He also said: Those who heard and transmitted from him include Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, Usamah ibn Zayd, Ibn ʿUmar, Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah, al-Sunābihī, al-Aswad, Abu Idrīs al-Khawlānī, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, Ibn Abī Laylā, al-Ḥakam ibn Minā, and Abu ʿUthmān al-Nahdī.
Ayyūb ibn Sayyār—one of the Talfa—reported through the chain: Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir ➝ Jābir ➝ Abu Bakr ➝ Bilāl, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Pray the dawn prayer after daylight has appeared, for it carries the greatest reward.” (1)
Muhammad ibn Saʿd stated: Bilāl ibn ʿAbd Allāh was a locally born client in the Sarāt highlands; his mother, Ḥamāmah, belonged to Banū Jumah. (2)
Al-Bukhārī said: Bilāl, the brother of Khālid and Ghufrah, was the Prophet’s mu’adhdhin; he died in Syria. He also cited the three recorded teknonyms. (3)
…the angels.
Muḥḍara means: a gathering frequented by the devout.
“ The shadow of a spear stands upright ”: the moment of true noon, when the shade inclines neither eastward nor westward.
(1) ʾAyyub: al-Nasaʾi judged him unreliable (taraka-hu), and Yaḥya declared him a liar. The report was transmitted by al-Ṭabarani (no. 1016) in al-Kabir and cited by al-Haythami in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid 1/315, who ascribed it to al-Bazzar, calling it a gharib hadith and noting that ʾAyyub is rejected.
Yet the hadith is authentic through another route. It appears in Ahmad 3/465; 4/140, 142, 143; Abu Dawud (no. 424, Book of Prayer, chapter on the time of Subh); al-Tirmidhi (no. 154, Book of Prayer, chapter on performing Fajr at daybreak); al-Nasaʾi 1/272 (Book of Prayer, chapter on al-Isfar); Ibn Majah (no. 672, Book of Prayer, chapter on the time of Fajr); al-Ṭaḥawi 1/105; and al-Bayhaqi 1/277—all through the chain ʿAsim b. ʿUmar b. Qatadah → Maḥmud b. Labid → Rafiʿ b. Khadij. This isnad is sound (sahih). Al-Tirmidhi graded it hasan sahih, and Ibn Hibban (nos. 262–263) and several other scholars upheld its authenticity.
According to al-Ṭaḥawi, the hadith means that one should begin Fajr in darkness (taghlis), lengthen the recitation, and conclude when daylight has clearly appeared (isfar). This is also the view of Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf, and al-Hasan. See Iʿlam al-Muwaqqiʿin.
(2) Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd 3/1/165.
(3) Thus in the base manuscript. Usud al-Ghabah and al-Isabah read “Ghafirah,” and the same wording is found in al-Bukhari’s al-Tarikh al-Saghir 1/53.