Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2971
حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ أَبِي عُمَرَ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنْ مُجَالِدٍ، عَنِ الشَّعْبِيِّ، عَنْ عَدِيِّ بْنِ حَاتِمٍ، قَالَ سَأَلْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَنِ الصَّوْمِ فَقَالَ : ( حَتََّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الْخَيْطِ الأَسْوَدِ ) قَالَ فَأَخَذْتُ عِقَالَيْنِ أَحَدُهُمَا أَبْيَضُ وَالآخَرُ أَسْوَدُ فَجَعَلْتُ أَنْظُرُ إِلَيْهِمَا فَقَالَ لِي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم شَيْئًا لَمْ يَحْفَظْهُ سُفْيَانُ قَالَ " إِنَّمَا هُوَ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Adi ibn Hatim reported: ‘I asked the Messenger of Allah about fasting. He recited, “Until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread” (Qur’an 2:187). I took two cords, one white and the other black, and looked at them. The Messenger of Allah said something to me that Sufyan did not retain, then said, “It is only the night and the day.”’ Abu ‘Isa graded this hadith hasan sahih.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
This is another version of the clarification in the preceding report. ‘The night and the day’ explains the verse’s metaphor; the source explicitly notes that Sufyan did not retain the intervening words.