Abdullah bin Abbas reported that he spent one night at the home of Maymunah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, who was his maternal aunt.He said, "I lay down across the width of the pillow, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his wife lay along its length. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ slept until the middle of the night, or a little before, or a little after, then he woke up and sat wiping the sleep from his face with his hand. He recited the last ten verses of Surah Al Imran, then went to a hanging waterskin and performed ablution from it, perfecting his ablution, then stood up to pray."Ibn Abbas continued, "I got up and did exactly as he had done, then went and stood beside him. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed his right hand on my head and took hold of my right ear, twisting it gently. He prayed two units, then two more, then two more, then two more, then two more, then two more, then prayed witr. Then he lay down until the muadhdhin came to him, at which point he prayed two short units, then went out and prayed the dawn prayer."End.
أن عبد الله بن عباس أخبره أنه بات ليلة عند ميمونة زوج النبي الله ﷺ وهي خالته. قال: فاضطجعت في عرض الوسادة، واضطجع رسول الله ﷺ وأهله في طولها. فنام رسول الله ﷺ حتى إذا انتصف الليل أو قبله بقليل، أو بعده بقليل، استيقظ رسول الله ﷺ فجلس يمسح النوم عن وجهه بيده. ثم قرأ العشر الآيات الخواتم من سورة آل عمران، ثم قام إلى شن معلق فتوضأ منه، فأحسن وضوه، ثم قام يصلي. قال ابن عباس: فقمت فصنعت مثل ما صنع، ثم ذهبت فقمت إلى جنبه، فوضع رسول الله ﷺ يده اليمنى على رأسي، وأخذ بأذني اليمنى يفتلها، فصلى ركعتين، ثم ركعتين، ثم ركعتين، ثم ركعتين ثم ركعتين، ثم ركعتين، ثم أوتر، ثم اضطجع حتى أتاه المؤذن فصلى ركعتين خفيفتين، ثم خرج فصلى الصبح. انتهى.
Malik narrated it in "Prayer at Night" (11) from Makhrama bin Sulayman, from Kurayb the freedman of Ibn Abbas, with the same wording. Bukhari narrated it in "Wudu" (183) from Ismail, that is Ibn Abu Uways, and Muslim in "Prayer of the Traveler" (182/763) from Yahya bin Yahya, both of them from Malik with the same wording, meaning thirteen rakats. This is among the most sahih narrations from Ibn Abbas regarding the number of rakats the Messenger of Allah prayed.This agrees with what Ibn Wahb narrated, he said, Amr told us, from Abd Rabbih bin Saeed, from Makhrama bin Sulayman with the same chain, and in it, he prayed thirteen rakats that night, then slept until he snored, for whenever he slept he would snore, then the caller to prayer came to him and he went out and prayed without performing wudu. Bukhari (698) and Muslim (184/763).This also agrees with what Sufyan narrated, from Salama bin Kuhayl, from Kurayb, that he prayed thirteen rakats at night. Bukhari (6316) and Muslim (181/763), both from the hadith of Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi, from Sufyan with the same chain. Part of his supplication was, "O Allah, place light in my heart, light in my sight, light in my hearing, light on my right, light on my left, light above me, light beneath me, light before me, light behind me, and grant me abundant light."Kurayb said, and seven in the ark. I then met one of the sons of Abbas and he told me of them, and he mentioned, my nerves, my flesh, my blood, my hair, and my skin, and he mentioned two more qualities. His saying, "and seven in the ark," means he mentioned seven more phrases in the supplication, seven words which Kurayb had forgotten. They said the intended meaning of "the ark" is the ribs and what they contain, such as the heart and the like, likened to the ark, which is like a chest in which valuables are kept safe, meaning "and seven in my heart," but he had forgotten them.His saying, "I then met one of the sons of Abbas," the speaker here is Salama bin Kuhayl. It is stated explicitly in another narration that the supplication of the Messenger of Allah that night consisted of nineteen phrases. Kurayb said, I memorized twelve of them and forgot the rest. The twelve are, "O Allah, place for me in my heart light, in my tongue light, in my hearing light, in my sight light, above me light, beneath me light, on my right light, on my left light, before me light, behind me light, place within myself light, and grant me abundant light."Saeed bin Jubayr also narrated it from Ibn Abbas, and in it, then he came and prayed four rakats, then slept, then rose, and I came and stood on his left, so he placed me on his right, then he prayed five rakats, then prayed two rakats, then slept until I heard him snoring loudly, then he went out to the prayer. Bukhari narrated it (697) from Sulayman bin Harb, who said, Shuba told us, from Hakam, who said, I heard Saeed bin Jubayr narrate the same.This also agrees with what Dahhak narrated from Makhrama bin Sulayman, from Kurayb with the same chain, and in it, he prayed eleven rakats, then when Fajr became clear to him he prayed two light rakats. Muslim narrated this (185/763). So the one who said thirteen included the two rakats of Fajr along with them.Muslim alone narrated (191/763), in the report of Husayn bin Abdul-Rahman, from Habib bin Abu Thabit, from Muhammad bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Abbas, from his father, from Abdullah bin Abbas, mentioning it, then he rose and prayed two rakats, prolonging the standing, the ruku, and the sujud in them, then he finished and slept until he snored, then he did that three times, six rakats, then he prayed three rakats as witr.Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him, said in "Sharh Muslim," "This narration differs from the rest of the narrations in that sleep is interspersed between the rakats, and in the number of rakats, for the rest of the narrations did not mention sleep being interspersed, and they mentioned the rakats as thirteen."Qadi Iyad said, "This narration, that is the narration of Husayn from Habib bin Abu Thabit, is among what Daraqutni criticized Muslim for including, due to its inconsistency and the disagreement among its narrators." Daraqutni said, "It has been narrated from him in seven different ways, and it contradicts what the majority reported." I say, this does not detract from Muslim, for he did not present this narration as an independent primary account, rather he mentioned it as a supporting narration, and supporting narrations can tolerate what primary narrations cannot, as has been explained previously in several places.Qadi Iyad said, it is possible that he did not count in this prayer the first two light rakats with which the Prophet used to open his night prayer, as the hadiths in Muslim and elsewhere explicitly state. This is why he said, "he prayed two rakats and prolonged them," which indicates that these came after the light two rakats. So it would be, the two light rakats, then the two long rakats, then the six mentioned, then three after them as stated, making the total thirteen, as in the rest of the narrations. And Allah knows best. End.