The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out in the middle of the night and prayed in the mosque, and Some men prayed along with him. In the morning, people spoke about it, and a larger group gathered the next night. He prayed, and they prayed with him. The next morning, people spoke about it again, and on the third night the mosque was even more crowded. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out and prayed, and they followed his prayer.When the fourth night came, the mosque could not hold all those who came, so he did not come out until the dawn prayer. After completing the dawn prayer, he turned to the people, recited the testimony of faith, and then said, "Now then, your presence was not hidden from me, but I feared that this prayer might be made obligatory upon you and that you would be unable to keep up with it."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away with the matter remaining as such.
أن رسول الله ﷺ خرج ليلة من جوف الليل، فصلى في المسجد، وصلى رجال بصلاته، فأصبح الناس، فتحدثوا، فاجتمع أكثر منهم، فصلى فصلوا معه، فأصبح الناس فتحدثوا، فكثر أهل المسجد من الليلة الثالثة، فخرج رسول الله ﷺ فصلى فصلوا بصلاته، فلما كانت الليلة الرابعة، عجز المسجد عن أهله، حتى خرج لصلاة الصبح، فلما قضى الفجر، أقبل على الناس فتشهد، ثم قال: أما بعد! فإنه لم يحف علي مكانكم، ولكني خشيت أن تفترض عليكم، فتعجزوا عنها فتوفي رسول الله ﷺ والأمر على ذلك.
Bukhari narrated it in the chapter on tarawih prayer (2012) via Aqeel, and Muslim narrated it in the chapter on the traveler's prayer (761:178) via Yunus bin Yazid, both of them from Zuhri, from Urwa bin Zubayr, from Ayesha, as I have mentioned.However, Malik narrated it in the chapter on prayer in Ramadan (1) from Ibn Shihab, from Urwa bin Zubayr, from Ayesha, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed in the masjid one night, and some people prayed following him. Then he prayed the following night, and more people gathered. Then they gathered on the third or fourth night, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not come out to them. When morning came, he said, "I saw what you did, and nothing kept me from coming out to you except that I feared it would be made obligatory upon you." This was during Ramadan.Bukhari narrated it through this same route in the chapter on tahajjud (1129), and Muslim in the chapter on the traveler's prayer (761:177), similarly.Malik thus narrated it with uncertainty about whether the people gathered on the third or fourth night, but this uncertainty is resolved by the earlier narration stating that the Prophet ﷺ prayed for three nights. His statement, "I feared it would be made obligatory upon you," refers to the tahajjud prayer performed in congregation in the masjid, as opposed to performing it at home.