Chapter One: The Times of Prayer

باب اوقات الصلوة

[reading uncertain]

كتاب الصلوة — The Book of Prayer

This is the book of the rulings of prayer [ṣalāh].

قال اللّٰه تعالٰى : اِنَّ الصَّلٰوةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ كِتٰبًا مَّوْقُوْتًا ـ

(al-Nisāʾ 4:103)

Translation: The statement of Allah the Exalted is: "Without doubt, prayer is (such) an obligation upon the people of faith (for which) a time has been fixed." (That is, its performance on time is necessary.)

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : وَاَقِمِ الصَّلٰوةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ ؕ اِنَّ الْحَسَنٰتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّاٰتِ ـ

(Hūd 11:114)

Translation: And this too is the statement of Allah the Exalted: "(O you who are addressed!) Perform the prayer properly at the two ends of the day and in portions of the night. Without doubt, good deeds take away (carry off) evil deeds."

وقال اللّٰه تعالٰى : اَقِمِ الصَّلٰوةَ لِدُلُوْكِ الشَّمْسِ اِلٰى غَسَقِ اللَّيْلِ وَقُرْاٰنَ الْفَجْرِ ؕ اِنَّ قُرْاٰنَ الْفَجْرِ كَانَ مَشْهُوْدًا ـ

(Banī Isrāʾīl [al-Isrāʾ] 17:78)

Translation: The command of Allah the Exalted is also thus: "(O you who are addressed!) Keep to the prayer from the declining of the sun until the darkness of the night, and keep (also) to the Qurʾān of the dawn (that in the dawn prayer a portion of the Qurʾān be recited regularly). There is no doubt that the Qurʾān-recitation of the dawn is mashhūd [witnessed]" (i.e., it is attended: at that time the angels of both the day and the night are present; or the heart and mind are present, so that whatever is recited can be fully reflected and pondered upon; or that at that time the angels who bear witness are present, and they will bear witness to your recitation of the Qurʾān).

وقال اللّٰه تعالٰى : فَاصْبِرْ عَلٰى مَا يَقُوْلُوْنَ وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ قَبْلَ طُلُوْعِ الشَّمْسِ وَقَبْلَ غُرُوْبِهَا ۚ وَمِنْ اٰنَآئِ الَّيْلِ فَسَبِّحْ وَاَطْرَافَ النَّهَارِ لَعَلَّكَ تَرْضٰى ـ

(Ṭā Hā 20:130) [reading uncertain]

Translation: And Allah the Exalted has also said thus: "Be patient over what they — the unbelievers — say (O you who are addressed! whatever good and bad these unbelievers are saying, bear it), and before the rising of the sun and before its setting declare the praise and the purity of your Lord, so that perhaps you may be pleased" (that the utmost rank of riḍā [contentment] and taslīm [submission] may be attained by you).

