Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Book 14, Hadith 275
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ كَثِيرٍ، قَالَ: أَخْبَرَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنْ زُبَيْدٍ، عَنْ مُرَّةَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللهِ قَالَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى قَسَمَ بَيْنَكُمْ أَخْلاَقَكُمْ، كَمَا قَسَمَ بَيْنَكُمْ أَرْزَاقَكُمْ، وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى يُعْطِي الْمَالَ مَنْ أَحَبَّ وَمَنْ لاَ يُحِبُّ، وَلاَ يُعْطِي الإِيمَانَ إِلاَّ مَنْ يُحِبُّ، فَمَنْ ضَنَّ بِالْمَالِ أَنْ يُنْفِقَهُ، وَخَافَ الْعَدُوَّ أَنْ يُجَاهِدَهُ، وَهَابَ اللَّيْلَ أَنْ يُكَابِدَهُ، فَلْيُكْثِرْ مِنْ قَوْلِ: لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ، وَسُبْحَانَ اللهِ، وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muhammad ibn Kathir narrated to us: Sufyan informed us, from Zubayd, from Murra, from ‘Abd Allah, who said: ‘Allah, Most High, apportioned your characters among you just as He apportioned your provisions among you. Allah, Most High, gives wealth to those He loves and those He does not love, but He gives faith only to those He loves. Whoever is miserly with his wealth and unwilling to spend it, fears the enemy and is unwilling to strive against them, or dreads the night and its hardship, let him frequently say: “There is no god but Allah; glory be to Allah; praise belongs to Allah; Allah is the greatest.”’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source’s final counsel is conditional: whoever has these stated fears or reluctance should frequently recite the four formulas. يُكَابِدَهُ refers to enduring the night’s hardship, not merely staying awake.
وَهَابَ اللَّيْلَ أَنْ يُكَابِدَهُ
The phrase may evoke enduring the exertion of night worship; the object is the night itself.
Would a contextual review prefer ‘dreads enduring the night’ or the more explicit ‘dreads the hardship of night worship’?