Ibn Hibban

Lady Anisah bint Khabib (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When Ibn Umm Maktum gives the call to prayer (adhan), you may continue eating and drinking, but when Bilal gives the call to prayer, then do not eat or drink anything." She narrates: Sometimes, if any woman among us had something left from her pre-dawn meal (suhoor), she would say to Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), "Wait a little, so that I may finish my suhoor first." (Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:): These two narrations may confuse a person who does not have expertise in the science of hadith, and he may think that these two are contradictory, whereas this is not the case. This is because the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) used to alternate the duty of giving the adhan before true dawn (subh sadiq) between Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Ibn Umm Maktum (may Allah be pleased with him). On certain nights, Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) would give the adhan before true dawn so that the sleeping person would wake up and the one praying voluntary prayers would return (to eat suhoor). He would not give the adhan for the Fajr prayer. On those nights, Sayyiduna Ibn Umm Maktum (may Allah be pleased with him) would give the adhan for the morning prayer after the true dawn had occurred. And when it was Sayyiduna Ibn Umm Maktum's (may Allah be pleased with him) turn, he would sometimes give the adhan before true dawn, as we have mentioned earlier, and on those nights, Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) would give the adhan for the morning prayer after the true dawn had occurred. In this way, there remains no contradiction or difference between these two narrations.