عَنْ اَبِيْ مُوْسٰى عَنْ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ ﷺ اَتَاهُ سَائِلٌ يَسْئَلُهُ عَنْ مَوَاقِيْتِ الصَّلٰوةِ فَلَمْ يَرُدَّ عَلَيْهِ شَيْئًا قَالَ فَاَمَرَ بِلَالًا فَاَقَامَ الْفَجْرَ حِيْنَ انْشَقَّ الْفَجْرُ وَالنَّاسُ لَا يَكَادُ يَعْرِفُ بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا ـ ثُمَّ اَقَامَ بِالظُّهْرِ حِيْنَ زَالَتِ الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَائِلُ يَقُوْلُ قَدِ انْتَصَفَ النَّهَارُ وَهُوَ كَانَ اَعْلَمَ مِنْهُمْ ـ ثُمَّ اَمَرَهُ فَاَقَامَ بِالْعَصْرِ وَالشَّمْسُ مُرْتَفِعَةٌ ثُمَّ اَمَرَهُ فَاَقَامَ بِالْمَغْرِبِ حِيْنَ وَقَعَتِ الشَّمْسُ ثُمَّ اَمَرَهُ فَاَقَامَ بِالْعِشَاءِ حِيْنَ غَابَ الشَّفَقُ ثُمَّ اَخَّرَ الْفَجْرَ مِنَ الْغَدِ حَتّٰى انْصَرَفَ مِنْهَا وَالْقَائِلُ يَقُوْلُ قَدْ طَلَعَتِ الشَّمْسُ اَوْ كَادَتْ ـ ثُمَّ اَخَّرَ الظُّهْرَ حَتّٰى كَانَ قَرِيْبًا مِنْ وَقْتِ الْعَصْرِ بِالْاَمْسِ ثُمَّ اَخَّرَ الْعَصْرَ حَتّٰى انْصَرَفَ مِنْهَا وَالْقَائِلُ يَقُوْلُ قَدِ احْمَرَّتِ الشَّمْسُ ثُمَّ اَخَّرَ الْمَغْرِبَ حَتّٰى كَانَ عِنْدَ سُقُوْطِ الشَّفَقِ ثُمَّ اَخَّرَ الْعِشَاءَ حَتّٰى كَانَ ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ الْاَوَّلُ ثُمَّ اَصْبَحَ فَدَعَا السَّائِلَ فَقَالَ "اَلْوَقْتُ بَيْنَ هٰذَيْنِ" ـ

(Reported by Muslim.)

Vocabulary: mawāqīt — times (plural of mīqāt); lam yarudda ʿalayhi shayʾan — he gave him no reply; inshaqqa al-fajr — the dawn broke; zālat — [the sun] declined [past the meridian]; al-shamsu murtafiʿa — the sun was high; waqaʿat al-shams — the sun set; ghāba — disappeared.

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī [may Allah be pleased with him], and he narrates from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that a questioner came to him ﷺ to ask about the times of prayer. He ﷺ gave him no reply. (The narrator) said: He ﷺ commanded Bilāl, and he said the iqāma [the second call that announces the prayer is starting] of Fajr at the time when the dawn had broken and the people were not even close to recognising one another (i.e., it was still so dark that they could not properly recognise one another). Then, when the sun declined, he said the iqāma of Ẓuhr, and someone remarked that the day was exactly half over (it was midday), and he ﷺ knew more than these people (i.e., because it was exactly noon, it was not apparent to everyone that the sun had declined; but the Messenger of God ﷺ, knowing more than all of them, knew that the sun had declined from the meridian). Then, when the sun was (still well) high, he ﷺ commanded him (Bilāl [may Allah be pleased with him]), and he said the iqāma of ʿAṣr. Then, when the sun had set, he ﷺ commanded him, and he said the iqāma of Maghrib. Then the shafaq [the twilight] disappeared, and he ﷺ commanded him, and he said the iqāma of ʿIshāʾ. Then on the next day he delayed in Fajr (prayer) until, when he turned from that (prayer), someone remarked that the sun had just about risen (i.e., it had come very close to rising). Then he ﷺ delayed (also) in Ẓuhr until (its time)

had come close to the time of yesterday's ʿAṣr. Then he ﷺ delayed (also) in ʿAṣr until, when he turned from it, someone remarked that the sun had turned red. Then he ﷺ delayed (also) in Maghrib until (the time) was close to the shafaq setting. Then he ﷺ delayed (also) in ʿIshāʾ until the first third of the night had passed. Then, when morning came, he called the questioner (the one who had asked) at (that time), and then said, "The time is between these two times."

(Muslim has reported it.)

