He never narrates from his grandfather Rāfiʿ; all of his transmissions are from his father, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Al-Ḥāfiẓ states in al-Taqrīb that he belongs to the fifth tier—that is, the youngest stratum of the Successors (tābiʿīn) who met one or two Companions, yet whose direct hearing from them is not firmly established, as is the case with al-Aʿmash.

Accordingly, the report is apparently broken in the chain (munqaṭiʿ). Even were it sound, it could be interpreted in the same way we explained earlier for the narration of Rāfiʿ: his words, “until the people can see where their arrows land,” would refer to finishing the prayer, not to beginning it.

Al-Bukhārī (3/427), Muslim (4/76), Abū Dāwūd (1/305), al-Nasāʾī (2/47), and Aḥmad (1/426, 434) record from Ibn Masʿūd: “I never saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ perform any prayer outside its appointed time except for two: the Maghrib and the ʿIshāʾ at Jamʿ (Muzdalifah), and on that day he prayed Fajr before its usual time.”

In another version related by al-Bukhārī (3/467) and Aḥmad (418, 449), ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd says: “I travelled with ʿAbd Allāh—may Allah be pleased with him—to Mecca. When we reached Jamʿ he performed the two prayers, each separately, with one adhān and one iqāmah, delaying the ʿIshāʾ between them. Then he prayed Fajr when daybreak had appeared; some people were saying, ‘Dawn has broken,’ while others said, ‘It has not yet broken.’ He then declared, ‘These two prayers have been shifted from their normal times in this place—the Maghrib and the ʿIshāʾ—so people must not leave Jamʿ until it is truly dark, and as for the Fajr prayer, it is at this hour.’ ”

This version makes plain that his statement in the first report, “and on that day he prayed Fajr before…,”