perform it.’ That report, however, is weak and cannot stand against the stronger evidence; its defect lies in Abū al-Rabīʿ, whom al-Dāraqutnī declared “unknown.”

Moreover, a far stronger narration from Ibn ʿUmar contradicts it. Nuhayk ibn Yarīm said: “Mughīth ibn Sumay narrated to us: I performed the dawn prayer with ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr while it was still dark. When he finished and gave salām, I turned to Ibn ʿUmar and asked, ‘What is this prayer?’ He replied, ‘This is how we used to pray with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, with Abū Bakr, and with ʿUmar. When ʿUmar was stabbed, ʿUthmān delayed it until it became bright.’”
This was recorded by Ibn Mājah (229–230) and al-Ṭaḥāwī (104). The chain is authentic, as stated in the Zawāʾid and in al-Majmūʿ (3/53). In his Kitāb al-ʿIlal, al-Tirmidhī quotes al-Bukhārī as saying, “This is a ḥasan hadith.”

5 – On occasion the Prophet ﷺ would conclude the prayer while it was still dark. ʿĀʾishah said: “The believing women used to attend the dawn prayer with the Prophet ﷺ wrapped in their cloaks; once the prayer was finished they would return to their homes, and because of the darkness no one could recognize them.”
Al-Bukhārī and Muslim (2/119), al-Nasāʾī (94), Abū Yaʿlā (277), Ibn Mājah (669), al-Ṭiyālisī (206), Aḥmad (6/33, 37, 248) and al-Ṭaḥāwī (104) transmit it through al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah.

The report also reaches us through two further chains from her:
(1) Mālik (21) from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from ʿĀʾishah. Muslim, Abū Dāwūd (69), al-Nasāʾī and al-Tirmidhī (287) also record it; al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ, as did al-Ṭaḥāwī.