Chapter 01 - The Times of Prayer

Chapter 1 Times of Prayer

163. Narrated 'Abdullah Ibn 'Amro The Messenger of Allah said, "The time of the Dhuhr prayer is when the sun passes the meridian and a man's shadow is the same length as his height. It lasts until the time of 'Asr (afternoon) prayer. The time of 'Asr prayer is until the yellowing of the sun (during it's setting). The time of the Maghrib prayer is the duration of the twilight. The time of the 'Isha prayer is up to the middle of the night{1}, and the time of the Fajr prayer is from the appearance of the dawn until the time of sunrise. " Related by Muslim.

{1} This is the chosen time or the preferable time for the 'Isha prayer, but it is permissible to pray it -for the one who missed it- until the time of the next prayer, i;e; the Fajr prayer in this case. The evidence for this is the Hadith reported on the authority of Abu Qatadah that the Prophet said "Missing prayer due to sleep is not an act of negligence, the real act of negligence occurs when one (is awake and) does not pray until the time of the next prayer is due." Part of a long Hadith related by Muslim.


164. Muslim transmitted on the authority of Buraidah -concerning the time of 'Asr (afternoon) prayer, "While the sun was white and clear."


165. Muslim transmitted on the autority of Abu Musa concerning the 'Asr (afternoon) prayer, "When the sun was high."



Note: Differences in numbers due too two different sources. This book can be downloaded here

166. Narrated Abu Barzah "The Messenger of Allah used to pray the 'Asr prayer at a time, after which a man could go to his dwelling in the outskirts of Madina (and arrive) while the sun was still hot and bright. The Prophet liked to delay the 'Isha prayer, and he disliked sleeping before it and talking after it. The Prophet used to leave (the mosque, or turn to those praying behind him) after Fajr prayer, when a man could recognize the person sitting behind him (i.e. because the morning light had broken), and he used to recite between 60 to 100 verses.' Agreed upon.



167. Al-Bukhari and Muslim transmitted on the authority of Jabir "Sometimes he would hasten {2} the 'Isha and sometimes he would delay it. He would hasten the 'Isha if he found people gathered (in the mosque), and if he noticed that they were lingering he would delay it. As for the Fajr prayer, the Prophet would pray it while it was still dark."


{2}I.e. pray it earlier, at the beginning of the time of 'Isha



168. Muslim transmitted on the authority of Abu Musa 'The Prophet ordered for the Iqamah (the call for the performance of the prayer) of the Fajr prayer to be pronounced, when the day broke and people could hardly recognize each other.'



169. Narrated Rafi' bin Khadij 'We prayed the Maghrib prayer with the Messenger of Allah , and one of us would leave (afterwards) and would still be able to see where he shot his arrow (because there was still light in the sky).

170. Narrated 'Aishah 'One night, Allah's Messenger delayed the 'Isha prayer, till a good part of the night had gone (almost one third), then he came out and prayed and said, " This would be the proper time for it {3} , if it was not too much of a hardship on my nation.{4}"Related by Muslim.

{3}This is the chosen time and the best for it.
{4}I.e. I would have delayed it until that time.




171. Narrated Abu Hurairah The Prophet said, "If the heat becomes extreme, delay the prayer (i.e. Dhuhr) until it becomes cool, as extreme heat is from the fragrance of Hell." Agreed upon.



172. Narrated Rafi' bin Khadij THe Prophet said, "Observe the morning prayer till daybreak (i.e. prolong the recital of Qur'an in prayer, so that you remain in prayer until daybreak), as your reward will be greater." Related by the five Imams.

173. Narrated Abu Hurairah The Prophet said, "Whoever catches one rak'ah of the Fajr prayer before sunrise, he has caught the Fajr prayer, and whoever catches one rak'ah of the 'Asr prayer before sunset he has caught the 'Asr prayer." Agreed upon.



174. Muslim transmitted on the authority of 'Aishah a similar narration where the Prophet said, "One prostration" instead of rak'ah and then said, "a prostration means a rak'ah."