Friends! The time of Maghrib is from after sunset until the shafaq, i.e. the whiteness, disappears, and the time of ʿIshāʾ is from after the shafaq disappears until a third of the night. Up to this limit the Prophet [Ḥuḍūr ﷺ] delayed. But the ʿulamāʾ of the Aḥnāf [the Ḥanafī scholars] declared its time to last until before dawn breaks; however, after a third of the night a makrūh [disliked] time begins. Therefore the middle part of these times was deemed suitable for every prayer. On rainy days, however, delaying somewhat has been declared permissible — especially in Maghrib, so that the setting [of the sun] is fully taken into account. Ḥuḍūr ﷺ liked to pray the ʿIshāʾ prayer late, but out of consideration for people's hardship he would make some haste.

Ḥaḍrat Imām Shāfiʿī (may Allah have mercy on him) gave preference to praying four prayers — Fajr, Ẓuhr, ʿAṣr and ʿIshāʾ — at the beginning of their time. But Ḥaḍrat Imām Aʿẓam [Abū Ḥanīfa] (may Allah have mercy on him) considered it better to perform them with delay. The result of both is one. Since Ḥaḍrat Imām Aʿẓam (may Allah have mercy on him) considered delay appropriate, Ḥaḍrat Imām Shāfiʿī (may Allah have mercy on him), who came after him, therefore also kept in view that priority [of the first time] which Ḥuḍūr ﷺ had shown the questioner in the hadith above by performing the prayers on the first day. Is this, then, any disagreement at all?

وَعَنْ جَابِرٍ وَفِيْهِ : ثُمَّ اَذَّنَ لِلْمَغْرِبِ حِيْنَ غَرَبَتِ الشَّمْسُ فَاَخَّرَهَا رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ ﷺ حَتّٰى كَادَ يَغِيْبُ بَيَاضُ النَّهَارِ (وَهُوَ الشَّفَقُ) ـ رَوَاهُ الطَّبْرَانِيُّ فِي الْاَوْسَطِ قَالَ الْهَيْثَمِيُّ اِسْنَادُهُ حَسَنٌ

Vocabulary: ḥīna gharabat al-shams — when the sun set; fa-akhkharahā — so he delayed it; bayāḍ — whiteness, brightness.

Translation: And (it is narrated) from Ḥaḍrat Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him), and in this narration it is: "Then, when the sun had set, he gave the adhān [the call to prayer] for Maghrib; then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ delayed in this prayer until the whiteness of the day was about to disappear (and that is the shafaq)."

(Al-Ṭabarānī reported it in al-Awsaṭ. Al-Haythamī said that its chain of transmission [isnād] is ḥasan [good].)

وَعَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ ؓ عَنْ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ ﷺ قَالَ "اِنَّمَا اَجَلُكُمْ فِيْ اَجَلِ مَنْ خَلَا مِنَ الْاُمَمِ مَا بَيْنَ صَلٰوةِ الْعَصْرِ اِلٰى مَغْرِبِ الشَّمْسِ وَاِنَّمَا مَثَلُكُمْ وَمَثَلُ الْيَهُوْدِ وَالنَّصَارٰى كَرَجُلٍ اسْتَعْمَلَ عُمَّالًا فَقَالَ مَنْ يَعْمَلُ لِيْ اِلٰى نِصْفِ النَّهَارِ عَلٰى قِيْرَاطٍ قِيْرَاطٍ فَعَمِلَتِ الْيَهُوْدُ اِلٰى نِصْفِ النَّهَارِ عَلٰى قِيْرَاطٍ قِيْرَاطٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ مَنْ يَعْمَلُ لِيْ مِنْ نِصْفِ النَّهَارِ اِلٰى صَلَاةِ الْعَصْرِ عَلٰى قِيْرَاطٍ قِيْرَاطٍ فَعَمِلَتِ النَّصَارٰى مِنْ نِصْفِ النَّهَارِ اِلٰى صَلٰوةِ الْعَصْرِ عَلٰى قِيْرَاطٍ قِيْرَاطٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ مَنْ يَعْمَلُ لِيْ مِنْ صَلَاةِ الْعَصْرِ اِلٰى مَغْرِبِ الشَّمْسِ عَلٰى قِيْرَاطَيْنِ قِيْرَاطَيْنِ اَلَا! فَاَنْتُمُ الَّذِيْنَ يَعْمَلُوْنَ مِنْ صَلَاةِ الْعَصْرِ اِلٰى مَغْرِبِ الشَّمْسِ اَلَا لَكُمُ الْاَجْرُ مَرَّتَيْنِ فَغَضِبَتِ الْيَهُوْدُ وَالنَّصَارٰى فَقَالُوْا نَحْنُ اَكْثَرُ عَمَلًا وَّاَقَلُّ عَطَاءً قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى فَهَلْ ظَلَمْتُكُمْ مِنْ حَقِّكُمْ ؟ قَالُوْا لَا قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى فَاِنَّهُ فَضْلِيْ اُعْطِيْهِ مَنْ شِئْتُ" ـ

