“…When ʿAmr gives the call, he is a blind man, so do not let that mislead you; but when Bilāl gives the call, then no one should eat.” Aḥmad also recorded it.

I say: It appears in the Musnad ⦗6/185⦘ in the following wording: “Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar narrated to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq narrated to us from al-Aswad ibn Yazīd, who said:

‘I asked ʿĀʾishah, Mother of the Believers, “At what time do you perform witr?” She replied, “I do not perform witr until they have given the call, and they do not give the call until dawn breaks.” She went on: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had two callers to prayer, Bilāl and ʿAmr ibn Umm Maktūm. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

‘When ʿAmr gives the call, eat and drink, for he is a blind man; but when Bilāl gives the call, then raise your hands (i.e., stop eating), for Bilāl does not give the call—so he said—until daybreak.’”’

All the transmitters in this chain are those found in Muslim, except that the link between Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq and al-Aswad ibn Yazīd is broken, for eighty-four years separate their deaths. It is likely that Yūnus narrated it from his father, from al-Aswad, and that the mention of his father dropped out in copying or transmission. This is supported by the fact that al-Aswad ibn Yazīd is indeed narrated from by Abū Isḥāq. Allah knows best. Al-Ḥāfiẓ then set out the way to reconcile this narration with those that contradict it, as mentioned earlier; refer to it.

Fourth: From Ibn Masʿūd, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Let not Bilāl’s adhān keep any one of you from his pre-dawn meal, for he calls in the night so that the one who is praying may return and the one who is asleep may be alerted; he is not announcing that dawn—or morning—has broken.” He demonstrated with his fingers, raising them upward and lowering them downward until he said, “Like this.” And he said