Imam Aḥmad (1) reported: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from ʿAwn ibn Abī Juḥayfah, from his father, who said: “I saw Bilāl (2) giving the call to prayer. He would turn from side to side, and I followed the movement of his mouth here and there while his two forefingers were in his ears (4). The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was inside a red pavilion which I took to be made of leather. Bilāl then came out in front of him carrying a spear-staff (6); he planted it, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed behind it.” ʿAbd al-Razzāq added: “I heard this in Mecca—on the open ground of al-Baṭḥā’—and a dog, a woman, and a donkey were passing in front of him while he was wearing a red mantle; it is as though I can still see the sheen of his shins.” Sufyān said, “We think it was a striped ḥibara cloak.”

Aḥmad (7) also said: Wakiʿ narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from ʿAwn ibn Abī Juḥayfah, from his father, who said: “I came to the Prophet ﷺ at al-Abṭaḥ while he was in a red pavilion. Bilāl emerged with the surplus water from his ablution, so some people sprinkled it on themselves and others drank it (11). Bilāl then pronounced the adhān, and I followed his mouth like this and like that—meaning to the right and left. I then fixed a spear-staff for him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out wearing a red jubba—or a red mantle—and it is as though I can still see the gleam of his shins. He led us in prayer at the spear-staff, performing two rakʿahs of either Ẓuhr or ʿAṣr; a woman, a dog, and a donkey would pass and he did not prevent them. Thereafter he continued praying two-rakʿah prayers until we reached Madinah.” On another occasion he said, “He prayed Ẓuhr two rakʿahs and ʿAṣr two rakʿahs.” The two compilers of the Ṣaḥīḥ recorded it as well, through the narration of Sufyān al-Thawrī (13).

Aḥmad (14) likewise said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us—Ḥajjāj added [Shuʿbah informed me]—from al-Ḥakam, who said: I heard Abū Juḥayfah say: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out at the heat of midday to al-Baṭḥā’, performed ablution, and prayed Ẓuhr two rakʿahs with a spear-staff before him.” ʿAwn, reporting from his father Abū Juḥayfah, added: “A donkey and a woman would pass behind it (15).”