Ibn ‘Abbas reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The nobles among my people are those, who know the Qur’an by heart and those who pray during the night.”
Abu Sa'id and Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When a man wakens his wife* during the night and they pray (or he prays) two rak'as together, they are recorded among the men and women who make mention of God.”
* The Arabic word is ahl which means “people” or “family”, and sometimes "wife. As the dual is used about them praying together, it obviously means “wife” here; but in Ibn ‘Umar’s tradition below the plural is used, and so the word is there translated “family”.
Ibn ‘Umar said that his father ‘Umar b. al-Khattab used to pray during the night what God wished, then during the latter part of the night he woke his family for prayer saying to them, “Come to prayer.” Then he would recite this verse, “And command your family to observe the prayer, and be constant in it. We do not ask you for provision; We provide you, and the issue pertains to piety” (Al-Qur'an; 20:132).
He told of a man who came to the Prophet and said, “So and so prays at night, and when morning comes he steals.” He replied, “What you say will restrain him.”
Ahmad and Baihaqi, in Shu'ab al-iman, transmitted it.
