I then saw that al-Dhahabī mentioned that Ibn al-Qaṭṭān had said: “This entails that his report is good rather than authentic.” So praise be to Allah for His enabling grace. The other sources contain only the portion attributed to the Prophet. Al-Tirmidhī said: “A good, singular hadith through this route.”

Aḥmad also narrated it in abbreviated form (4/23): “Dawn is not the elongated light on the horizon; rather, it is the red light spreading horizontally.” As for ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Nuʿmān, Ibn Maʿīn, al-ʿIjlī, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared him trustworthy, and two trustworthy narrators reported from him. Ibn Khuzaymah said: “I do not know him to be either upright or discredited.”

I say: His condition is close to that of his teacher, Qays ibn Ṭalq, but he has supporting corroboration: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Badr al-Suḥaymī said, “My grandfather, Qays ibn Ṭalq, narrated it to me.” Al-Ṭaḥāwī recorded it (1/325). In sum, the hadith is good. It also has a corroborating report from Samurah ibn Jundub, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with similar wording. Another corroborating report was mentioned earlier under no. 2002. Muslim and others narrated it, and it is documented in al-Irwāʾ (915) and Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd (2031).

His saying, “Do not let it alarm you,” means: Do not be disturbed by the elongated dawn and consequently refrain from the pre-dawn meal, for it is the false dawn. The basic meaning of hayd is movement. Al-Nihāyah.

Know that there is no contradiction between the Prophet’s description, peace and blessings be upon him, of the light of the true dawn as “red,” and Allah’s description of it