The Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them) were the keenest of people to emulate the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and follow in his footsteps, and to adhere to this until they died. In this hadith, Abu Rafi‘ (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he prayed al-‘atamah, which is ‘Isha’, with Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him). They sometimes called ‘Isha’ al-‘atamah (lit. darkness) because it is prayed at night, when it has become dark. It is narrated that it is not allowed to call ‘Isha’ al-‘atamah, as in the hadith narrated by Muslim from ‘Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Do not be influenced by the Bedouin with regard to the name of your prayer; indeed it is ‘Isha’, but they delay milking the camels until it is very dark [yu‘timuna].” Perhaps Abu Rafi‘ (may Allah be pleased with him) did not see anything in the words of the hadith to indicate that it was haram, because the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) called it ‘atamah in another hadith, as we see in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) in al-Sahihayn. And it was said concerning this that it was because they called Maghrib prayer ‘Isha’, and ‘Isha’ prayer al-‘atamah, according to the time, and that required the explanation to be discussed using their own terminology sometimes. And it was said that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used these words in order to explain that there is no blame on a person for using them, but that is contrary to what is more appropriate. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) recited, {Idha as-sama’ unshaqqat (When the sky has split [open] …)} [al-Inshiqaq], and prostrated at the verse in which Allah (may He be exalted) says, {And when the Qur'an is recited to them, they do not prostrate [to Allah]} [al-Inshiqaq 84:21]. Abu Rafi‘ asked him about that, and he replied that he had done this prostration behind Abu’l-Qasim – which is the kunyah of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) – and he would continue to do it for the rest of his life, until he met him (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) again. This verse affirms that there is a prostration of recitation (sajdat al-tilawah) in Surat al-Inshiqaq. It indicates that it is permissible for one who is praying to do the prostration of recitation. It highlights the virtue of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) and his keenness to be steadfast in adhering to the teachings of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)..