133 – Rāfiʿ ibn Khadij (may Allah be pleased with him) related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Begin the dawn prayer when the morning has become bright, for that will increase your reward.” It was transmitted by the Five, and al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it sound. (1)

Hadith grading:
The hadith is authentic. It was recorded by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, al-Dāramī (1/301), Ibn Mājah, and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr (24/222). Those who judged it sound include al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Ḥibbān, Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, and Ibn al-Qayyim. Al-Daylamī said, “Its isnād is ṣaḥīḥ.” Al-Suyūṭī held it to be mutawātir, a judgment also affirmed by al-Manāwī in Fayḍ al-Qadīr. Ibn Ḥajar, in Fatḥ al-Bārī, endorsed the scholars who authenticated it. The report has several chains, the principal one being the narration of Rāfiʿ ibn Khadij.

Lexical notes:
– aṣbiḥū: literally, “enter the morning”; i.e., lengthen the dawn prayer and its recitation until the sky grows light, as another wording has: “asfirū (pray at daybreak).”
– for that will increase your reward: explains that praying after true dawn has clearly broken and extending the recitation carries greater merit.

Points derived from the hadith:
1 – It is recommended to lengthen the recitation in the dawn prayer: one should begin the prayer at its first permissible time and not finish until daylight appears, as stated in some narrations of this hadith: “Brighten the dawn prayer.” It is likewise confirmed that the Prophet ﷺ “would recite sixty verses if he shortened it, and one hundred…"