The Book of Asceticism · Hadith 32 (#Ḥadīth #6)

لقاسم وفضالة عن ابان عن الحسن الصيقل قال سألت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام من تفكر ساعة خير من قيام ليلة؟ قال: نعم وقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: تفكر ساعة خير من قيام ليلة قلت: كيف فيتفكر؟ قال: يمر بالخربة وبالدار يتفكر فيقول أين ساكنوك وأين بانوك مالك لا تتكلمين؟

6.Al-Qāsim and Faḍālah [also] narrated from Abān, from al-Ḥasan alṢayqal who said, “I asked Abā ʿAbdillāh , ‘Is an hour of contemplation better than standing vigil [in worship] at night?’ He replied, ‘Yes. The Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said that an hour of contemplation is better than standing for nightly-worship.’ I asked, ‘How should one contemplate?’ He said, ‘One should pass by ruins and [long abandoned] dwellings and [think to himself]saying, “Where are your inhabitants? Where are those who constructed you? Why do you not respond!?”’”

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).