He entered upon the Prophet ﷺ, and I saw on his face that something had affected him. He performed ablution without speaking to anyone, then went out. I pressed myself against the chamber to hear what he would say. He sat upon the pulpit, praised Allah and extolled Him, then said, "People, Allah says to you, command what is right and forbid what is wrong, before you call upon Me and I do not answer you, and ask of Me and I do not give you, and seek My help and I do not aid you."He added nothing more before descending.
دخل علي النبي ﷺ، فعرفت في وجهه أن قد حضره شيء، فتوضأ، وما كلم أحدا، ثم خرج، فلصقت بالحجرة أسمع ما يقول، فقعد على المنبر، فحمد الله وأثنى عليه، ثم قال: يا أيها الناس، إن الله تبارك وتعالى يقول لكم: مروا بالمعروف، وانهوا عن المنكر، قبل أن تدعوني، فلا أجيبكم، وتسألوني فلا أعطيكم، وتستنصروني فلا أنصركم، فما زاد عليهن حتى نزل.
Ahmad (25255), Ibn Hibban (290), and Ibn Majah (4004) all narrated it through the route of Amr bin Uthman bin Hani, from Asim bin Umar bin Uthman, from Urwa, from Ayesha, who related it. The wording given is that of Ibn Hibban, and Ahmad's wording is close to it, while Ibn Majah's version is abridged. Asim bin Umar bin Uthman was narrated from only by Amr bin Uthman bin Hani, which is why Mizzi said, "He is unknown." As for Amr bin Uthman bin Hani, who is also said to be Uthman bin Amr bin Hani as given in Musnad Ahmad, more than one person narrated from him, and Ibn Hibban listed him among the trustworthy narrators.There is another route for it, narrated by Bukhari in Tarikh al-Kabir (6/178), from Qutayba, who said, Abdul-Hameed bin Sulayman narrated to us, from Umar bin Uthman bin Hudayr, from Urwa, from Ayesha. The condition of Umar bin Uthman bin Hudayr is not known, except that Ibn Hibban listed him among his trustworthy narrators. With these two chains combined, the hadith becomes hasan.A hadith with the same meaning is also reported from Huzaifa bin Yaman, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said, "By the One in whose hand is my soul, you will surely command good and forbid evil, or Allah will be about to send upon you a punishment from Him, then you will call upon Him and your call will not be answered." This was narrated by Tirmidhi (2169), Ahmad (23301), and Bayhaqi (10/93), all through the route of Amr bin Abu Amr, from Abdullah bin Abdul-Rahman Ashhali Ansari, from Huzaifa bin Yaman, who related it. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan hadith."I say, Abdullah bin Abdul-Rahman Ashhali Ansari is unknown, and only Amr bin Abu Amr narrated from him alone, and no one has affirmed his trustworthiness except that Ibn Hibban listed him among his trustworthy narrators, following his usual practice of affirming the trustworthiness of anyone in whom no defect is known. Ibn Main said, "I do not know him," and Dhahabi said in al-Mizan, "He has a munkar hadith."A hadith with this same meaning is also reported from Abu Hurairah, Anas, Ibn Umar, and others, and none of these reports is free of some criticism, but taken together they indicate that the hadith has a sound basis.