(Reported by al-Bukhārī; also in Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ.)

Vocabulary: ajal — term, time, period; qīrāṭ — there is disagreement over its exact value: in Makka the twenty-fourth part of a dīnār is called a qīrāṭ, and in ʿIrāq the twentieth part; aqallu ʿaṭāʾan — less in reward and bestowal; fa-hal ẓalamtukum — so did I wrong you?; faḍlī — my bounty, my kindness.

Translation: Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates from the Most Noble Messenger ﷺ. He ﷺ said: "(O Umma of Muḥammad!) Among the terms of the nations that passed before you, your term is (only) like the time between the ʿAṣr prayer and sunset. And the example of you and of the Jews and Christians is like a man who wished to have some labourers work, so he said: 'Who will work for me until midday (i.e., from morning until midday) for one qīrāṭ each?' So the Jews worked until midday for one qīrāṭ each. Then he said: 'Who will work for me from midday until the ʿAṣr prayer for one qīrāṭ each?' So the Christians worked from midday until the ʿAṣr prayer for one qīrāṭ each. Then he said: 'Who will work for me from the ʿAṣr prayer until sunset for two qīrāṭs each?' Take heed: you are the very people who are working from the ʿAṣr prayer until sunset. Listen! For you alone is the double wage. So the Jews and Christians became angry and said, 'We are more in work and less in pay' (i.e., why has it been done so?). Allah the Exalted said, 'Very well! Have I, then, wronged you and cut short anything of your due?' They (the Jews and Christians) said, 'No, You have not done that.' Allah the Exalted said, 'That is My bounty; I have given it to whom I willed.'"

(Al-Bukhārī has reported it, and it is also in Mishkāt.)

Friends! What is learned from this hadith? With a little reflection, the interval between the prayers of Fajr and Ẓuhr, Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr, and ʿAṣr and Maghrib can be gauged. The wage of those who work from Fajr to Ẓuhr is stated as one qīrāṭ, and by them the community of the Jews is meant. Likewise the wage of those who work from Ẓuhr to ʿAṣr is also stated as one qīrāṭ, and the community of the Christians is given as the likeness. For the Umma of Muḥammad, from ʿAṣr to Maghrib — (little time) of work and double recompense!

In every season the time of Fajr is from true dawn [ṣubḥ ṣādiq] until sunrise. Some ʿulamāʾ say that the time of the dawn prayer is the seventh part of the night, i.e. if the night is divided into seven parts, it will be its last part. From after sunrise until the sun's decline [zawāl] is a time in which there is no time for any obligatory [farḍ] prayer. As for the remaining four prayers, their time is such that the time of one prayer remains until the time of the following prayer begins. So after Fajr, i.e. from sunrise to midday, is a time of about six or seven hours, and this is the greatest interval; from Ẓuhr to ʿAṣr is an interval of more or less three or four hours. Then the least interval is from ʿAṣr to sunset, which is about one hour or an hour and a quarter.

