158 – Abu Dāwūd transmits, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh b. Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him), that he said: “I saw it—that is, the adhān—and I wanted to call it.” The Prophet replied, “Then you give the iqāmah.” This report is also weak.⦗1⦘
Degree of the hadith
The hadith is ḥasan (fair).
Its chain contains Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-Wāqifī, who is weak; Ibn al-Qaṭṭān, Ibn Maʿīn, and al-Bayhaqī all declared him weak, and al-Bayhaqī added that discrepancies occur in both its chain and its wording.
There is another route recorded by Abū Shaykh from Ibn ʿAbbās, but the chain is broken because it is narrated by al-Ḥakam from Miqsam from Ibn ʿAbbās, and these are among the reports al-Ḥakam did not hear directly from Miqsam.
Nevertheless, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr graded the hadith sound, as noted in al-Talkhīṣ al-Habīr (1/209); al-Ḥāzimī did likewise, as did Ibn Ḥajar in al-Dirāyah, and Ibn al-Mulqin.
Al-Bayhaqī relates in al-Khilāfiyyāt—from ʿAbd Allāh b. Zayd—“…He said, ‘Teach them to Bilāl.’ I then stepped forward and he instructed me to give the iqāmah, so I did,” and its chain is sound, as stated by Ibn Ḥajar in al-Dirāyah (1/115).
Points derived from the hadith
- ʿAbd Allāh b. Zayd al-Anṣārī is the Companion who saw the adhān in a dream and reported it to the Prophet ﷺ, who then ratified it as a legal ruling and a major Islamic rite.
- The Prophet ﷺ did not dismiss his evidence or deny it; rather, he said: