷺ night prayer that night came to thirteen rakahs in total.Then he lay down and slept until he was breathing audibly, for whenever he slept he would breathe like that. Bilal came and called him for the prayer, so he got up and prayed without performing a new ablution.Among his supplications was, 'O Allah, place light in my heart, light in my sight, light in my hearing, light on my right, light on my left, light above me, light below me, light in front of me, light behind me, and magnify light for me.'"Kurayb, the narrator from Ibn Abbas, said, "And seven other things were in the chest of my memory which I could not recall. So I met one of the sons of Abbas, who related them to me. He mentioned my sinews, my flesh, my blood, my hair, and my skin, and he mentioned two further qualities."
بت ليلة عند خالتي ميمونة، فقام النبي ﷺ من الليل، فأتى حاجته، ثم غسل وجهه ويديه، ثم نام، ثم قام، فأتى القربة، فأطلق، ثم توضأ وضوءا بين الوضوئين، ولم يكثر، وقد أبلغ، ثم قام فصلى فقمت فتمطيت كراهية أن يرى أني كنت أنتبه له، فتوضأت فقام فصلى فقمت عن يساره، فأخذ بيدي فأدار ني عن يمينه، فتتامت صلاة رسول الله ﷺ من الليل ثلاث عشرة ركعة، ثم اضطجع فنام حتى نفخ، وكان إذا نام نفخ، فأتاه بلال فآذنه بالصلاة فقام فصلى، ولم يتوضأ، وكان في دعائه: اللهم اجعل في قلبي نورا، وفي بصري نورا، وفي سمعي نورا، وعن يميني نورا، وعن يساري نورا، وفوقي نورا، وتحتي نورا، وأمامي نورا، وخلفي نورا، وعظم لي نورا. قال كريب (الراوي عن ابن عباس): وسبعا في التابوت فلقيت بعض ولد العباس فحدثني بهن فذكر عصبي ولحمي ودمي وشعري وبشري وذكر خصلتين.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Supplications (6316), and Muslim in the Book of the Prayer of Travelers (763:181), both via the route of Ibn Mahdi, from Sufyan, from Salama, from Kurayb, from Ibn Abbas, who said, then he related it.Muslim also narrated it (763:187) via the route of Muhammad bin Jafar, from Shuba, from Salama, with something similar, containing, "He began saying in his prayer, or in his sujud, 'O Allah, place light in my heart...'"Muslim also narrated it (763:189) via the route of Aqeel bin Khalid, from Salama bin Kuhayl, with something similar, containing, He said, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ supplicated that night with nineteen phrases. Salama said, Kurayb related them to me and I memorized twelve of them and forgot the rest. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "O Allah, place light in my heart, and light in my tongue, and light in my hearing, and light in my sight, and light above me, and light below me, and light on my right, and light on my left, and light before me, and light behind me, and place light in my soul, and increase for me light."His statement, "in the coffer," meaning seven phrases regarding my heart, but I forgot them.It is not sound from Ibn Abbas that he said, I heard the Prophet of Allah ﷺ say one night, when he had finished his prayer, "O Allah, I ask You for mercy from You by which You guide my heart, and by which You gather my affairs, and by which You mend my scattered state, and by which You set right what is hidden of me, and by which You raise what is witnessed of me, and by which You purify my deeds, and by which You inspire me with right guidance, and by which You restore my composure, and by which You protect me from every evil. O Allah, grant me faith and certainty after which there is no disbelief, and mercy by which I attain the honor of Your dignity in this world and the next. O Allah, I ask You for success in the divine decree, and the station of the martyrs, and the life of the joyful, and victory over enemies. O Allah, I bring down to You my need, though my judgment falls short and my deed is weak, I am in need of Your mercy. So I ask You, O Judge of all matters, O Healer of hearts, just as You give safe passage between the seas, to grant me safe passage from the punishment of the blazing fire, and from the call of destruction, and from the trial of the graves. O Allah, whatever my judgment has fallen short of, and my intention has not reached, and my petition has not attained, of any good that You have promised to any of Your creation, or any good that You are to grant any of Your servants, I desire it from You and I ask it of You by Your mercy, Lord of the worlds. O Allah, Possessor of the firm bond and the right course, I ask You for security on the Day of Threat, and Paradise on the Day of Eternity, together with those brought near who bear witness, who bow and prostrate, who fulfill their covenants. Indeed You are merciful and loving, and You do what You will. O Allah, make us guides who are rightly guided, not astray nor leading astray, at peace with Your allies, and at war with Your enemies. We love, for Your sake, whoever loves You, and we show enmity, for Your sake, to whoever opposes You. O Allah, this is the supplication, and upon You is the answering, and this is the effort, and upon You is the reliance. O Allah, place for me light in my grave, and light in my heart, and light before me, and light behind me, and light on my right, and light on my left, and light above me, and light below me, and light in my hearing, and light in my sight, and light in my hair, and light in my skin, and light in my flesh, and light in my blood, and light in my bones. O Allah, increase for me light, and grant me light, and make for me light. Glory be to Him who clothed Himself in might and declared it. Glory be to Him who wore majesty and honored Himself with it. Glory be to Him for whom alone glorification is fitting. Glory be to the Possessor of bounty and blessings. Glory be to the Possessor of majesty and generosity. Glory be to the Possessor of splendor and honor."Tirmidhi narrated it (3419), and Ibn Khuzayma (1119), and Tabarani in al-Kabir (10/343), and Ibn Adi (3/957), all of them through routes going back to Muhammad bin Abu Layla, from Dawud bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Abbas, from his father, from his grandfather, who related it.Tirmidhi said, "This is a gharib hadith, we do not know it except through the report of Ibn Abu Layla by this route. Shuba and Sufyan Thawri have narrated from Salama bin Kuhayl, from Kurayb, from Ibn Abbas, from the Prophet ﷺ, part of this hadith, but did not relate it in full." End of quote.I say, it is as he said, for its chain contains Dawud bin Ali. Dhahabi said in al-Siyar (5444), "He has a lengthy hadith about supplication... it is not something to be relied upon as proof, and the report is counted as munkar, and the critics did not refrain from treating this category of narrations leniently on account of their standing." It also contains Muhammad bin Abu Layla, who is Muhammad bin Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Layla, extremely weak in memory. Hasan bin Umara followed him in narrating from Dawud, as found in Ibn Hibban's al-Majruhin (1/174), and Hasan is discarded as a narrator.Ibn Hibban said in al-Majruhin (1/274), and Hasan is discarded as a narrator, and Ibn Hibban said, "This is baseless." End of quote.As for the report of Shuba and Sufyan to which Tirmidhi referred, it is the hadith mentioned before this one.