The Prophet ﷺ went out one night and came upon Abu Bakr praying in a low voice. He then passed by Umar bin Khattab, who was praying in a raised voice.When the two of them later gathered with the Prophet ﷺ, he said, "Abu Bakr, I passed by you while you were praying and lowering your voice."Abu Bakr replied, "I made the One I was confiding in hear me, Messenger of Allah."Then he said to Umar, "I passed by you while you were praying and raising your voice."Umar replied, "Messenger of Allah, I rouse the drowsy and drive away the devil."The Prophet ﷺ said, "Abu Bakr, raise your voice a little." And he said to Umar, "Lower your voice a little."
أن النبي ﷺ خرج ليلة، فإذا هو بأبي بكر يصلي يخفض من صوته، قال: ومر بعمر بن الخطاب وهو يصلي رافعا صوته، قال: فلما اجتمعا عند النبي ﷺ قال النبي ﷺ: يا أبا بكر مررت بك وأنت تصلى تخفض صوتك. قال: قد أسمعت من ناجيت يا رسول الله. قال وقال لعمر: مررت بك وأنت تصلى رافعا صوتك. قال: فقال: يا رسول الله أوقظ الوسنان وأطرد الشيطان. فقال النبي ﷺ: يا أبا بكر! ارفع من صوتك شيئا. وقال لعمر: اخفض من صوتك شيئا.
Abu Dawud (1329) and Tirmidhi (447) narrated it, and Ibn Khuzayma (1161) graded it sahih - and Ibn Hibban (733) narrated it from him - as did Hakim (1/310), all of them through Yahya bin Ishaq, who said, Hammad bin Salama informed us, from Thabit Bunani, from Abdullah bin Abu Rabah, from Abu Qatada, who said, then he mentioned it. Hakim said, "Sahih according to the standard of Muslim." I say, it is as he said, except that Yahya bin Ishaq, who is Saylahini, though he is among the men of Muslim, Ibn Main said of him, "Truthful," and the Hafiz relied on this in his Taqrib.