The status of prayer and the one who abandons it

This first part of the general principles on prayer covers the establishment of its obligation, the status of the one who abandons it, and then the legal times of the five prayers, one by one. The positions of the four schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali) are reported with their Quranic and prophetic proofs, their takhrij and their classical references. The order follows the encyclopedia: foundations of the obligation, the case of abandoning prayer, then the beginning and end of each prayer's time and its preferred time.

The Establishment of the Obligation of Prayer

In the linguistic sense, it is said: what is meant is the legal prayer with bowing and prostration, that is, occupying oneself with prayer to obtain its reward and so that the inhabitants of the place and those present be blessed (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 9/236).

In the technical sense, the majority of scholars (al-jumhur) defined it as words and acts that begin with the takbir and end with the salam, with specific conditions (Mawahib al-Jalil, 1/377; Nihayat al-Muhtaj, 1/359; Mughni al-Muhtaj, 1/120; Kifayat al-Akhyar, 190; Kashshaf al-Qina', 1/221; Al-Rawd al-Murbi', 1/118). The Hanafis, for their part, made it the name of those known acts: standing, bowing and prostrating (Al-Bahr al-Ra'iq, 1/256; Fath al-Qadir, 1/191; Al-Durr al-Mukhtar, 1/351).

Thus, whenever the Law contains a command to pray or a ruling attached to prayer, this refers by its apparent meaning to the legal prayer and not to the linguistic sense (Al-Mughni, 1/462). The obligation of prayer is established by the Book, the Sunnah, consensus and reason.

As for the Book, Allah says in many places of the Quran:

"And establish prayer"

Surah al-Baqarah, 110

His words, "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times," mean an obligation bound to fixed hours.

"Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times"

Surah an-Nisa, 103

And His words:

"Guard the prayers and the middle prayer"

Surah al-Baqarah, 238

Al-Kasani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the absolute name "prayer" refers to the habitual prayers, those performed every day and night.

And His words:

"And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and at the approaches of the night"

Surah Hud, 114

This verse gathers the five prayers: the dawn prayer is performed in one of the two ends of the day, and the Zuhr and Asr prayers in the other end. The day is two halves: the forenoon (ghadah), which runs from the beginning of the day until the meridian, after which comes the evening ('ashiyy). It is reported that whoever swears not to eat the evening meal and eats after midday has broken his oath: three prayers therefore fall within the two ends of the day. And His words "at the approaches of the night" include Maghrib and Isha, for they are performed in the early hours of the night.

And His words:

"Establish prayer at the decline of the sun until the darkness of the night and the recitation of dawn"

Surah al-Isra, 78

It is said: the decline of the sun (duluk) is its meridian passage (zawal), and the darkness of the night is its first darkening, so the Zuhr and Asr prayers fall within it. "The recitation of dawn" is the dawn prayer: the obligation of three prayers is thus established by this verse, and that of Maghrib and Isha by another proof.

It is also said: the decline of the sun is its setting, so the Maghrib and Isha prayers fall within it; the dawn prayer enters into "the recitation of dawn", and the obligation of the Zuhr and Asr prayers is established by another proof (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 1/302; Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/300).

Then comes the condemnation of those who neglect them:

"Then there succeeded them a generation who neglected prayer and followed desires; so they will meet perdition"

Surah Maryam, 59

And the punishment of the one who abandons them:

"Except the companions of the right (39), in gardens, questioning one another (40) about the criminals (41): What put you into Saqar? (42) They will say: We were not of those who prayed (43)"

Surah al-Muddaththir, 39-43

As for the Sunnah: Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Messenger of Allah said:

Islam is built upon five: the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger, establishing prayer, giving zakat, pilgrimage to the House, and fasting RamadanReported by al-Bukhari (8) and Muslim (16)

And the hadith of Abu Umama (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Messenger of Allah deliver a sermon at the Farewell Pilgrimage, and he said:

Fear Allah, your Lord; pray your five prayers, fast your month, pay the zakat of your wealth and obey those in authority among you, and you will enter the Paradise of your LordAuthentic hadith: reported by al-Tirmidhi (616), who said hasan sahih, and by Ahmad (5/251), al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (1/52, 547) and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (10/426)

Then the famous hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal when he was sent to Yemen:

Ibn Abbas reported that Mu'adh said: The Messenger of Allah sent me and said: You will come to a people of the People of the Book; call them to testify that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and that I am the messenger of Allah; if they obey you in that, inform them that Allah has obligated five prayers upon them each day and night; if they obey you in that, inform them that Allah has obligated upon them a charity taken from their rich and returned to their poor; if they obey you in that, beware of the best of their wealth; and fear the supplication of the wronged, for there is no veil between it and AllahReported by al-Bukhari (1331) and Muslim (19)

As for consensus: the ummah agreed on the obligation of the five prayers and on declaring a disbeliever whoever denies them. Al-Kasani said: the ummah agreed on the obligation of these prayers (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 1/302). Ibn Qudama said: the ummah agreed on the obligation of the five prayers day and night (Al-Mughni, 1/462). Ibn Hubayra said: they agreed that prayer is one of the five pillars of Islam, citing the words "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times" (Surah an-Nisa, 103), and they agreed that they are five (Al-Ifsah, 1/113).

