The Messenger of Allah ﷺ delayed the night prayer, then came out to the mosque and found the people waiting for the prayer. He said, "Indeed, no one from the followers of these other religions remembers Allah at this hour besides you."He said, then these verses were revealed, "They are not all alike. Among the People of the Book is an upright community" until His saying, "And whatever good they do, they will never be denied its reward. And Allah is fully aware of those who are mindful of Him" [Aal Imran 3:113–115].
أخر رسول الله ﷺ صلاة العشاء ثم خرج إلى المسجد، فإذا الناس ينتظرون الصلاة قال: أما أنه ليس من أهل هذه الأديان أحد يذكر الله هذه الساعة غيركم. قال: وأنزل هؤلاء الآيات: {ليسوا سواء من أهل الكتب} حتى بلغ: {وما يفعلو من خير فلن يكفروه والله عليم بالمتقين} [آل عمران: ١١٣-١١٥].
Recorded by Ahmad (3760), Abu Yaala (5/139) (5285 Athari), Bazzar in Kashf Astar (1/190), and Harith bin Abu Usama in Bughyat Bahith (1/255) (132), all of them via Asim, from Zirr, from Abdullah bin Masud, who related it. Tabarani also narrated it in al-Kabir (10209) via Amash, from Zirr, with the same wording. Its chain is hasan because of Asim, who is Ibn Abu Najud.Haythami said in Majma al-Zawaid (1/312), "Ahmad, Abu Yaala, Bazzar, and Tabarani in al-Kabir narrated it, and the men of Ahmad's chain are trustworthy, containing no one other than Asim bin Abu Najud, concerning whom there is disagreement over relying on him as proof, and in Tabarani's chain is Ubaydullah bin Zahr, who is daif." End of quote.Busiri also cited it in Ithaf Khayra (2/69–70) and attributed it as well to Abu Bakr bin Abu Shayba, Nasai in al-Kubra, and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, all of them through routes from Asim (bin Abu Najud).As for the phrase "people of the religions," what is meant by them are the Jews and Christians in Madinah and its surrounding areas, not the entire earth without restriction, because the remembrance of Allah the Exalted is not confined to any particular hour of the night or day.To summarize the discussion on the time of the Isha prayer, Zaylai said, "Tahawi discussed this matter well in Sharh Maani al-Athar (1/158), and the gist of what he said is this, 'It becomes clear from the totality of the hadiths that the last time for Isha is when Fajr rises. This is because Ibn Abbas, Abu Musa, and Khudri reported that the Prophet ﷺ delayed it until a third of the night had passed, Abu Hurairah and Anas reported that he delayed it until midnight, Ibn Umar reported that he delayed it until a third of the night had gone, and Ayesha reported that he delayed it in darkness until most of the night had passed, and all these narrations are found in the Sahih.'He said, 'This establishes that the whole night is a valid time for it, but it falls into three periods. From the time its period begins until a third of the night has passed is the most excellent time to pray it. After that until midnight is complete carries less merit than that. After midnight it carries even less merit than that.'"He then traced with his chain from Nafi bin Jubayr, who said, "Umar bin Khattab wrote to Abu Musa, 'Pray Isha whenever you wish during the night, but do not neglect it.'"Muslim also recorded, in the account of the delayed journey (tareesh), from Abu Qatada, that the Prophet ﷺ said, "There is no negligence in sleeping. Negligence lies only in delaying a prayer until the time of the next one enters." This was narrated by Muslim (681), and it is a long hadith, cited in the chapter on one who forgets a prayer and should pray it when he remembers.This indicates that the earlier prayer's time remains valid until the time of the next one enters, which is the rising of the second Fajr. See Nasb Raya (1/234–235).This is a good discussion, though some parts of it warrant reconsideration. I have already explained earlier the meaning of Ayesha's hadith, "most of the night had passed," namely that it means a large part of it... and so on.