323 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) reports that the Prophet said, “Whoever hears the call to prayer yet does not come, his prayer is invalid unless he has an excuse.” It was transmitted by Ibn Mājah, al-Dāraquṭnī, Ibn Ḥibbān, and al-Ḥākim. Its chain of transmission meets the criteria set by Muslim, although some scholars regarded it as mawqūf, stopping with the Companion (1).

• Hadith grading:
  The report is weak. Al-Talkhīṣ states: it was narrated by Abū Dāwūd and al-Dāraquṭnī, but within the chain is Abū Janāb, who is weak and a mudallis; al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Mulaqqin therefore graded it weak from this route. Ibn Mājah, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Dāraquṭnī, and al-Ḥākim also recorded it through another route, raised to the Prophet with the wording, “Whoever hears the call but does not respond, his prayer is invalid unless he has an excuse.” Al-Ḥākim, however, remarked that Ghundar and the majority of Shuʿbah’s students halted it at the Companion.

The hadith has supporting narrations, including the report of Abū Mūsā, recorded by al-Ḥākim and al-Bayhaqī, who both said that the mawqūf version is more sound. Al-ʿUqaylī transmitted it from Jābir and declared it weak, and Ibn ʿAdī transmitted it from Abū Hurayrah and likewise graded it weak.

• Vocabulary of the hadith:
  – ʿudhr (excuse): the dhāl is pronounced with ḍamma, though it may also be read with sukun; plural: aʿdhār. Linguistically it denotes the justification a person offers, something that removes blame for an act that would otherwise be censured; thus one says, “He is maʿdhūr,” meaning he is not blameworthy for what he has done.