related in it. The other hadith states only that they cast the pebbles at the jamrah at dawn.

Upon further reflection, we found that these hadiths do not conflict. He instructed the boys not to cast the pebbles at the jamrah until sunrise, since they had no excuse for doing so earlier. As for the women whom he sent ahead, they cast the pebbles (1) before sunrise because they had an excuse, and because of concern that they would be jostled and crushed by the crowds. This is what the Sunnah establishes: casting the pebbles before sunrise is permissible for someone excused (2) by illness or old age that makes contending with the crowds difficult. A healthy, able person, however, may not do so.

There are three positions on this issue:

The first permits it after the midpoint of the night without qualification, for both the able and the infirm. This is the position of al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad.

The second permits it only after dawn. This is the position of Abū Hanīfah.

The third permits it for able persons only after sunrise. This is the position of a number of scholars.

What the Sunnah establishes is proceeding early after the moon has set, not at the midpoint of the night. Those who set the midpoint as the limit have no evidence for it. And Allah knows best.

Section

When dawn broke, he performed the dawn prayer at the beginning of its prescribed time—certainly not before it—with a call to prayer and a call to commence the prayer, on the Day of Sacrifice. This is the day of Eid, the day of the greater pilgrimage, and the day of the proclamation of Allah’s disavowal