ابن أبي الشيخ (report 2228; identity unresolved)

It was related to me from Muḥammad ibn al-Naẓar; he said: related to us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf; he said: related to us: Ibn Abī al-Shaykh; he said: related to us: my father; he said: related to us: Abū Sufyān al-Ḥimyarī; he said: related to me: the secretary of Ṭalḥa ibn Iyās, who said: I was with Ṭalḥa ibn Iyās in a mosque, and Abū Ḥanīfa was with us. The mosque’s caller to prayer rose to announce the commencement of prayer, but Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Sit down,” and he sat. He then rose, and he said: “Sit down,” and he sat, several times at the afternoon prayer. This was in Baghdad, and we heard no caller making either the call to prayer or the commencement announcement. He rose a fourth time, and he told him: “Sit down,” but he refused. Abū Ḥanīfa then performed the prayer and said to Ṭalḥa: “Bear witness that it is a voluntary prayer.” Ṭalḥa was in charge of the treasury in Baghdad.

The printed “fa-aqāma al-ṣalāta Abū Ḥanīfa” is read as Abū Ḥanīfa performing the prayer; the text does not explicitly state that he announced its commencement.