As for reason, it establishes this obligation by several considerations:

• The five prayers were prescribed as gratitude for blessings, first among them the blessing of creation: the human essence was favored with the finest form and the best proportion, as in "He fashioned you and made excellent your forms" (Surah Ghafir, 64) and "Certainly We created man in the best proportion" (Surah at-Tin, 4), to the point that no one wishes to have been created otherwise.
• The blessing of sound limbs free of defects, by which a man manages his interests; Allah granted all this as pure favor, deserving nothing in return, so he was commanded to employ these blessings in the service of the Benefactor, for the gratitude of a blessing is employing it in the Benefactor's service. Prayer gathers the use of all the outward limbs (standing, bowing, prostrating, sitting, placing the hands properly, restraining the gaze) and the inner ones (the heart occupied with intention, fear and hope, presence of mind through glorification and exaltation), so that the act of every member becomes gratitude for what was granted.
• The blessing of supple joints and obedient limbs, which allow their use in the different states of prayer: standing, sitting, bowing, prostrating. Prayer embraces these states, and the gratitude of blessings is an obligation by reason and by Law.
• Prayer, like every act of worship, is service of the Lord; a slave's service to his master can only be an obligation, for a slave to volunteer toward his master is impossible. The norm ('azima) is occupying all times with worship as far as possible and without hardship; Allah, by His grace and generosity, allowed His slave to leave this service at certain times as a concession (rukhsa): had he taken the resolution, he could not have left it, for in taking the resolution he chooses the norm and abandons the concession, and the norm's ruling returns. The slave must therefore display the mark of servitude, against the one who disobeyed his Lord: standing before the Master on the knees, bending the back toward Him, pressing the face to the earth, kneeling, praising and extolling Him.
• Prayer restrains the worshiper from sins: when he stands before his Lord humbly, feeling his Lord's majesty and fearing his shortcomings in worship five times each day, this protects him from rushing into sins; and abstaining from disobedience is an obligation, as in "Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing" (Surah al-Ankabut, 45).
• Prayer was made an expiation for sins, faults, lapses and shortcomings: the slave, in the times of his night and day, is never free of sin, error, lapse or shortcoming in worship and in gratitude for blessings; Allah has granted him so many blessings and favors that he could not thank a single one of them, let alone all of them: he therefore needs an expiation, which is an obligation, and so the five prayers were prescribed, as in "Establish prayer at the two ends of the day... indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds" (Surah Hud, 114). Allah grants success (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 1/302, 304).

Imam Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni said: this book of prayer is a book of immense standing.

The Status of the One Who Abandons Prayer: the Denier

In the Law, no foundation of the legal obligations has branched out as much, and no pillar of religion has been studied with such refinement. The reason is that prayer is one of the greatest rites of Islam: people, in their diversity and their different classes, are constant in the duties of the prayers, diligent in observing their times, and seek what concerns them of conditions, pillars and descriptions. Hence its study never ceased through the ages, and the memory of its foundations was never erased from hearts (Ghayath al-Umam, 523).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the Muslims do not differ that deliberately abandoning the obligatory prayer is among the greatest sins and the gravest of major sins; its sin with Allah is greater than the sin of killing a soul and taking wealth, and greater than the sin of zina, theft and drinking wine; it exposes to the punishment of Allah, His wrath and His humiliation, in this world and the hereafter (As-Salah wa hukm tariha, 29).

The one who abandons prayer either abandons it while denying (juhud) its obligation, or out of laziness.

First: abandoning it while denying its obligation. The men of knowledge agreed that whoever upon whom prayer became obligatory, among those addressed by the Law, then refuses it while denying its obligation, not being newly converted to Islam, is an apostate who must be killed as an apostate.

Ibn Abd al-Barr said: the Muslims agreed that whoever denies the obligation of prayer is a disbeliever, killed if he does not repent of this disbelief (Al-Istidhkar, 2/149). Al-Mawardi said: if he abandons it while denying it, he is a disbeliever and the ruling of apostasy applies to him by consensus (Al-Hawi al-Kabir, 2/525). Ibn Hubayra said: they agreed on this ruling (Al-Ifsah, 1/79). Al-Shirazi said: whoever upon whom prayer became obligatory and who refrains from performing it, if he denies its obligation, is a disbeliever and must be killed as an apostate, for he has belied Allah the Most High in His report (Al-Muhadhdhab, 1/51).

Al-Nawawi said: if he abandons prayer while denying its obligation, or denies its obligation without ceasing to perform it in form, he is an apostate by the consensus of the Muslims, and the imam must kill him as an apostate unless he returns to Islam; all the rulings of apostates apply to him, whether this denier is a man or a woman; this is when he was raised among the Muslims. As for one newly converted to Islam, or raised in a remote desert where its obligation may be hidden from him, he is not a disbeliever by mere denial: we explain to him its obligation, and if he denies it after that, he is an apostate (Al-Majmu', 3/15).

Ibn Qudama said: the one who abandons prayer falls into one of two cases.

The One Who Abandons Prayer While Believing in Its Obligation

He abandons it either while denying its obligation or otherwise. If he denies it, he is examined: if he is ignorant of it, being among those who may be ignorant, like the recent convert or the one raised in the desert, its obligation is explained to him and he is taught it, and he is not ruled a disbeliever, for he is excused. If he is not among those who may be ignorant, like one raised among the Muslims in cities and villages, he is not excused: his claim of ignorance is not accepted and he is ruled a disbeliever, for the evidences of the obligation are manifest in the Book and the Sunnah, and the Muslims perform it constantly; he only denies it by belying Allah, His messenger and the consensus of the ummah. He becomes an apostate, with the ruling of the other apostates regarding the call to repentance and execution, and I know of no disagreement on this (Al-Mughni, 3/180).

Second: abandoning it while believing in its obligation. The jurists differed over the ruling on the one who abandons prayer while believing in its obligation: does he become a disbeliever and is killed as an apostate, or is he not a disbeliever but killed by the legal punishment (hadd), or is he neither a disbeliever nor killed but only imprisoned and beaten?

First view: that of the Hanbalis in the madhhab, the choice of Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn al-Qayyim and some Shafi'is. The one who abandons prayer out of laziness and negligence is called by the imam or his deputy to perform it, for he may have left it for an excuse he believes valid, such as illness; he is threatened in these terms: pray, or we kill you. If he refuses until the time of the next prayer narrows, he must be killed, and not before he is given three days to repent, like the other apostates. If he repents of abandoning prayer by performing it, he is freed; otherwise, he is killed by the sword for his disbelief like the apostate: he is neither washed nor shrouded nor buried among the Muslims, no one inherits from him and he inherits from no one.

