"When we were with the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) on a journey, and we said: Has the sun passed its zenith or not, he would pray ẓuhr and then depart." It was recorded by Imām Aḥmad (3/113): Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to us, Misḥāj al-Ḍabbī said: I heard Anas ibn Mālik saying: and he mentioned it. I said: This is an authentic isnād, a thulāthī [chain of narration with three narrators] from the thulāthiyyāt of Aḥmad, may Allāh have mercy on him, and it was also recorded by Abū Dāwūd through the route of Musaddad: Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated it to us with it. I have included it in "Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd" under number (1087) years ago, then I came across a statement by Ibn Ḥibbān explicitly rejecting the ḥadīth, so I saw it necessary to investigate it, so I say: Ibn Ḥibbān said in the biography of Misḥāj ibn Mūsá al-Ḍabbī from his book "al-Ḍuʿafāʾ" (3/32): "He narrated one rejected ḥadīth about performing the ẓuhr prayer before its time for the traveler - it is not permissible to use it as evidence"! Then he said: "I heard Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn: I heard al-Ḥasan ibn ʿĪsá: I said to Ibn al-Mubārak: Abū Nuʿaym narrated to us a good ḥadīth. He said: What is it? I said: Abū Nuʿaym narrated to us from Misḥāj... (and he mentioned the ḥadīth), so Ibn al-Mubārak said: And what is good about this ḥadīth?! Am I to say: the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) prayed before the zenith and before its time?!" I said: If this is authentic from Ibn al-Mubārak, it is astonishing from such an imām, for the ḥadīth does not report that the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) prayed before the zenith... Rather, it mentions that the Companions or some of them, when the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) prayed ẓuhr, would be uncertain whether the sun had passed its zenith or not, and this is only an indication from Anas that he (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) would pray it at the beginning of its time after confirmation