Jamrat al-ʿAqabah before the break of dawn. Mālik said, “No report has reached us that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—granted anyone permission to cast the stones before dawn; it is therefore impermissible, and whoever does so must repeat the stoning.” Abū Ḥanīfah, Sufyān, and Aḥmad shared this view.

Al-Shāfiʿī maintained that there is no harm in stoning before daybreak, although the preferred time is after sunrise.

Those who prohibit it cite the Prophet’s own practice—peace and blessings be upon him—together with his statement, “Take your rites from me,” and the report from Ibn ʿAbbās that “the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—sent the weaker members of his family ahead and said, ‘Do not stone the jamrah until the sun rises.’”

Those who permit the stoning before dawn rely on the ḥadīth of Umm Salamah, recorded by Abū Dāwūd and others, in which ʿĀʾishah said: “The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—sent word to Umm Salamah on the Day of Sacrifice, so she stoned the jamrah before dawn, then proceeded and performed ṭawāf al-ifāḍah. That was the day on which the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—would be staying with her.” They also cite the ḥadīth of Asmāʾ: “She stoned the jamrah at night and said, ‘We used to do this during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him.’”

All scholars agree that the preferred period for stoning Jamrat al-ʿAqabah is from sunrise until the sun begins its decline at midday. They likewise agree that if the stoning is done any time before sunset on the Day of Sacrifice it is valid and no expiation is required—except according to Mālik, who recommends that the pilgrim nevertheless offer a blood-sacrifice.

They differed about one who delays the stoning until after sunset and then performs it during the night or the next day. Mālik says a blood-sacrifice becomes obligatory. Abū Ḥanīfah holds that if it is done at night, nothing is due, but if deferred to the following day, a sacrifice is required. Abū Yūsuf, Muḥammad, and al-Shāfiʿī rule that no penalty is incurred whether the stoning takes place at night or the next day.

Their evidence is the Prophet’s concession—peace and blessings be upon him—to the camel herders in this regard, meaning that they may stone by night. Ibn ʿAbbās relates that a man said, “O Messenger of Allah, I stoned after nightfall,” and he replied, “There is no blame.”

Mālik’s principal argument is that the time unanimously acknowledged in which the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—performed the stoning constitutes the Sunnah; whoever departs from a Sunnah among the rites of Hajj must offer a blood-sacrifice, as reported from Ibn ʿAbbās—a position adopted by the majority of jurists.