This rests on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):

The covenant that stands between us and them is the prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelievedAuthentic hadith: reported by al-Tirmidhi (2621), Ibn Majah (1079) and Ahmad (22987)

And Jabir ibn Abdallah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say:

Between a man and shirk and disbelief stands the abandonment of prayerReported by Muslim (82)

Likewise the saying: "Do not abandon prayer deliberately; whoever abandons it deliberately leaves the religion," a weak hadith reported by Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi in Ta'zim qadr al-salat (920). Umar ibn al-Khattab said: "No share in Islam for the one who abandons prayer"; Ali said: "Whoever does not pray is a disbeliever"; Abdallah ibn Mas'ud said: "Whoever does not pray has no religion."

Since he is a disbeliever, no ransom is accepted from him and neither his family nor his children are enslaved, as with the other apostates. He is not killed before being called while in his state, and his abandonment must be publicized until he prays; he is not greeted nor is his invitation answered (Al-Mughni, 3/180, 184; Kashshaf al-Qina', 1/267, 269; Mutalib Uli al-Nuha, 1/282; Al-Majmu', 3/16).

Second view: that of the Hanafis and al-Muzani among the Shafi'is. The one who deliberately abandons prayer out of laziness is a defiant sinner (fasiq): he is imprisoned until he prays, for imprisonment concerns the right of the slave, and the right of a right is the most binding; he is beaten until blood flows, as an exaggeration in deterrence; he is not left alone, but his state is followed up with exhortation, deterrence and blows, until he prays or dies in prison. He is not a disbeliever for this, and this is his recompense in this world. In the hereafter, if he dies upon Islam, disobedient by abandoning it, he undergoes a long punishment in a valley of hell, the hottest and deepest, in which are wells into which pus and blood flow, prepared for the one who abandons prayer.

But if he belittled prayer negligently or uttered words indicating that, his ruling becomes that of the apostate: his false excuse is removed, he is imprisoned, then killed if he persists; this is the same ruling as for the one who abandons the fast of Ramadan (Al-Durr al-Mukhtar, 1/352-353; Majma' al-Anhar, 1/218; Durrar al-Hukam, 1/219; Hashiyat al-Tahtawi, 373). Al-Quduri said: if he abandons prayer while believing in its obligation, he is imprisoned and punished until he prays.

Their proof is the saying of the Prophet: "It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of three cases: disbelief after faith, adultery after chastity, and killing a soul without right." They then answer: a fourth case cannot be added by another hadith, as the prohibition of killing every fanged beast was added to "unless it dies a natural death", for combining is only valid when nothing of the first report drops; otherwise the words "except in one of three cases" would be void and the ruling would concern one of four cases.

It cannot be said either that the Prophet made the killing of a Muslim obligatory for a disbelief coexisting with Islam, which occurs only in abandoning prayer: this does not require their combination. Abandoning prayer is the omission of a legal act of worship, like hajj, fasting and zakat, and does not carry killing; nor does it require the like of zina, which is not an omission of worship. Prayer is a worship that has a time during which performing it is disliked, like hajj; a worship that transfers, like fasting; or a worship with times of prohibition and permission; or one upon which corruption may occur; or one that is performed and made up, like hajj; and faith is not indispensable to it, for he can be made to perform wudu and compelled to stand, bow and prostrate behind an imam, without needing recitation. Nor can he be killed for the first missed prayer, for its time has passed without narrowing, nor for the second, for it has not left its time. And if you beat him, that does not oblige us to the same: with us, the one resolved to abandon prayer is beaten for his very resolution (Al-Tajrid al-Daruri, 2/1024 ff.).

Third view: that of the Malikis, the Shafi'is and some Hanbalis, such as Abu Abdallah Ibn Battah and Ibn Qudama. The one who abandons prayer out of laziness and negligence is given the call to repentance: if he repents, otherwise he is killed by the legal punishment (hadd) and not as an apostate. He is washed, prayed over and buried in the graveyards of the Muslims, and his heirs inherit from him, for he is not killed for disbelief: he affirms what Muhammad brought of monotheism, the laws and the religion of Islam, affirms the obligation of prayer and fasting, but refuses to perform them while affirming their obligation and believing in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers and the resurrection after death.

Ibn Abd al-Barr said: among the proofs of those who follow this madhhab is the act of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq with the gathering of the Companions, who returned to his word when Umar asked him: how shall we fight people when the Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever says: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, is safe from me regarding his blood and wealth, except by its right, and his reckoning is with Allah"? Abu Bakr replied: by Allah, I will fight whoever separates prayer and zakat. Umar said: I then knew that Allah had opened his heart to the truth.

Abu Bakr therefore fought with the Companions those who withheld zakat when they refused to pay it, for they had separated prayer and zakat: they prayed but refused zakat; whoever refuses to perform prayer and withholds it is all the more worthy of being killed. Now those people, among the seceders, had not disbelieved after their faith nor associated anything with Allah: they said to Abu Bakr, we did not disbelieve after our faith, but we were miserly with our wealth, as the verse of their poet shows: "We obeyed the messenger of Allah while he was among us... Strange then the state of the kingdom of Abu Bakr... What they asked of you and we withheld is like dates, or dearer to them than dates."

As for the inheritance of their heirs: when Umar ibn al-Khattab assumed the caliphate, he returned to these people whatever of their wealth remained in people's hands, whereas Abu Bakr had enslaved them like the other seceders. The scholars of siyar said: Umar sent to the women the Muslims had captured among the wives of those who withheld zakat, and gave them the choice of staying with their husbands in marriage with a dowry, or returning to their families for ransom; they chose to stay with their husbands in marriage with a dowry. The dowry set for the one who chose her family was ten awqiya for each woman, the awqiya being forty dirhams.

