The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to observe spiritual retreat during the middle ten days of Ramadan. One year he observed the retreat, and when it was the night of the twenty-first, the night after which he would normally come out from his retreat in the morning, he said, "Whoever has been in retreat with me, let him remain in retreat for the last ten nights. I was shown this night, then it was made to slip from my memory. I saw myself prostrating in water and mud on its morning. So seek it in the last ten nights, and seek it in every odd night."Abu Saeed said, "The sky rained that night, and the mosque was roofed with palm branches, so it leaked."Abu Saeed said, "My own eyes saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ leave with traces of water and mud on his forehead and nose on the morning of the twenty-first night."
كان رسول الله ﷺ يعتكف العشر الوسط من رمضان، فاعتكف عاما، حتى إذا كان ليلة إحدى وعشرين. وهي الليلة التي يخرج فيها من صبحها من اعتكافه. قال: من اعتكف معي فليعتكف العشر الأواخر، وقد رأيت هذه الليلة ثم أنسيتها. وقد رأيتني أسجد من صبحها في ماء وطين. فالتمسوها في العشر الأواخر، والتمسوها في كل وتر. قال أبو سعيد: فأمطرت السماء تلك الليلة، وكان المسجد على عريش، فوكف المسجد. قال أبو سعيد: فأبصرت عيناي رسول الله ﷺ انصرف وعلى جبهته وأنفه أثر الماء والطين من صبح ليلة إحدى وعشرين.
Malik narrated it in itikaf (9) from Yazid bin Abdullah bin Had, from Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin Harith Taymi, from Abu Salama bin Abdul-Rahman, from Abu Saeed Khudri, that he said (and he mentioned it). Bukhari narrated it in itikaf (2027) through the route of Malik. And Bukhari (813) and Muslim (1167:216) both narrated it from the hadith of Yahya, from Abu Salama, from Abu Saeed Khudri, mentioning something similar.