Sahih Muslim, 1739

Sa'd b. Hisham b. 'Amir decided to participate in the expedition for the sake of Allah, so he came to Medina and he decided to dispose of his property there and buy arms and horses instead and fight against the Romans to the end of his life. When he came to Medina, he met the people of Medina. They dissuaded him to do such a thing, and informed him that a group of six men had decided to do so during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade them to do it, and said:Is there not for you a model pattern in me? And when they narrated this to him (Sa'd b. Hisham), he returned to his wife, though he had divorced her and made (people) witness to his reconciliation. He then came to Ibn 'Abbas and asked him about the Witr of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Ibn 'Abbas said: Should I not lead you to one who knows best amongst the people of the world about the Witr of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)? He said: Who is it? He (Ibn 'Abbas) said: It is 'A'isha. So go to her and ask her (about Witr) and then come to me and inform me about her answer that she would give you. So I came to Hakim b. Aflah and requested him to take me to her. He said: I would not go to her, for I forbade her to speak anything (about the conflict) between the two groupS, but she refused (to accept my advice) and went (to participate in that corflict). I (requested) him (Hakim) with an oath to lead me to her. So we went to 'A'isha and we begged permission to meet her. She granted us permission and we went in. She said: Are you Hakim? (She recognised him.) He replied: Yes. She said: Who is there with you? He said: He is Sa'd b. Hisham. She said: Which Hisham? He said: He is Hisham b. 'Amir. She blessed him ('Amir) with mercy from Allah and spoke good of him (Qatada said that he died as a martyr in Uhud). I said: Mother of the Faithful, tell me about the character of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). She said: Don't you read the Qur'an? I said: Yes. Upon this she said: The character of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was the Qur'an. He said: I felt inclined to get up and not ask anything (further) till death. But then I changed my mind and said: Inform me about the observance (of the night prayer) of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). She said: Did you not recite:" O thou wrapped up"? He said: Yes. She said: Allah, the Exalted and the Glorious, made the observance of the night prayer at the beginning of this Surah obligatory. So the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him and his Companions around him observed this (night prayer) for one year. Allah held back the concluding portion of this Surah for twelve months in the Heaven till (at the end of this period) Allah revealed the concluding verses of this Surah which lightened (the burden of this prayer), and the night prayer became a supererogatory prayer after being an obligatory one. I said: Mother of the Faithful, inform me about the Witr of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). She said: I used to prepare tooth stick for him and water for his ablution, and Allah would rouse him to the extent He wished during the night. He would use the tooth stick, and perform ablution, and would offer nine rak'ahs, and would not sit but in the eighth one and would remember Allah, and praise Him and supplicate Him, then he would get up without uttering the salutation and pray the ninth rak'ah. He would then sit, remember, praise Him and supplicate Him and then utter a salutation loud enough for us to hear. He would then pray two rak'ahs sitting after uttering the salutation, and that made eleven rak'ahs. O my son, but when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) grew old and put on flesh, he observed Witr of seven, doing in the two rak'ahs as he had done formerly, and that made nine. O my son, and when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) observed prayer, he liked to keep on observing it, and when sleep or pain overpowered him and made it impossible (for him) to observe prayer in the night, he prayed twelve rak'ahs daring the day. I am not aware of Allah's Prophet (ﷺ) having recited the whole Qur'an during one single night, or praying through the night till morning, or fasting a complete month, except Ramadan. He (the narrator) said: I then went to Ibn 'Abbas and narrated to him the hadith (transmitted from her), and he said: She says the truth If I went to her and got into her presence, I would have listened to it orally from her. He said: If I were to know that you do not go to her. I would not have transmitted this hadith to you narrated by her

