Guidance on the Hadith: If One of You Hears the Call to Prayer and the Vessel Is in His Hand

The questioner : Your Eminence the Shaykh, is it possible to explain?

The Shaykh : Your Eminence and Honor, this is it. No.

The questioner : Is it possible to direct the indication of the hadith narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and others with a sound chain, from the narration of Abu Hurayrah, traced to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ? The call is made when the dawn breaks. Is it possible to direct the hadith to the case where the mu'adhdhin calls at the beginning of the dawn breaking, so that Allah has granted him a dispensation if he is in this state, namely when he has raised it to his mouth?

The Shaykh : Yes, I hold that this hadith is directed in one of two ways. Either the mu'adhdhin is calling based on estimation, and the one who calls based on estimation may be correct or may not, like the mu'adhdhins among us now. Or the second reward is that that call is from the mu'adhdhin based on certainty and seeing the dawn. But this is from the category of a dispensation, because when a person has raised the water to drink, his soul becomes attached to it. And for this reason, if there were anything on the ground that could be raised from the ground, no, it must be in your hand. And because the soul had become attached to this water that he raised, it was from the mercy of Allah the Exalted that the person should satisfy his thirst from it, just as if food were present and the imam were praying, you would eat from the food even if you missed the prayer. Thus, an obligatory act is dropped because your soul is attached to this food that was placed before you. So the hadith does not go beyond these two ways. What is the first way?

The presenter : Thank you.

The Shaykh : That the mu'adhdhin calls based on estimation, but this may be prevented by the narration of Ahmad that he calls when the dawn has broken. However, it is supported by what is established in the two Sahihs, from the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) , for he does not call until the dawn appears. The hadith came in this form, traced to the Prophet with this wording. The second way, we said, is that this is from the category of a dispensation. It is that when the soul's attachment to this raised water became intense, the Lawgiver granted him a dispensation to satisfy his thirst from it, even if it is in a time that prevents it. The parallel to that is that there is no prayer in the presence of food, or if the 'Isha' meal is brought, start with it before the 'Isha' prayer. As for what some people do when the call is made, bringing out the suhur, this never agrees with the hadith or with the text of the verse. Or some people answer with a hadith that came from his pocket and not from his bag. He brought it from his pocket, saying that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to hide behind his camel so that he would not see the dawn rising. Everyone hides behind a wall and eats as he pleases,

The presenter : Correct?

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed. May Allah guide you. This hadith came regarding water. Yes.