عَنْ اُمِّ سَلَمَةَ رضی اللّٰه عنها قَالَتْ كَانَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ ﷺ اَشَدَّ تَعْجِيْلًا لِلظُّهْرِ مِنْكُمْ وَاَنْتُمْ اَشَدُّ تَعْجِيْلًا لِلْعَصْرِ مِنْهُ ـ

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)

Vocabulary: ashadd — severe, extremely intense; taʿjīl — haste, hurrying.

Translation: (It is narrated) from Ḥaḍrat Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her); she said that the Accepted Messenger ﷺ was much quicker than you in (the prayer of) Ẓuhr, and you (people) are much quicker than him in (the prayer of) ʿAṣr.

(Imām al-Tirmidhī has reported it.)

عَنْ رَافِعِ بْنِ خَدِيْجٍ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ ﷺ قَالَ "اِسْفِرُوْا بِصَلَاةِ الْفَجْرِ فَاِنَّ ذٰلِكَ اَعْظَمُ لِلْاَجْرِ اَوْ قَالَ لِاُجُوْرِكُمْ" ـ [reading uncertain]

(Reported by al-Ḥumaydī and the Authors of the Sunan, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Vocabulary: safara yasfiru sufūran — to come out, to travel, to reach the morning, to show the face, to appear; isfir — imperative, singular: "reach the morning [i.e., the light]"; isfirū — masculine plural imperative addressed to those present: "reach the morning [light]"; aw — or.

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Accepted Messenger ﷺ said: "Pray the dawn prayer after it has become light, for that (i.e., making it light) is greater in reward." Or he ﷺ said that it is greater for your rewards (the narrator has a doubt about this), i.e. whether he said aʿẓamu li-l-ajr (greater in reward) or aʿẓamu li-ujūrikum (greater for your rewards).

Friends! The caution with which the narrators of hadith have narrated the aḥādīth — its like in any other religion is impossible. Accordingly, in this hadith too, when the narrator had a doubt about the words spoken by Ḥuḍūr ﷺ, the narrator at once made his doubt known. Just as there are ḥāfiẓ of the Glorious Qurʾān [those who know it by heart] even today, in the same way in former times there used also to be ḥāfiẓ of hadith. And those who kept one lakh [one hundred thousand] or, at the least, ten thousand aḥādīth (together with their chains of narration) in memory used to be called "ḥāfiẓ". Some hadiths are called "qawlī" [verbal]; that is, the words which Ḥuḍūr ﷺ spoke with his blessed tongue, the narrators — the Companions present at the time — learned by heart, and those who heard them from them likewise memorised them. Those people had been granted a sharp power of memory. Indeed, in that age people used to keep thousands of verses of poetry in memory and recite them.

In connection with the aḥādīth our ʿulamāʾ established an independent discipline, "ʿilm al-rijāl" [the science of the narrators], and made such progress in this field that the world is astonished. With these scholars, the meaning of the term "kādhib" [one who narrates inaccurately; literally, "liar"] is that the narrator of the hadith could not retain the words that were spoken, but rather stated their meaning. Ignorant people, unacquainted with the meaning of these terms, by their crooked understanding make a failed attempt to pick faults in the text of the hadith, its narrators and the muḥaddithūn [the hadith scholars], and are beside themselves with pride. Al-ʿiyādhu billāh [refuge is with Allah].

عَنْ اَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ رضی اللّٰه عنه اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ ﷺ نَهٰى عَنِ الصَّلٰوةِ بَعْدَ الْعَصْرِ حَتّٰى تَغْرُبَ الشَّمْسُ وَعَنِ الصَّلَاةِ بَعْدَ الصُّبْحِ حَتّٰى تَطْلُعَ الشَّمْسُ ـ

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Vocabulary: nahā — he forbade; gharaba — [the sun] set; ṭalaʿa — came out, emerged.

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade praying after (the prayer of) ʿAṣr until the sun has set, and praying after the dawn prayer until the sun has risen.

(Both Ḥaḍrat Imām al-Bukhārī and Muslim have reported this hadith.)