Among the proofs of Malik and al-Shafi'i in this too is the hadith of Umm Salama from the Prophet: "You will have leaders whose deeds you will approve in part and disapprove in part; whoever disapproves is absolved, whoever objects is safe, but whoever approves and follows. They said: Messenger of Allah, shall we not fight them? He said: No, as long as they pray the five prayers." This shows they are neither fought nor killed as long as they pray the five, and hence that whoever does not pray them is fought and killed.

And his words about Malik ibn al-Dukhshum: "Does he not pray? They said: yes, but he has no prayer. He said: those are the ones Allah forbade me to kill"; this shows that were he not to pray, he would not be among those Allah forbade to kill, but among those Allah commands to kill. And he said: "I have been forbidden to kill those who pray"; he was therefore commanded to kill whoever does not pray, as he was forbidden to kill whoever prays, and nothing prevents the execution except the performance of prayer. And Allah knows best.

They said: all of this proves the execution, not the disbelief. They interpreted the reports whose apparent meaning declares the abandoner of prayer a disbeliever as they interpreted the believer's zina, his theft, his drinking of wine, his robbing of people's goods, the contempt of parents, the fighting of some against others, the judging by other than what Allah revealed, and their like. Ibn Uyayna reported from Hisham ibn Hujr, from Tawus, from Ibn Abbas that he said: "It is not the disbelief you think; it is not a disbelief that removes one from the religion," then he recited "Those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down, it is they who are the disbelievers" (Surah al-Ma'idah, 44). For all this they made the heirs of the one who abandons prayer inherit when he is killed (Al-Istidhkar, 2/151, 153).

Al-Mawardi said: the abandoner of prayer is of two kinds. The first: abandoning it while denying its obligation, in which case he is a disbeliever and the ruling of apostasy applies to him by consensus. The second: abandoning it while believing in its obligation. He is then asked: why do you not pray? If he answers, I am ill, he is told: pray as you can, standing, sitting or lying down, for prayer does not fall from one of sound intellect; if he says, I am not ill but I forgot it, he is told: pray it now, you remembered it; if he says, I will not pray it out of laziness nor perform it negligently, he is the abandoner without excuse, and the call to repentance must be made to him. If he repents and agrees to perform it, he is left; if he says, I will perform it in my house, he is taken at his word; if he does not repent and persists in his refusal, the people differ over him in three madhhabs.

The first, the madhhab of al-Shafi'i and Malik: his blood is lawful and his execution obligatory, without his becoming a disbeliever for it. The second, the madhhab of Abu Hanifa and al-Muzani: his blood is protected, he is not killed, but he is beaten at the time of every obligatory prayer by way of discipline and deterrent punishment. The third, the madhhab of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh: he is a disbeliever like the denier, and the rulings of apostasy apply to him.

Abu Hanifa and his supporters argued for the protection of his blood from the saying of the Prophet: "I have been commanded to fight the people until they say: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah alone; when they say it, their blood and wealth are protected from me, except by its right, and their reckoning is with Allah"; this man has said it, so his blood must be protected. There is also what Uthman ibn Affan reported: "It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of three cases: disbelief after faith, adultery after chastity, and killing a soul without right"; this man has done none of the three, so his blood must be protected. And because prayer is a worship that is performed and made up, one must not be killed for abandoning it, like fasting; and because it is a legal worship, like all worships, one does not incur death for leaving it.

The proof of the party that mandates execution is the word of Allah: "Kill the polytheists wherever you find them, seize them, besiege them and lie in wait for them at every watchtower; then, if they repent, establish prayer and give zakat, let them go their way" (Surah at-Tawbah, 5). He commanded their killing, then exempted whoever combined two conditions: repentance and the establishment of prayer; it is thus known that for whoever brings only one of them, the command to kill remains. It is reported from the Prophet: "Indeed, I have been forbidden to kill those who pray"; as the performance of prayer protects his blood, its abandonment causes it to be shed. And because it is one of the pillars of Islam that cannot be substituted by proxy or wealth, one is killed for abandoning it as for faith. Prayer and faith share the name and the meaning: prayer is called faith, as in "And Allah did not let your faith be lost" (Surah al-Baqarah, 143), meaning your prayers; and in meaning: whoever faith is required of, the performance of prayer is required of, and the forms of prayer occur only as obedience to Allah, like faith; so the two share the ruling.

Answers to the objections: to the first report it was answered, "except by its right," and prayer is of its right, as Abu Bakr said about those who withheld zakat. To the second and to his words, "It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of three cases, among them disbelief after faith": Allah made the blood lawful on account of the disbelief coexisting with Islam, and that occurs only in abandoning prayer, for he remains a Muslim and the rulings of disbelief apply to him regarding the shedding of his blood. To the analogy with fasting and the worships: the point is that the full performance of prayer is not possible (of itself), like faith. Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his supporters prove his disbelief by the report of Jabir from the Messenger of Allah: "Between disbelief and faith stands the abandonment of prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved"; and the proof of his Islam: the Law contains commands and prohibitions, and one is not a disbeliever for doing a forbidden thing while believing in its prohibition, just as one is not for leaving a commanded thing while believing in its obligation; and were he a disbeliever for abandoning it, he would be a Muslim for performing it.

To his words "whoever abandons it has disbelieved," there are two answers: he said it as deterrence, as in "No faith for the one who has no trust"; or he meant that his ruling is that of the disbeliever in the shedding of blood (Al-Hawi al-Kabir, 2/526-528; see Al-Muhadhdhab, 1/51; Al-Majmu', 3/14, 17). Ibn Qudama said: according to the second transmission, he is killed by the legal punishment while being judged a Muslim, like the married adulterer; this is the choice of Abu Abdallah Ibn Battah, who rejected the view of those who declare him a disbeliever and said the madhhab knows no disagreement on it; this is the view of most of the jurists, and the view of Abu Hanifa, Malik and al-Shafi'i.

