the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—sent him with his household to Minā on the Day of Sacrifice, and they cast the pebbles at the jamrah at dawn?”
The answer is: His other hadith, narrated by Imām Ahmad and al-Tirmidhī and authenticated by the latter, takes precedence over this one. It states that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—sent the weaker members of his household ahead and said: “Do not cast the pebbles at the jamrah until the sun rises.” Ahmad’s wording (1) is:
“The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—sent us—the young boys of Banū ‘Abd al-Muttalib—ahead from Muzdalifah on our donkeys (2). He began patting (3) our thighs, saying: ‘My dear boys (4), do not cast the pebbles at the jamrah until the sun rises.’”
This takes precedence because it is more authentic than the other report and contains the Prophet’s prohibition—peace and blessings be upon him—against casting the pebbles at the jamrah before sunrise. It is reliably preserved through the account of the incident
(1) No. 2082. Also narrated by Abū Dāwūd (1940) and Ibn Mājah (3025), through al-Hasan al-‘Uranī from Ibn ‘Abbās. Al-Hasan al-‘Uranī did not hear from Ibn ‘Abbās, but this transmission is corroborated by al-Hakam’s narration from Miqsam in al-Tirmidhī (893). The hadith is authentic. See al-Irwā’ (4/272–277).
(2) Humurāt is the plural of humur, which is itself the plural of himār (donkey).
(3) Manuscripts q, b, and sād read “yaltakh” (smears), a scribal corruption. Lath means striking lightly with the palm. Ughaylimah (little boys) is the diminutive of ghilmah (boys), just as usaybiyah is used as the diminutive of sibyah (children).
(4) The printed edition reads “ay bunayya” (O my little son), contrary to the manuscripts and the transmitted narration. The adopted reading is correct. Sībawayh says in al-Kitāb (3/486): “Among words whose diminutives are not formed from the nondiminutive forms ordinarily used in speech are insān (human being), for which you say unaysiyān, and banūn (sons), for which you say ubaynūn. It is as though they formed the diminutives of insiyān and an af‘al form such as a‘mā (blind). They treated these words in this way because they used them so frequently in their speech.” Abū ‘Ubayd says in Gharīb al-Hadīth (1/129): “It is the diminutive of baniyya (my sons), meaning: ‘O my sons.’” The poet said:
“If it has caused no distress, it has distressed me—
leaving your little sons without a guardian.”
Al-Zamakhsharī says in al-Fā’iq (3/74): “Al-ubaynā, patterned like al-u‘aymā, is the diminutive of al-abnā, patterned like al-a‘mā; it is a collective noun for ibn (son).” See al-Majmū‘ al-Mughīth (1/20–22) and Sharh al-Radī ‘alā al-Kāfiyah (3/379).