Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba 3:1026

Ibn Fudayl narrated to us, from Husayn, from Abu Hazim, from his freedwoman, who said: I was among the People of the Bench (Ahl al-Suffah). We had ropes that we would hang onto when we became weary and drowsy during prayer, and mats that we would stand upon to protect us from the roughness of the ground. She said: Then Abu Bakr came to us and said, "Cut these ropes and descend to the ground."