It is reported from Hudhayfa: "A time will come upon the people in which nothing of Islam will remain with them but the words: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah. He was asked: what good will that do them? He said: it will save them from the Fire, by my father." And Wa'ilan said: "I returned home and found a sheep slaughtered; I asked: who slaughtered it? They said: your boy. I said: by Allah, my boy does not pray. The women said: we taught him and he pronounced the formula. I went back to Ibn Mas'ud, questioned him about it, and he ordered me to eat of it."

The proof of this is the saying of the Prophet: "Allah has forbidden the Fire to whoever says: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, seeking thereby the face of Allah"; and from Abu Dharr: "There is no slave who says: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and then dies upon that, except that he enters Paradise"; and from Ubada ibn al-Samit: "Whoever testifies that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger, that 'Isa is the slave of Allah and His messenger, His word that He cast to Maryam and a spirit from Him, and that Paradise is true and the Fire is true, Allah will admit him to Paradise regardless of his deeds"; and from Anas: "Whoever says: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and has in his heart goodness the weight of a grain of barley, will come out of the Fire"; all these hadiths are mutually corroborated, and many similar ones exist.

From Ubada ibn al-Samit also, the Prophet said:

Five prayers Allah has prescribed upon the slave day and night: whoever performs them, not neglecting any of them out of contempt of their right, has with Allah a covenant to admit him to Paradise; whoever does not perform them has no covenant with Allah: if He wills He punishes him, and if He wills He admits him to ParadiseAuthentic hadith: reported by Malik in al-Muwatta (268), Abu Dawud (1420), al-Nasa'i (461), Ibn Majah (1401) and Ahmad (22745)

Were he a disbeliever, Allah would not admit him to Paradise by His will. Al-Khallal reported in his Jami', from Hisham ibn Hassan, from Abdallah ibn Abd al-Rahman, from Abu Shumayla: the Prophet went out to Quba and a group of Ansar met him carrying a bier on a door; he said: what is this? They said: a slave of such a family, who has died. He said: did he testify that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah? They said: yes, but he was neglectful, he was neglectful. He said: did he pray? They said: he prayed and supplicated. He said to them: take him back, wash him, shroud him, pray over him and bury him; by Him in Whose hand is my soul, the angels almost came between him and me. And it is reported with his chain, from Ata', from Abdallah ibn Umar: the Messenger of Allah said: "Pray over whoever said: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah."

This also by the consensus of the Muslims: we know of no era in which an abandoner of prayer was not washed, prayed over and buried in the graveyards of the Muslims; his heirs were never prevented from their inheritance, nor he from the inheritance of his testator, and spouses were never separated for abandoning prayer, despite the great number of abandoners; were he a disbeliever, all these rulings would have been established. And no disagreement is known among the Muslims that the abandoner of prayer must make it up; were he an apostate, neither prayer nor fasting would be made up.

As for the hadiths cited earlier, they are of the kind of severity in warning and comparison with the disbelievers, not the literal sense, as in: "Insulting a Muslim is defiance, and fighting him is disbelief"; "Repudiating kinship, however slight, is disbelief in Allah"; "Whoever says to his brother, O disbeliever, one of the two has deserved it"; "Whoever approaches a woman during her menses or through the back has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad"; "Whoever says: rain came by the movements of the stars, has disbelieved in Allah and believed in the stars"; "Whoever swears by other than Allah has associated"; "The drinker of wine is like the worshiper of idols"; and their like, meant as severe warning; this is the sounder of the two views, and Allah knows best (Al-Mughni, 2/157-158).

Al-Wazir Ibn Hubayra said: they agreed that whoever upon whom prayer became obligatory, among those addressed by the Law, then withheld it while denying its obligation, is a disbeliever and must be killed as an apostate. They then differed over the one who abandoned it without praying while believing in its obligation: Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad said he is killed, by consensus among them; Abu Hanifa said he is imprisoned forever until he prays, without execution. Those who mandate his execution then differed in detail: Malik said he is killed by the legal punishment; Ibn Habib, one of his companions, said he is killed as a disbeliever, and the transmission from Malik did not differ that it is by the sword. When he is killed by the legal punishment according to the madhhab of Malik, he is inherited from, prayed over, and has the status of the dead Muslims.

Al-Shafi'i said: if he abandons prayer while believing in its obligation and the punishment is established against him, he is killed by the legal punishment, with the status of the dead Muslims. His companions differed over the time of execution: Abu Ali ibn Abi Hurayra said that the apparent meaning of al-Shafi'i's words is that he is killed when the time of the first missed prayer narrows, as the author of al-Hawi mentioned. Abu Sa'id al-Astakhri said: he is killed for abandoning the fourth prayer when its time narrows, and the call to repentance is made to him before the execution. They also differed on how he is killed: Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi said the text establishes that he is killed by the sword; but Ibn Surayj said he is not killed by the sword, rather he is imprisoned and beaten with sticks until he prays or dies.

They also differed: does he become a disbeliever by abandoning it while believing in its obligation? Some said he is a disbeliever by mere abandonment, according to the apparent meaning of the hadith; others said he is not ruled a disbeliever and interpreted the hadith as referring to belief. Ahmad said: whoever abandons prayer negligently and lazily, without denying its obligation, is killed, in one transmission. Three transmissions are reported from him on when his execution becomes obligatory. The first: as soon as he leaves one prayer and the time of the second narrows, and he is called to it and does not pray, he is killed; this is his explicit text and the choice of most of his companions. Abu Ishaq ibn Shaqala made a distinction: if he leaves a prayer until another that cannot be combined with it, like leaving Fajr until Zuhr, or Asr until Maghrib, he is killed; if he leaves a prayer until the time of another that can be combined with it, like Maghrib until Isha or Zuhr until Asr, he is not killed.

