Is the end of the night and the beginning of the day a legitimate matter of scholarly disagreement in the Hanbali school of thought, and what is the most preponderant opinion concerning them, along with its evidence?

Scholars have differed on determining the beginning and end of night, with two main opinions:

The first opinion: Night extends from sunset to sunrise. This is the view of astronomers and mathematicians, and it was adopted by Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and those Hanbalis who followed him. They considered it to be necessitated by the division of time into night and day.

The second opinion: Night extends from sunset to the true dawn (al-fajr al-sadiq). This is the view of the Maliki school and the apparent view of the Shafi'i school. It was chosen by Ibn 'Uthaymeen, the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta', and Al-Fawzan. Their evidence for this is that Islamic law has made the true dawn the end of night and the beginning of day. They cited the hadith of Bilal and Ibn Umm Maktoum, the hadith about the approach of night, and the verse regarding Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree): (Peace it is until the emergence of dawn).

The second opinion is the more preponderant due to the clarity of its evidence.