عن عبد الرحمن بن عبد القاري أنه قال خرجت مع عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه ليلة في رمضان إلى المسجد فإذا الناس أوزاع متفرقون يصلي الرجل لنفسه ويصلي الرجل فيصلي بصلاته الرهط فقال عمر إني أرى لو جمعت هؤلاء على قارئ واحد لكان أمثل ثم عزم فجمعهم على أبي بن كعب ثم خرجت معه ليلة أخرى والناس يصلون بصلاة قارئهم قال عمر نعم البدعة هذه والتي ينامون عنها أفضل من التي يقومون يريد آخر الليل وكان الناس يقومون أوله

رواه البخاري:٢٠١٠

‘Abdur Rahman ibn ‘Abd (r) narrates, “One night, I went out to the masjid in the company of [Ameer al-Mu’mineen] ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (r) and found the people in different groups. One man was praying alone here and another was praying with a little group behind him there. So, 'Umar (r) said, 'In my opinion, it would be better if I collect these (people) under the leadership of one Qari (Reciter) (i.e. let them pray in congregation!)'. So, he made up his mind to congregate them behind Ubai bin Ka'b (r). Then on another night I went out again in his company and the people were praying behind their Qari. On that, 'Umar remarked, 'What an excellent innovation this is! However, that [prayer] which they sleep through is better than the prayer they are performing.’ He meant by this the (Tahajjud) prayer at the end of the night.  (In those days) people used to pray in the early part of the night.” (Bukhari, 2010)