We prayed the night prayer with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, but he did not come out until about half the night had passed. Then he said, "Take your places."So we took our places, and he said, "The people have prayed and gone to their beds, but you remain in prayer as long as you await the prayer. Were it not for the weakness of the weak and the illness of the sick, I would have delayed this prayer until the middle of the night."
صلينا مع رسول الله ﷺ صلاة العتمة، فلم يخرج حتى مضى نحو من شطر الليل فقال: خذوا مقاعدكم فأخذنا مقاعدنا، فقال: إن الناس قد صلوا وأخذوا مضاجعهم، وإنكم لن تزالوا في صلاة ما انتظرتم الصلاة، ولولا ضعف الضعيف، وسقم السقيم لأخرت هذه الصلاة إلى شطر الليل.
This was narrated by Abu Dawud (422), Nasai (538), and Ibn Majah (693), all through Dawud bin Abu Hind, from Abu Nadra, from Abu Saeed, who related it. The wording given is that of Abu Dawud. Abu Nadra is Munzir bin Malik bin Qita Abdi.His statement, "We prayed the atma prayer with the Messenger of Allah," means the Maghrib prayer, as is found in Nasai and Ibn Majah, because the Arabs used to call the Maghrib prayer atma, and we have been forbidden from doing that.Its chain of transmission is sahih. Ibn Khuzayma graded it sahih and narrated it in his Sahih (345) through various routes from Dawud bin Abu Hind, adding in it, "and the need of the one with a need." This is how Bishr bin Mufaddal and others narrated it from Dawud bin Abu Hind, but Abu Muawiya Darir differed from them in narrating from Dawud bin Abu Hind, saying instead, "from Jabir bin Abdullah," which will be mentioned later.