in his Mustakhraj, where the wording runs: “He saw Bilal giving the call to prayer, turning, while his two fingers were in his ears.” Al-Bazzar reported it in the same form.

Nor was al-Thawri the sole transmitter from ʿAwn; he was followed by Mālik ibn Miġwal—as already noted in al-Hakim’s narration—and Mālik is trustworthy and firmly established. Muslim also recorded Mālik’s version, though it does not contain the phrase about the two fingers.

Hajjaj ibn Artaʿah likewise corroborated the report, as related by Ibn Mājah, al-Dārimī, Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, Ibn Abī Shaybah, and others.

Idrīs al-Awdi appears in the same capacity: al-Ṭabarānī, together with Hammad and Hushaym, all transmitted it from ʿAwn. Abū Shaykh al-Iṣbahānī also cited it in his Book of the Adhān, as mentioned in Nasb al-Rāyah and Talkhīṣ.

In sum, the ḥadīth, with these two additional details, is authentic. After producing it, al-Tirmidhī declared: “It is a ḥadīth that is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ (sound and authentic).”

The “turning” referred to means turning the head only, not the entire body; this clarification is explicitly stated in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere, and will be cited shortly.

Second ḥadīth: ʿAbd Allāh al-Hawzanī said, “I asked Bilal, ‘How did the Prophet ﷺ cover his expenses?’ …” He then related the report, and in it Bilal said, “So I put my index fingers in my ears and gave the adhān.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ quoted this in Fatḥ al-Bārī, commenting that it is “among the strongest corroborating narrations for the first ḥadīth.” He added: “Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Ḥibbān recorded it through the chain of Abū Salām al-Dimashqī, who said that ʿAbd Allāh al-Hawzanī narrated it to him.”