The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out to his companions one night while they were waiting for the evening prayer and said, "The people have prayed and gone to sleep, while you have been waiting for it. You are in a state of prayer as long as you await it."
خرج رسول الله ﷺ على أصحابه ذات ليلة، وهم ينتظرون العشاء فقال: صلى الناس ورقدوا، وأنتم تنتظرونها، أما إنكم في صلاة ما انتظرتموها.
Abu Yaala (1939) narrated it, and through his route Ibn Hibban (1529), from Abu Khaythama, who said, Muhammad bin Hazim told us, Dawud bin Abu Hind told us, from Abu Nadra, from Jabir, and he mentioned something similar. Its chain of transmission is sahih.Ahmad (14743) narrated it through the route of Ibn Lahia, who said, Abu Zubayr told us, he said, I asked Jabir, "Did you hear the Prophet ﷺ say, 'A man remains in prayer for as long as he is waiting for the prayer'?" He said, we waited for the Prophet ﷺ one night for the night prayer, and he was delayed for us until it was close to the middle of the night, or reached that point. Then the Prophet ﷺ came and we prayed, then he said, "Sit down." So he addressed us, and the Prophet ﷺ said, "The people have prayed and gone to sleep, while you have remained in prayer the whole time you were waiting for the prayer."This narration includes Ibn Lahia, about whom there is well known discussion. For this reason Haythami, in Majmu (1/312), graded the narrators of Abu Yaala as sahih, but did not grade the narrators of Ahmad as sahih. He said, "Ahmad and Abu Yaala narrated it. The narrators of Abu Yaala are the narrators of Sahih."I say, it is as he said, for the narrators of Abu Yaala are the narrators of Muslim. The hadith has other chains of transmission, and the one I have mentioned is the best of them.