The second: if he leaves three consecutive prayers and the time of the fourth narrows, and he is called to it and does not pray, he is killed. The third: he is called for three days; if he prays, otherwise he is killed; reported by al-Marwazi and chosen by al-Kharqi, and he is killed by the sword in one transmission. They also differed: is he killed by the legal punishment or as a disbeliever? According to two transmissions. The first: he is killed for his disbelief, like the apostate, and the rulings of apostates apply to him: no inheritance, no funeral prayer, and his wealth is booty (fay'); this is the choice of the majority of his companions. The second: he is killed by the legal punishment, with the status of the dead Muslims; this is the choice of Abu Abdallah Ibn Battah. They agreed that the obligatory prayer is among the duties in which substitution by a person or by wealth is not valid (Al-Ifsah, 1/79-82).

Ibn Rushd said: fourth question: the status of the one who abandons it deliberately, is ordered to pray and refuses, without denying its obligation. Some said he is killed; others, that he is punished and imprisoned. Among those who mandate his execution, some make it an execution for disbelief, like Ahmad, Ishaq and Ibn al-Mubarak; others an execution by the legal punishment, like Malik, al-Shafi'i, Abu Hanifa and his companions, and the literalists, who prescribe imprisonment and punishment until he prays. The cause of this disagreement is the disagreement of the reports.

It is established from him (peace and blessings be upon him): "It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of three cases: disbelief after faith, adultery after chastity, and killing a soul without right"; and from Burayda: "The covenant that stands between us and them is the prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved"; and Jabir reported from the Prophet: "Between the slave and disbelief (or association), there is only the abandonment of prayer." Whoever understands here real disbelief makes this hadith an explanation of his words "disbelief after faith"; whoever understands here severity and reproach, that is, that his deeds are the deeds of a disbeliever, as in "The adulterer does not commit adultery while he is a believer, nor does the thief steal while he is a believer," does not rule his execution for disbelief. As for the one who says he is killed by the legal punishment, his view is weak, with no support but a nearly weak analogy: likening prayer and killing, prayer being the chief of the commanded duties and killing the chief of the forbidden things.

In sum, the name of disbelief is applied literally only to belying; the abandoner of prayer is known not to be one of those, unless he abandons it while believing he may abandon it thus. We are therefore between two things: either we understand real disbelief in the hadith, and we must then interpret that he meant: whoever abandons prayer while believing he may abandon it has disbelieved; or we apply the name of disbelief elsewhere than its first object, in one of two senses: his ruling is that of the disbeliever, in execution and the other rulings, even though he does not belie (Allah); or his deeds resemble those of a disbeliever, by way of severity and deterrence, the disbeliever not praying. Applying to his status the ruling of the disbeliever requires a proof, for it is a ruling not established thereafter in the Law by any path requiring it; the hadith rather leads to metaphorical disbelief, not to a meaning that would impose a ruling not established in the Law and contradicting it where it is explicit; ponder this, it is clear, and Allah knows best; this latter view coincides with the view of those who declare the sinner a disbeliever (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/133-134).

The Times of Prayer

Time (waqt) is a measure of duration fixed for a given matter; everything to which a moment is assigned has been given a timing. The times of prayer are the periods the Lawgiver fixed for performing the prayer: time is the cause of obligation, the prayer not being valid before its entry and becoming a make-up (qada) after its exit (Al-Misbah al-Munir; Lisan al-Arab; Taj al-'Arus; al-Tahtawi, 93).

The men of knowledge agreed that Allah the Most High fixed times for the five prayers upon the tongue of His Prophet, making each time the proper moment of one prayer: what precedes it is not a time for performing it, and it is never permissible to perform it before; what follows is not a time for performing it either, and it is not permissible to delay the prayer until its time exits, whereupon it becomes a make-up. Allah says: "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times" (Surah an-Nisa, 103). This is undisputed among the ummah (Al-Muhalla, 2/236; Al-Iqna' fi Masail al-Ijma', 1/307, no. 505).

The legal origin of these times is known from the Book:

"So glorify Allah when you reach the evening and when you rise at morning (17); to Him belongs praise in the heavens and the earth, and at the evening hour and when you are at the day's meridian (18)"

Surah ar-Rum, 17-18

Some exegetes said: what is meant by the glorification (tasbih) is the prayer, that is: pray when you enter the time of the evening, which means Maghrib and Isha; "when you rise at morning" means the dawn prayer; "at the evening hour" Asr; "when you are at the day's meridian" Zuhr. The glorification is mentioned in the sense of prayer: either because it is among the requisites of prayer, or because prayer, from beginning to end, is glorification of the Lord, for what it contains of expressing need toward Him, incapacity and weakness, and of describing His majesty, His greatness, His elevation and His transcendence over any need.

Shaykh Abu Mansur al-Maturidi said: they understood from this verse the obligation of the five prayers; had their understandings been like those of the people of our time, they would have understood nothing from it but the mentioned glorification (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 1/302; Tafsir al-Qurtubi, 7/342; Ahkam al-Qur'an of al-Jassas, 3/249; Majmu' al-Fatawa, 22/84; Al-Umm, 1/68; Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/301; Al-Istidhkar, 1/23; Al-Awsat, 2/321).

Likewise His words:

"Establish prayer at the decline of the sun until the darkness of the night and the recitation of dawn; indeed, the recitation of dawn is ever witnessed"

Surah al-Isra, 78

The Sunnah also explained the times of prayer, as in the hadith of Ibn Abbas: the Prophet said:

Jibril led me in prayer twice at the House. The first time, he prayed Zuhr when the shadow was like the strap of a sandal, then Asr when everything was like its shadow, then Maghrib when the fasting person breaks his fast, then Isha when the twilight had disappeared, then Fajr when dawn brightened and food became forbidden to the fasting person. The second day, he prayed Zuhr when the shadow of everything was like that of the time of Asr the day before, then Asr when the shadow of everything was like its double, then Maghrib at its first time, then Isha when a third of the night had passed, then Fajr when the earth brightened. Then Jibril turned to me and said: O Muhammad, this is the time of the prophets before you, and the time is between these two timesAuthentic hadith: reported by al-Tirmidhi (149), Abu Dawud (393) and al-Hakim (1/306)

And from Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him): a questioner came to the Messenger of Allah asking him about the times of prayer, but he gave him no answer. He then led Fajr when dawn broke and the people could barely recognize one another, then he ordered the call and led Zuhr when the sun declined, the speaker saying: midday has passed, though he knew better than they. He then ordered him to lead Asr while the sun was still high, then Maghrib when the sun set, then Isha when the twilight disappeared. The next day he delayed Fajr until the speaker said: the sun has risen, or nearly; he delayed Zuhr until near the time of the previous day's Asr, then Asr until the speaker said: the sun has turned red; then Maghrib until near the sinking of the twilight, then Isha until the first third of the night. Then he called the questioner and said: the time is between these two (reported by Muslim (614)).