175. Narrated Abu Sa'id al-Khudri "I heard the Messenger of Allah say, "There is no prayer after the Fajr prayer until the sun rises and there is no prayer after the 'Asr prayer until the sun sets." Agreed upon. Muslim reported in his narration, "No prayer is to be performed after the Fajr prayer."

176. Narrated 'Uqbah bin 'Amr "There are three times during which the Prophet prohibited us from praying or burying our deceased: from sunrise until the sun has risen (a spear's length above the horizon), when the sun is at its meridian, and when the sun is setting until it has completely set." Related by Muslim.


177. Ash-Shafi'i transmitted the second case (prohibition of prayer when the sun is at its meridian), in a narration by Abu Hurairah, but through a weak chain of narrators. He added, 'with the exception of Friday'.


178. Abu Dawud transmitted a similar narration on the authority of Abu Qatadah.

179. Narrated Jubair bin Mut'im The Prophet said, "O tribe of 'Abd Manaf, do not prevent anyone from circumambulating this house (Ka'bah) or from praying therein at any time they wish." Related by the five Imams. At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Hibban graded it as Sahih.


180. Narrated Ibn 'Umar : The Prophet said, "The evening twilight is its redness (on the horizon)." Related by ad-Darqutni and declared authenticitty by Ibn Khuzaimah.

181. Narrated Ibn 'Abbas The Prophet said, " The dawn time, is in reality, two dawns (i.e. two times), one in which eating is Haram (unlawful){5} and prayer is permissible{6}, and the other is when prayer (i.e. the Fajr prayer) is Haram (prohibited) and eating is permissible." Related by Ibn Khuzaimah and al-Hakim and graded it as Sahih.

{5} I.e. for the person intending to fast, that he should stop eating.
{6}I.e. The time for praying Fajr is due.



182. Al-Hakim transmitted a similar narration on the authority of Jabir, and added that in which eating is prohibited, "It (the streaks of light of the true dawn) widely spreads on the horizon", and the other, "It is like the wolf's tail".{7}

{7} I.e. the light that spreads vertically up into the sky , and is followed by darkness, because it is not really the dawn light. between both dawns, there is almost an hour's time.


183. Narrated Ibn Mas'ud The Prophet said "The best of deeds, is to offer prayers at the beginning of their appointed times." Related by at-Tirmidhi and al-Hakim, who authenticated it.



184. Narrated Abu Mahdhurah The Prophet said, "Praying at the earliest time for prayer (after the Adhan) is the act, which pleases Allah, if you pray at the middle time you will be granted Allah's mercy, and if you pray at the latest time (just before the next prayer) Allah will grant you His forgiveness." Related by ad-Darqutni with an extremely weak chain of narrators.

185. At-Tirmidhi transmitted on the authority of 'Ibn 'Umar a similar narration, but without the middle time, and it is also a very weak Hadith.{8}

{8} As they are both narrted by Ya'qub bin al-Walid al-Madani, Imam Ahmad reported him to be one of the big liars in Hadith, and Ibn Hibban said that he used to fabricate Hadith.


186. Narrated 'Ibn Umar The Messenger of Allah said, "No prayer is to be said after (the beginning of)Fajr (time), except two prostrations (rak'at){9} Related by the five Imams. In the narration of 'Abdur-Razzaq,"No prayer is to be said after the true dawn has begun, except the two rak'at of al-Fajr prayer."

{9} The two rak'ah here refer to voluntary prayer to be prayed at dawn time, i.e. before the Fajr prayer.


187. Ad-Darqutni transmitted a similar narration on the authority of 'Amro bin al-As .


188. Narrated Umm Salamah "The Messenger of Allah prayed the 'Asr prayer, and then came into my house, and prayed two rak'at. Thereupon, I asked him (about what he had just prayed), and he replied, "I was busy (doing something)to pray the two rak'at after Dhuhr (until it was 'Asr time) so I prayed them now." Then I aksed him, "Shall we observe them if we missed them (at their due time)? He replied, "No." Related by Ahmad.


189. Abu Dawud transmitted on the authority of 'Aishah a narration to the same effect.