Narrated `Adi bin Hatim:
When the above verses were revealed: 'Until the white thread appears to you, distinct from the black thread,' I took two (hair) strings, one black and the other white, and kept them under my pillow and went on looking at them throughout the night but could not make anything out of it. So, the next morning I went to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and told him the whole story. He explained to me, "That verse means the darkness of the night and the whiteness of the dawn."
Reference | : Sahih al-Bukhari 1916 |
In-book reference | : Book 30, Hadith 26 |
USC-MSA web (English) reference | : Vol. 3, Book 31, Hadith 140 |
(deprecated numbering scheme) |