The scholars did not differ that Jibril came down to the Prophet and taught him the prayer, its times and its descriptions (Al-Iqna' fi Masail al-Ijma', 1/307, no. 506).

The Number of the Prayers and the Beginning and End of the Fajr (Subh) Time

There is no disagreement among the jurists that the number of the times of the obligatory prayers is five, according to the number of the prayers. Ibn Qudama said: the Muslims agreed that the five prayers are timed with known, delimited times, established in sound, recurring hadiths (Al-Ifsah, 1/113; Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/299; Al-Mughni, 1/464).

The beginning and end of the Subh time. I treated the Subh time first because the Prophet began with it for a questioner in Medina: Muslim reported from Burayda that a man came asking the Prophet about the times of prayer, and he said: "Attend prayer with us"; he ordered Bilal to call at the dark (ghalas) and prayed Subh when dawn rose, then ordered him Zuhr, and so on (reported by Muslim (613)).

Muslim also reported from Abdallah ibn Amr ibn al-As that the Messenger of Allah was asked about the times of the prayers and said: "The time of the Fajr prayer lasts as long as the first edge of the sun has not appeared; the time of Zuhr begins when the sun declines from the middle of the sky and lasts until Asr arrives," and the rest of the hadith (reported by Muslim (612)). Add to this the hadith of Abu Musa already cited (Muslim (614)).

And because it is the first of the prayers prescribed by agreement, having been the Subh of the night of the Night Journey, and the Prophet did not perform it then, for the obligation of performing it depended on knowing its manner (al-Tahtawi, 1/116; Al-Durr al-Mukhtar, 1/358).

There is then no disagreement among the jurists of the ummah: the beginning of the Subh time enters with the rise of the second dawn, that is, the whiteness that spreads sideways across the horizon, called the true dawn (al-fajr al-sadiq) because it truly announces the morning to you and makes it clear; Subh being what combines whiteness and redness, hence the man whose complexion combines white and red is called "asbah". As for the first dawn, it is a whiteness that rises vertically without spreading sideways: no ruling attaches to it, and it is called the false dawn (al-fajr al-kadhib).

The proof is the hadith of Jibril on the times: "He led the Prophet in prayer twice at the House, and prayed Fajr on the first day when dawn brightened and food became forbidden to the fasting person" (authentic hadith, cited earlier). Ibn Abd al-Barr said: as for the beginning of its time, there is no disagreement among the Muslim scholars that it is the rise of dawn as in this hadith and others, and it is a consensus, the matter being settled. Dawn is the first luminous whiteness of the day spreading across the horizon; the Arabs call it the white thread, as in "Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread," that is, the whiteness of the day from the blackness of the night (Al-Tamhid, 4/335).

Ibn al-Qattan al-Fasi said: no one differed that prayer is not lawful in the first dawn, and that the second dawn, when it spreads sideways, makes the Subh prayer lawful (Al-Iqna', 1/307, no. 508).

As for the end of the Subh time, it is the rising of the sun, according to the hadith of Abu Hurayra: the Prophet said:

The first time of Fajr is at the rising of dawn, and its last time is at the rising of the sunAuthentic hadith: reported by al-Tirmidhi (285), al-Daraqutni (1/262), al-Bayhaqi in al-Kubra (1/375) and Ahmad (2/232)

This is the view of most of the scholars, except what Ibn al-Qasim reported from Malik, and the view of al-Astakhri among the Shafi'is: the end of the time is the brightening (isfar). Ibn Abd al-Barr said: this, with us, concerns the chosen time, for Malik did not differ that whoever catches a rak'a of this prayer before sunrise, among those with an excuse that keeps the prayer incumbent after the exit of the time, like the menstruating woman who becomes pure, is obliged for having caught the like of a rak'a of its time, even if she prays the second rak'a at or after sunrise (Al-Tamhid, 3/276).

Ibn al-Qattan said: the reports from the Prophet agreed: he prayed Subh the first day at the rise of dawn, and the second day when the sun was about to rise; and on this is the consensus of the Muslims: its time is at the rise of dawn and its end at sunrise (Al-Iqna', 1/307, no. 507). Al-Tahawi said: regarding what is reported from the Messenger of Allah in these reports about the Fajr prayer, they did not differ: he prayed it the first day at the rise of dawn, which is its first time, and the next day when the sun was about to rise; this is the agreement of the Muslims (Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/148). Ibn Rushd said: they agreed that the first time of Subh is the rise of the true dawn and its end the rising of the sun, except what is reported from Ibn al-Qasim and some of the companions of al-Shafi'i: its end is the brightening (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/142).

Ibn Abidin said: there is no disagreement on its beginning, that is, the origin of the rise of the second dawn; the disagreement concerns what is meant by rise. As for the absence of disagreement on its end, al-Tahawi and Ibn al-Mundhir stated it explicitly as the agreement of the Muslims; in al-Hilya: no attention is paid to what al-Astakhri said among the Shafi'is, for when dawn brightens the time exits and the prayer becomes a make-up until sunrise (Hashiyat Ibn Abidin, 1/357).

The Preferred Time for the Dawn Prayer

Ibn Hazm said: they agreed that the rising of the spreading dawn until the rising of the sun's disc is a time for entering the Subh prayer for the one who is not making it up (Maratib al-Ijma', 26).

