companions; I have extracted a sound selection of those reports in al-Irwāʾ, no. 450, and in Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd, no. 1118. Some narrators add the clause, “until it breaks,” while another version reads, “until dawn appears.”

I once remarked in al-Taʿlīqāt al-Jiyād ʿalā Zād al-Maʿād:

“Most transmitters agree that the descent lasts until the appearance of dawn, as al-Ḥāfiẓ stated in Fatḥ al-Bārī 3/24. As for its continuing until the Fajr prayer itself, I have found no explicit narration to corroborate that. True, al-Nasaʾī records—from Abū Hurayrah—the wording, ‘until the sun has fully risen,’ which would support what the author, Ibn al-Qayyim, cited; but this wording is anomalous (shādh), as al-Ḥāfiẓ noted.”

I now say: the error in that report is probably traceable to Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Fudayk, for the path recorded by al-Nasaʾī in ʿAmal al-Yawm wa-l-Laylah, no. 486, and by Ibn Khuzaymah in al-Tawḥīd, pp. 86–87, runs through him: “Ibn Abī Dhʿib related to us from al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbbās, from Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr, from Abū Hurayrah.” Although Ibn Abī Fudayk is reliable—both Ṣaḥīḥs rely on him— Ibn Saʿd said of him, “He narrated abundantly, but he is not a decisive proof.”

The mistake could also stem from his teacher, al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbbās. Despite being trustworthy and included among Muslim’s narrators, Muḥammad ibn al-Barqī al-Ḥāfiẓ considered him weak, and Ibn al-Madīnī declared him “unknown,” as recorded in al-Mīzān.

This latter possibility seems stronger, for ʿAmr ibn Dīnār—who is thoroughly reliable—contradicted both the chain and the wording. He narrated, through Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim from his father, the marfūʿ wording, “until dawn appears.” Ibn Khuzaymah recorded it in al-Tawḥīd, p. 88; Aḥmad, 4/81; and others. I have documented it in my work Ẓilāl al-Jannah fī Takhrīj al-Sunnah, no. 507.