Holding Back of the Sun Until Adhan Was Called
Question I have heard lots of people saying, especially in India, that once Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), due to some of the Sahabah complaining about his voice or his pronunciation in adhan (call to prayer), asked the permission for someone else to call the adhan (of Fajr/early morning). After he called it,…
Question
Please let me now if there is any authentic source where this incident of the sun not rising because of Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) is mentioned.
Praise be to Allah.
There is no proof that the sun was held back for anyone
except the Prophet of Allah Yoosha‘ ibn Noon (peace be upon him). In fact
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stated that this did
not happen to anyone other than Yoosha‘ ibn Noon (peace be upon him). This
is seen in the hadeeth (narration) of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased
with him), according to which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) said: “One of the Prophets went out on a campaign… and he
approached a town at the time of ‘Asr (late afternoon) prayer, or close to
that time. He said to the sun: You are under the command of Allah and I am
under the command of Allah. O Allah, halt it for me for a while. So it was
halted for him until Allah granted him victory.”
Narrated by al-Bukhari (3124) and Muslim (1747).
In the version narrated by al-Imam Ahmad in al-Musnad (14/65)
it says:
“The sun was not held back for any person except Yoosha‘
(peace be upon him) on the day he was marching to Jerusalem.
Al-Shaykh al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
This indicates that the sun was not held back for anyone
except for Yoosha‘ (peace be upon him). This is indicative of the weakness
of the reports which suggest that happened for anyone else.
It is appropriate to quote what we have come across
concerning this …
Then the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned what
has been narrated about the same being held back for people other than
Yoosha‘ ibn Noon (peace be upon him) and explained what is wrong with these
reports. Then he said:
To sum up, there is no saheeh (authentic) report about the
sun being held back at all except this saheeh hadeeth. End quote.
Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah (no.202)
To conclude, we have not come across any basis for the story
about the sun being held back from rising until Bilaal (may Allah be pleased
with him) called the adhan, in any saheeh or da‘eef (weak) report, or even
in any fabricated (mawdoo‘) hadeeth that is known.
It is not permissible to speak of such things except on the
basis of sound proof and evidence. Otherwise it is speculation, and speaking
about Allah without knowledge.
And Allah knows best.
