When Abu Ayub came to us on a military expedition, Uqba bin Amir was at that time the governor of Egypt. Uqba delayed the Maghrib prayer, so Abu Ayub stood up and said to him, "What kind of prayer is this, Uqba?"Uqba replied, "We were busy."Abu Ayub said, "Have you not heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, 'My nation will continue to be in goodness,'" or he said, "'upon the natural way, as long as they do not delay the Maghrib prayer until the stars become densely visible'?"
لما قدم علينا أبو أيوب غازيا، وعقبة بن عامر يومئذ على مصر، فأخر المغرب، فقام إليه أبو أيوب فقال له: ما هذه الصلاة يا عقبة؟ فقال: شغلنا، قال: أما سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول: لا تزال أمتي بخير، أو قال: على الفطرة ما لم يؤخروا المغرب إلى أن تشتبك النجوم.
Abu Dawud (418) narrated it from Ubaydullah bin Umar, who said, Yazid bin Zuray narrated to us, Muhammad bin Ishaq narrated to us, Yazid bin Abu Habib narrated to me, from Marthad bin Abdullah, and he related it.Its chain is hasan because of Muhammad bin Ishaq, for he was a mudallis, except that he explicitly stated that he heard it directly. Hakim declared this chain sahih in Mustadrak (1/190) and said, "It meets the conditions of Muslim."However, Abu Zura was asked about this hadith which Muhammad bin Ishaq narrated from Yazid bin Abu Habib, and he said, "Haywa and Ibn Lahia narrated it from Yazid bin Abu Habib, from Aslam Abu Imran Tujibi, from Abu Ayub, from the Prophet ﷺ, that he said, 'Hasten to perform Maghrib prayer before the stars come out.'" Abu Zura said, "The hadith of Haywa is more sahih." End of quote. See Ilal by Ibn Abu Hatim (1/177).Ibn Lahia has some weakness in him, but he was corroborated. The fact that the hadith of Haywa is more sahih does not prevent the hadith of Muhammad bin Ishaq from being hasan, or they may be two separate hadiths sharing the same meaning, which is hastening to perform the Maghrib prayer.As for his statement "intermingle with the stars," it means that the stars appear and become intermingled.