It is well known in the science of hadith terminology that a hadith with conflicting versions is one of the categories of weak hadith. This is because a narrator’s inconsistency in accurately preserving its chain of transmission or its text indicates that, for one reason or another, he was unable to retain and preserve it precisely. That is the case we are dealing with here. Perhaps it was for this reason that al-Hafiz stated categorically, in his entry on Abu Mas'ud al-Zuraqi in al-Tahdhib, that the correct name is: Mas'ud ibn al-Hakam.

Once you understand this, the reason becomes clear why this agnomen, “Abu Mas'ud al-Zuraqi,” is absent from the books devoted to agnomina, the most comprehensive of which is al-Muqtaṇā fī al-Kunā by al-Dhahabi.

As for the discrepancy in the text, it lies in the words, “when the prayer is commenced.” The correct wording is that of the hadith of 'Abd al-Majid: “after the call,” meaning the adhan, for its end explicitly states that the iqamah was given after he had come out and seen the people assembled in the mosque.

Because of this discrepancy and the previous one, I had included Abu 'Asim’s hadith in Da'if Abi Dawud (87–88). Now an occasion has arisen to reaffirm this and to publish the correct, well-preserved wording. Allah is the One who grants success. *

3220—“I was sent, and the Hour is like these two”—and he brought together his middle finger and the finger next to his thumb—and he said:

“My likeness and that of the Hour are only like two racing horses.” Then he said:

“My likeness and that of the Hour are only like that of a man whom his people sent ahead as a scout. When he feared that the enemy would reach them before he could, he waved his garment, crying: ‘The enemy is upon you! The enemy is upon you! I am that man, I am that man.’”

Ibn Jarir al-Tabari recorded it in his Tarikh (1/8): Muhammad ibn Yazid narrated to us: