I met Abu Darda, and he asked me, "Where are you from?"I said, "I am from Iraq."He asked, "Which part?"I said, "From the people of Kufa."He asked, "Do you recite according to the reading of Abdullah bin Masud?"I said, "Yes."He said, "Then recite 'By the night as it covers' [Layl 92:1]."So I recited, "By the night as it covers, and by the day as it appears in brightness, and by the male and the female" [Layl 92:1–3].He laughed and said, "This is how I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recite it."
لقيت أبا الدرداء، فقال لي: ممن أنت؟ قلت: من أهل العراق. قال: من أيهم؟ قلت: من أهل الكوفة. قال: هل تقرأ على قراءة عبد الله بن مسعود؟ قال: قلت: نعم. قال: فاقرأ: {واليل إذا يغشى} قال: فقرأت: {واليل إذا يغشى والنهار إذا تجلى والذكر والأنثى}. قال: فضحك، ثم قال: هكذا سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقرؤها.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of the Prayer of Travelers (823: 284), from Ali bin Hujr Saadi, who said, Ismail bin Ibrahim narrated to us, from Dawud bin Abu Hind, from Shaybi, from Alqama, who said, and he mentioned it.The recitation of Ibn Masud mentioned in the narrations is an irregular (shadhdh) recitation, transmitted with a sahih chain. It was recited in the earliest period among the Companions and the Successors, but then a consensus was reached to rely solely on the well-known, mutawatir recitations, in order to avoid disagreement over the Quran. So it is not permissible for anyone now to recite it in prayer or to worship Allah with it, nor to write it in the mushaf.