Rapporté par Sa’d b. Hisham b. ‘Amir : Il décida de participer à une expédition pour la cause d’Allah, alors il vint à Médine, voulant vendre ses biens pour acheter des armes et des chevaux afin de combattre les Romains jusqu’à la fin de sa vie. À Médine, les habitants le dissuadèrent, lui racontant qu’un groupe de six hommes avait voulu faire de même du vivant du Messager d’Allah ﷺ, mais il leur avait interdit, disant : « N’avez-vous pas un exemple en moi ? » Après cela, Sa’d retourna auprès de son épouse, bien qu’il l’ait divorcée, et fit témoigner des gens de leur réconciliation. Il alla ensuite voir Ibn ‘Abbas et l’interrogea sur le Witr du Messager d’Allah ﷺ. Ibn ‘Abbas lui dit : « Veux-tu que je t’indique la personne qui connaît le mieux le Witr du Messager d’Allah ﷺ ? » Il demanda : « Qui est-ce ? » Ibn ‘Abbas répondit : « C’est Aïsha. Va la voir, interroge-la, puis viens me rapporter sa réponse. » Je suis donc allé voir Hakim b. Aflah pour qu’il m’accompagne chez elle. Il refusa d’abord, car il lui avait conseillé de ne pas parler du conflit entre deux groupes, mais elle n’avait pas suivi son conseil. Je l’ai supplié par serment, alors nous sommes allés chez Aïsha et avons demandé la permission d’entrer. Elle nous a laissés entrer. Elle reconnut Hakim et demanda : « Qui est avec toi ? » Il répondit : « C’est Sa’d b. Hisham. » Elle demanda : « Quel Hisham ? » Il répondit : « Hisham b. ‘Amir. » Elle invoqua la miséricorde d’Allah pour ‘Amir et parla en bien de lui (Qatada dit qu’il est mort martyr à Uhud). J’ai dit : « Mère des croyants, parle-moi du caractère du Messager d’Allah ﷺ. » Elle répondit : « Ne lis-tu pas le Coran ? » J’ai dit : « Si. » Elle dit alors : « Le caractère du Messager d’Allah ﷺ était le Coran. » J’ai eu envie de partir sans rien demander de plus, mais j’ai changé d’avis et j’ai dit : « Raconte-moi la prière de nuit du Messager d’Allah ﷺ. » Elle répondit : « N’as-tu pas récité : “Ô toi, l’enveloppé” ? » J’ai dit : « Si. » Elle expliqua qu’Allah a rendu la prière de nuit obligatoire au début de cette sourate. Le Messager d’Allah ﷺ et ses compagnons l’ont accomplie pendant un an. Allah a retenu la fin de cette sourate au ciel pendant douze mois, puis Il a révélé les derniers versets qui ont allégé cette obligation : la prière de nuit est devenue surérogatoire après avoir été obligatoire. J’ai dit : « Mère des croyants, parle-moi du Witr du Messager d’Allah ﷺ. » Elle répondit : « Je lui préparais son siwak et l’eau pour ses ablutions, puis Allah le réveillait la nuit autant qu’Il voulait. Il utilisait le siwak, faisait ses ablutions, priait neuf rak‘a sans s’asseoir sauf à la huitième, où il se rappelait Allah, Le louait et L’invoquait, puis il se relevait sans saluer et priait la neuvième rak‘a. Ensuite, il s’asseyait, se rappelait Allah, Le louait, L’invoquait, puis saluait d’une voix assez forte pour que nous l’entendions. Il priait ensuite deux rak‘a assis après la salutation, ce qui faisait onze rak‘a. Ô mon fils, quand le Messager d’Allah ﷺ a vieilli et pris du poids, il faisait le Witr avec sept rak‘a, accomplissant dans les deux rak‘a ce qu’il faisait auparavant, ce qui faisait neuf. Ô mon fils, quand le Messager d’Allah ﷺ commençait une prière, il aimait la continuer, et quand le sommeil ou la maladie l’empêchait de prier la nuit, il priait douze rak‘a dans la journée. Je ne sais pas que le Prophète d’Allah ﷺ ait récité tout le Coran en une nuit, ni qu’il ait prié toute la nuit jusqu’au matin, ni qu’il ait jeûné un mois entier sauf Ramadan. » Le narrateur dit : Je suis ensuite allé voir Ibn ‘Abbas et lui ai rapporté ce que j’avais entendu d’elle. Il dit : « Elle a dit la vérité. Si j’étais allé la voir, j’aurais aimé entendre cela directement de sa bouche. Si j’avais su que tu n’irais pas chez elle, je ne t’aurais pas transmis ce hadith de sa part. »