Question
I have received the following hadith. Please may I be informed regarding its authenticity.
Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:
“If one gets up to pray at night and his eyes are overtaken by sleep while in sajdah, Allah will say to his angels: ‘Look my angels! This is my slave! His soul is with Me and his body is before Me. Record his qiyam for him and count his sleep as a sadaqah from Me on him.”
Answer
I have not come across these words in a Hadith. I have come across the following similar narrations as the statements of Hasan Basri (rahimahullah):
1) Hasan Al Basri (rahimahullah) said: “I have been informed that when a person falls asleep in sajdah, Allah says, ‘Look at My servant, his soul is with Me and His body is in My obedience.”
(Kitabuz Zuhd of Imam ‘Abdullah Ibnul Mubarak: 1213)
2) Hasan Al Basri (rahimahullah) said: “When a person falls asleep in sajdah, Allah boasts to the angels saying, ‘Look at My slave, He worships Me while his soul is by Me and he is in sajdah.”
(Kitabuz Zuhd of Imam Ahmad ibn Hambal: 1606)
3) Hasan Al Basri (rahimahullah) said: “When a person falls asleep in sajdah, Allah boasts to the angels saying, ‘Look at My slave, He worships Me while his soul is by Me.”
(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah: 36749. Shaykh Muhammad ‘Awwamah -hafizahullah- has declared the narrators reliable)
See other narrations here and here regarding receiving the reward for tahajjud without actually performing it here.
Note: A similar narration to those I have cited above has been reported as a Hadith of Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in Fawaid Tammam, Tarikh Dimashq and other sources. However, the chain is very weak.
(Fawaid Tammam, Hadith: 1670, Tarikh Dimashq, vol. 41 pg. 292. Refer: Mizanul I’tidal, vol. 2 pg. 9, number: 2490. Also see: At Talkhisul Habir, vol. 1 pg. 321)
And Allah Ta’ala Knows best.
Answered by: Moulana Suhail Motala
Approved by: Moulana Muhammad Abasoomar