—their freedman—who in turn related it from his father al-Sāʾib, the freedman of Abū Maḥdhūrah, and from the mother of ʿAbd al-Malik b. Abī Maḥdhūrah; both of them had heard it directly from Abū Maḥdhūrah.

Abū Maḥdhūrah said: “I went out with ten other youths while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was with us—at that time he was the person we disliked most. When the Muslims gave the adhān, we stood up and repeated the call, mocking them. The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Bring those lads to me.’ Then he said, ‘Call the adhān.’ They did so, and I was among them. The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Yes, that is the voice I heard. Go and give the adhān for the people of Mecca.’ He stroked the front of my head and instructed:

‘Say: Allah is most great, Allah is most great, Allah is most great, Allah is most great.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah’ (twice).
‘I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’ (twice).
‘Then go back and again say: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah’ (twice)
‘and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’ (twice).
‘Come to prayer, come to prayer; come to success, come to success’ (twice).
‘Allah is most great, Allah is most great; there is no god but Allah.’

‘When you give the first adhān at dawn, say: Prayer is better than sleep, prayer is better than sleep. And when you pronounce the iqāmah, say twice: The prayer has been established, the prayer has been established. Have you understood?’”

He added: Abū Maḥdhūrah never shaved the hair at the front of his head nor parted it, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had wiped his hand over it.

It is recorded by Aḥmad (3/408)—this wording is his—by Abū Dāwūd (82), al-Nasaʾi (104), al-Ṭaḥāwī (78; 80–82), and al-Dāraquṭnī (86) on his authority. Al-Ṭaḥāwī, however, cites only two takbīrs at the beginning instead of four, and that is also one of Aḥmad’s versions. Its chain is acceptable. Al-Fākihī likewise reports it in Tārīkh Makkah (pp. 12–13) with the fourfold takbīr.