Bukhari

Hadith Commentary:
(1)
The purpose of the chapter heading is to establish the legitimacy of the first call to prayer (adhan) at dawn, as is the position of the majority of scholars. However, is it necessary to give a second adhan after this, or is it sufficient to rely on the first adhan? Regarding this, the position of Imam Malik, Imam Shafi’i, and Imam Ahmad rahimahumullah is that it is permissible to suffice with the first adhan. Meanwhile, the hadith scholar Ibn Khuzaymah, Imam Ibn al-Mundhir, and some other scholars state that the first adhan is not sufficient for the Fajr prayer; rather, it is necessary to give a second adhan for it. Thus, the reason Imam Bukhari rahimahullah brings the hadith of Abdullah ibn Umar and Aisha radi Allahu anhum after the narration from Abdullah ibn Mas’ud radi Allahu anhu appears to be to show that the first adhan is not sufficient.

Some have claimed that the words of the pre-dawn adhan were not like those of the general adhan, but this claim is without evidence. In fact, in the hadiths, it is also referred to as “adhan.” Furthermore, if its wording had been different from the second adhan, there would have been no need to clarify that Bilal radi Allahu anhu gives the adhan at night, and thus, his adhan does not make eating and drinking unlawful for the fasting person. The very need for this clarification arose because, in terms of wording, both adhans were the same.

(Fath al-Bari: 2/137)

(2)
Among us, the common practice regarding the first adhan is to call it the “tahajjud adhan,” and then it is given at least an hour before the Fajr adhan. However, this adhan is certainly not for tahajjud, but rather it is given to prompt those praying tahajjud to return home so they may rest, and if they intend to fast, to partake in the pre-dawn meal (suhoor), etc.

Its second purpose is stated to be to awaken those who are sleeping so that they may get up, relieve themselves of their necessities, and prepare for the Fajr prayer.

For this purpose, fifteen to twenty minutes are sufficient, because the hadiths clarify that the time between the two adhans was only such that after finishing the first adhan, one would be descending while the other was ascending to give the second adhan.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, al-Sawm, Hadith: 1919)

This clarification is also present in a hadith narrated from Ibn Umar radi Allahu anhuma.

(Sahih Muslim, al-Salat, Hadith: 2538(1092))

Although the words describing the short interval between the first and second adhan are somewhat hyperbolic, because the purposes of the first adhan mentioned in the hadiths determine the meaning of these words: that there should be at least enough time between the first and second adhan for a person praying tahajjud to return home and eat suhoor, and not so little time that the purpose of the adhan is lost.

In any case, the first adhan is not the tahajjud adhan, but rather the adhan for suhoor, and there should not be an interval of an hour or two between it and the second adhan.

Wallahu a‘lam.