Friends! After the Fajr prayer, nafl [voluntary] prayer or any other kind of prayer is forbidden — so much so that if someone is reciting the Glorious Qurʾān and in the course of it a verse of prostration [āyat al-sajda] comes in the recitation, he should defer the prostration of recitation [sajdat al-tilāwa] until the sun has risen and appeared. Likewise, after the ʿAṣr prayer too, every kind of prayer and the prostration of recitation is forbidden until sunset. Those who recite between ʿAṣr and Maghrib also perform the prostration of recitation after the Maghrib prayer or the ʿIshāʾ prayer. This very way is mustaḥsan [commendable].

عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ عَبَسَةَ رضی اللّٰه عنه قَالَ قُلْتُ يَا نَبِيَّ اللّٰهِ ! اَخْبِرْنِيْ عَنِ الصَّلَاةِ قَالَ صَلِّ صَلَاةَ الصُّبْحِ ثُمَّ اَقْصِرْ عَنِ الصَّلَاةِ حَتّٰى تَطْلُعَ الشَّمْسُ وَتَرْتَفِعَ فَاِنَّهَا تَطْلُعُ بَيْنَ قَرْنَيِ الشَّيْطَانِ وَحِيْنَئِذٍ يَسْجُدُ لَهَا الْكُفَّارُ ثُمَّ صَلِّ فَاِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ مَشْهُوْدَةٌ مَحْضُوْرَةٌ حَتّٰى يَسْتَقِلَّ الظِّلُّ بِالرُّمْحِ ثُمَّ اَقْصِرْ عَنِ

الصَّلٰوةِ فَاِنَّ حِيْنَئِذٍ تُسْجَرُ جَهَنَّمُ فَاِذَا اَقْبَلَ الْفَيْءُ فَصَلِّ فَاِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ مَشْهُوْدَةٌ مَحْضُوْرَةٌ حَتّٰى تُصَلِّيَ الْعَصْرَ ثُمَّ اَقْصِرْ عَنِ الصَّلَاةِ حَتّٰى تَغْرُبَ بَيْنَ قَرْنَيْ شَيْطَانٍ وَحِيْنَ تَسْجُدُ الْكُفَّارُ ـ

(Reported by Aḥmad, Muslim and others.)

Vocabulary: qaṣara yaqṣuru qaṣran — to stop, to lessen, to fall short; aqṣir — stop, hold back; qarn — horn; qarnay al-shayṭān — the two horns of Shayṭān; ḥīnaʾidhin — at that time, then; ẓill — shade; rumḥ — spear; sajara yasjuru — to blaze up, to be kindled; yastaqillu — becomes stable, stays fixed; fayʾ — the declining shade: the shade after the original shade, i.e. the shade that keeps increasing after the sun's zawāl [decline from the meridian], is called "fayʾ". Stable shade [sāya-yi mustaqill]: the measure of shade in any season below which the shade does not decrease in that season; the jurists [fuqahāʾ] call it "sāya-yi aṣlī" [the original shadow]. After sunrise, as the sun rises higher, the shadow of everything keeps decreasing, until, when the sun finishes its eastern journey and steps towards the west, the shadow begins to increase. The shadow that a thing has before this increase begins is that thing's "original shadow" or "stable shadow".

Translation: (It is narrated) from Ḥaḍrat ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasa (may Allah be pleased with him); he said: I said to the Noble Prophet ﷺ, "O Messenger of Allah! Inform me about prayer." He ﷺ said: "Pray the dawn prayer, then stop until the sun comes out and becomes high, because it (the sun) emerges between the two horns of Shayṭān, and at that time the unbelievers prostrate to it (the sun). Then pray, because the prayer is witnessed and attended (i.e., the angels and the place where the prayer was prayed, or the time in which the prayer was prayed, will bear witness, and the heart will remain present and attentive in the remembrance of Allah the Exalted) — until the shadow of a spear becomes stable (i.e., before it starts to increase after its last decrease: midday [niṣf al-nahār]). Then stop from prayer, because at that time Hell is fired up. Then when the 'shadow of zawāl' comes, pray, because the prayer is witnessed and attended — until you pray ʿAṣr. Then stop from prayer until it (the sun) sets between the horns of Shayṭān, and (that time passes) when the unbelievers prostrate."

