Al-Qurṭubī said: “The outward sense of the ḥadīth is that the iqāmah was called before the Prophet ﷺ came out of his house, and this seems to conflict with the report of Jābir ibn Samurah that Bilāl would not pronounce the iqāmah until the Prophet ﷺ had emerged; Muslim recorded it. (1) The two reports can be reconciled by noting that Bilāl used to watch for the Prophet ﷺ: the instant he saw him he would begin the iqāmah, before most people had noticed him. When they finally caught sight of the Prophet ﷺ they would rise, and Bilāl himself would not stand in his place until the rows had been straightened.”

I say: This is corroborated by what ʿAbd al-Razzaq transmitted from Ibn Jurayj, from Ibn Shihāb: that as soon as the muʾadhin said, “Allāhu akbar,” the people would rise for the prayer, and the Prophet ﷺ would not come to his place until the rows were correctly aligned.

As for the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah that will be cited shortly with the wording, “The iqāmah was given and the people straightened their rows, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ came out,” its version in the Mustakhraj of Abū Nuʿaym reads: “The people arranged their rows, then he came out to us.” Muslim’s wording states: “The iqāmah was pronounced, so we stood and adjusted the rows before the Prophet ﷺ came out to us; then he came and stood in his place…,” while Abū Dāwūd relates: “The prayer would be established for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the people would take their positions before the Prophet ﷺ arrived.” (2)

These texts are brought into harmony with the ḥadīth of Abū Qatādah by saying that such incidents occurred on occasion to demonstrate permissibility, and that the behaviour described in Abū Hurayrah’s narration became the very reason for the later prohibition reported by Abū Qatādah: they used to stand the moment the iqāmah was called even though the Prophet ﷺ had not yet appeared, so he forbade them from doing that.