(Imām Aḥmad, Imām Muslim and others have reported it.)

تَتِمَّةُ اَوْقَاتِ الصَّلٰوةِ — Supplement to the Times of Prayer

The supplement, or remaining part, of [the section on] the times of prayer.

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ رضی اللّٰه عنه قَالَ كَانَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ ﷺ يُصَلِّي الصَّلَاةَ لِوَقْتِهَا اِلَّا بِجَمْعٍ وَعَرَفَاتٍ ـ

(Reported by al-Nasāʾī, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh (may Allah be pleased with him); he said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to pray each prayer at its time, except at Muzdalifa and ʿArafāt.

(Imām al-Nasāʾī has reported it, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

At ʿArafāt, on the Day of Ḥajj, the 9th of Dhu'l-Ḥijja, praying Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr joined together is among the requirements of Ḥajj. Likewise, if one has to stay at ʿArafāt until Maghrib or even after it, one should not pray the Maghrib prayer there; rather, on reaching Muzdalifa one should pray Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ with a single adhān and iqāma. That is, first the farḍ of Maghrib is performed, and after turning the salām [the closing greeting of the prayer], at that same time the farḍ of ʿIshāʾ too is to be performed with that same congregation.

وَعَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ رضی اللّٰه عنه فِيْ حَدِيْثِ حَجَّةِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ ثُمَّ اَذَّنَ ثُمَّ اَقَامَ فَصَلَّى الظُّهْرَ ثُمَّ اَقَامَ وَلَمْ يُصَلِّ بَيْنَهُمَا شَيْئًا ـ [reading uncertain]

(Reported by Muslim.)

Translation: And in the hadith narrated from Ḥaḍrat Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh (may Allah be pleased with him) about the Ḥajj of the Most Noble Prophet ﷺ, it is that then he gave the adhān, then said the iqāma, then prayed, and between the two (prayers) he prayed nothing (i.e., prayed no prayer).

(Imām Muslim has reported this hadith.)

عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمٰنِ بْنِ يَزِيْدَ قَالَ حَجَّ عَبْدُ اللّٰهِ رضی اللّٰه عنه فَاَتَيْنَا الْمُزْدَلِفَةَ حِيْنَ الْاَذَانِ بِالْعَتَمَةِ اَوْ قَرِيْبًا مِنْ ذٰلِكَ فَاَمَرَ رَجُلًا فَاَذَّنَ وَاَقَامَ ثُمَّ صَلَّى الْمَغْرِبَ وَصَلّٰى بَعْدَهَا رَكْعَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ دَعَا بِعَشَائِهِ فَتَعَشّٰى ثُمَّ اَمَرَ (اَرٰى) رَجُلًا فَاَذَّنَ وَاَقَامَ (قَالَ عَمْرٌو لَا اَعْلَمُ الشَّكَّ اِلَّا مِنْ زُهَيْرٍ) ثُمَّ صَلَّى الْعِشَاءَ رَكْعَتَيْنِ فَلَمَّا طَلَعَ الْفَجْرُ قَالَ اِنَّ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ كَانَ لَا يُصَلِّيْ هٰذِهِ السَّاعَةَ اِلَّا هٰذِهِ الصَّلَاةَ فِيْ هٰذَا الْمَكَانِ مِنْ هٰذَا الْيَوْمِ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللّٰهِ هُمَا صَلَاتَانِ تُحَوَّلَانِ عَنْ وَقْتِهِمَا صَلَاةُ الْمَغْرِبِ بَعْدَ مَا اَتَى النَّاسُ الْمُزْدَلِفَةَ وَالْفَجْرِ حَتّٰى يَبْزُغَ الْفَجْرُ قَالَ رَاَيْتُ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ يَفْعَلُهُ ـ

(Reported by al-Bukhārī.)

Vocabulary: atā — came; ḥīna — during, in the course of; ʿatama — the ʿIshāʾ prayer, the time when the shafaq sets, the first third of the night; ʿashāʾ — the night meal; tuḥawwal — is moved away; bazagha — rose, became bright.

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd; he said that ʿAbdullāh (may Allah be pleased with him) performed Ḥajj, and we came to Muzdalifa at the time of the adhān of ʿIshāʾ, or somewhat near it. Then he (ʿAbdullāh) commanded a man, and he gave the adhān and said the iqāma. Then he prayed the Maghrib prayer, and after it prayed two rakʿas (sunna). Then he sent for the night meal and ate. Then he commanded (the narrator said: I think) some man. Then he

gave the adhān and said the iqāma. (ʿAmr said: I know this much, that the doubt is Zuhayr's, who is one of the narrators in the chain [sanad] of this hadith.) Then he prayed the two rakʿas of ʿIshāʾ. Then, when dawn broke, he said that the Prophet ﷺ did not use to pray at this time, except the prayer at this very place and on this very day. ʿAbdullāh said: these two are prayers that are moved from their time — the Maghrib prayer, after the people come to Muzdalifa, and the dawn prayer, until it has become quite light. He said that he saw the Prophet ﷺ doing just this.

(Imām al-Bukhārī (may Allah have mercy on him) has reported it.)

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا قَالَتْ كَانَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ ﷺ فِي السَّفَرِ يُؤَخِّرُ الظُّهْرَ وَيُقَدِّمُ الْعَصْرَ وَيُؤَخِّرُ الْمَغْرِبَ وَيُقَدِّمُ الْعِشَاءَ ـ

(Reported by al-Ṭaḥāwī, Aḥmad and al-Ḥākim, and its chain is ḥasan.)

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, on a journey, would delay in praying the Ẓuhr prayer and pray ʿAṣr early (in its time), and would delay in Maghrib and bring ʿIshāʾ forward (early in its time).

(Al-Ṭaḥāwī, Imām Aḥmad and al-Ḥākim have reported this hadith.)

وَعَنْ نَافِعٍ وَعَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ وَاقِدٍ اَنَّ مُؤَذِّنَ ابْنِ عُمَرَ قَالَ اَلصَّلَاةَ قَالَ سِرْ سِرْ حَتّٰى اِذَا كَانَ قَبْلَ غُيُوْبِ الشَّفَقِ نَزَلَ فَصَلَّى الْمَغْرِبَ ثُمَّ انْتَظَرَ حَتّٰى غَابَ الشَّفَقُ فَصَلَّى الْعِشَاءَ ثُمَّ قَالَ اِنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ ﷺ كَانَ اِذَا عَجِلَ بِهِ اَمْرٌ صَنَعَ مِثْلَ الَّذِيْ صَنَعْتُ فَسَارَ فِيْ ذٰلِكَ الْيَوْمِ وَاللَّيْلَةِ مَسِيْرَةَ ثَلَاثٍ ـ

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd and al-Dāraquṭnī, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Vocabulary: ghāba — disappeared; masīra — distance [of travel].

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Nāfiʿ and ʿAbdullāh ibn Wāqid that the muʾadhdhin [caller to prayer] of Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) called out "al-ṣalāh" (i.e., come to prayer). Then Ibn ʿUmar said, "Keep going, keep going" — until, before the shafaq disappeared (i.e., when some time still remained before it disappeared), he dismounted (from his mount) and then prayed the Maghrib prayer. Then he waited until the shafaq had disappeared, then prayed ʿIshāʾ. Then he said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had some matter to be done in haste, he would do just as I have done. Then in one night and day he covered a journey of three days.

(Abū Dāwūd and al-Dāraquṭnī have reported it, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)