The jurists differed over the preferred time for Fajr: is the prayer in the dark (taghlis) or at the brightening (isfar) preferable? The Hanafis held that the brightening is preferable, beginning and ending with it, according to the hadith of Rafi' ibn Khadij: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: "Pray Fajr at the brightening, for it is greater in reward," reported by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, who graded it hasan sahih, this wording being al-Tirmidhi's; in Abu Dawud's version: "Pray Subh in the morning, for it is greater in reward."

From Abdallah ibn Mas'ud: "I never saw the Messenger of Allah pray a prayer outside its time, except two: he combined Maghrib and Isha in combination, at Muzdalifa, and he prayed Fajr that day before its (usual) time," reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim. They said: it is well known he did not pray it before the rise of dawn, but after its rise, in the dark; this shows he prayed it at the brightening on all the other days. And they said: the brightening gives abundance to the congregation and continuity to the rows, and it widens the time of the voluntary prayer before it; and whatever increases the voluntary worship is preferable. The limit of the brightening: beginning the prayer after the whiteness has spread, with a prescribed recitation, such that if he needs to repeat his ablutions after the prayer, he can still wash or pray Fajr before sunrise (Ahkam al-Qur'an of al-Jassas, 3/251; Al-Tajrid of al-Quduri, 1/435, 440; Al-Hidaya, 1/39; Al-'Inaya, 1/365; Sharh Fath al-Qadir, 1/226; 'Umdat al-Qari, 5/73; Al-Bahr al-Ra'iq, 1/257; Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/148; al-Tahtawi, 1/117; Majma' al-Anhar, 1/107-108).

The majority of the jurists (Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis) held that the prayer in the dark is preferable. They argue from "Guard the prayers" (Surah al-Baqarah, 238), which includes advancing to the beginning of the time, since delaying exposes one to missing it; from "Hasten to a forgiveness from your Lord" (Surah Aal Imran, 133), which the prayer realizes; from "Race toward the good deeds" (Surah al-Baqarah, 148); and from the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her): "The believing women prayed Fajr with the Prophet wrapped in their wraps, then returned to their homes when the prayer finished, unrecognized because of the dark," reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim (the mutalaffi'at: the wrapped ones; the murut: the wraps).

Add the hadith of Abu Musa (Muslim (614)): he led Fajr when dawn broke and the people could barely recognize one another; and the hadith of Abu Barza: "The Messenger of Allah would finish the Subh prayer when a man recognized his neighbor, and he recited between sixty and one hundred verses," reported by al-Bukhari. From Jabir: "The Messenger of Allah prayed Zuhr when the sun declined, Asr while the sun was still brisk, Maghrib when it disappeared; Isha: if he saw few people he delayed it, if he saw many he hastened it; and Subh in the dark," reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

From Qatada, from Anas: "The Prophet and Zayd ibn Thabit took the suhur; when they finished, the Prophet rose to pray; I said to Anas: how long between the end of their suhur and their entering the prayer? He said: the time of reciting fifty verses," al-Bukhari in his wording and Muslim in meaning. From Sahl ibn Sa'd: "I would take the suhur with my family, then hasten to catch the Fajr prayer with the Messenger of Allah," reported by al-Bukhari. From Abu Mas'ud al-Badri: "The Messenger of Allah prayed Subh one day in the dark, then another time at the brightening; after that his prayer was in the dark until his death, and he never returned to the brightening," reported by Abu Dawud with a good chain; al-Khattabi said: it is of authentic chain. From Mughith ibn Sumayy: "I prayed Fajr with Ibn al-Zubayr; he prayed in the dark whereas he used to pray at the brightening; when he gave the salam, I said to Ibn Umar: what is this prayer? And he was beside me. He said: this is our prayer with the Messenger of Allah, Abu Bakr and Umar; when Umar was killed, Uthman prayed it at the brightening." Al-Tirmidhi said in Kitab al-'Ilal: al-Bukhari said: this is a hasan hadith.

Al-Nawawi said: the answer to the hadith of Rafi' ibn Khadij is twofold. First: what is meant by the brightening is the rise of dawn, that is, its appearance; one says "the woman brightened (isfarat)" when she unveiled her face. If it is objected that this interpretation does not hold, because of "for it is greater in reward," which shows the prayer is valid before the brightening but with a lesser reward, the answer is: when the entry of the time is probable without certainty, the prayer is lawful, but delaying until the brightening of dawn, its appearance by which the rise is certain, is preferable. It is also said that the command of the brightening may concern moonlit nights: dawn is only certain then by its spread.

Second, mentioned by al-Khattabi: when they were commanded to hasten, they prayed between the first and the second dawn seeking reward; they were then told: pray after the second dawn, in the morning, for it is greater in reward. If it is objected that praying before dawn earns no reward: they are rewarded for their intention even if their prayer is invalid, as in "When the judge strives and errs, he has a reward."

As for the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, its meaning is that the Prophet prayed Fajr that day before his habit on the other days, at the very beginning of the rise of dawn, to widen the time for the rites of the pilgrimage; on the other days he delayed beyond the rise of dawn by the time it takes the one in minor impurity to perform wudu and the one in major impurity to bathe. His words "before its time" mean: before its usual time, by a little. And the answer to the argument "the brightening gives abundance to the congregation and widens the time of the voluntary prayer": this rule does not attach to the virtue of the beginning of the time, which is why the Messenger of Allah prayed Fajr in the dark (Al-Majmu', 3/54-56). He said in Sharh Muslim: the recommendation of earliness for Subh is the madhhab of Malik, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad and the majority; Abu Hanifa said the brightening is preferable (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 5/144; see Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/142; Al-Tamhid, 23/385; Al-Awsat, 2/377; Al-Thamar al-Dani, 1/88; Mawahib al-Jalil, 1/306; Al-Dhakhira, 2/29; Hashiyat al-'Adawi, 1/307; Al-Majmu', 3/45; Kifayat al-Akhyar, 125; Al-Mughni, 1/484; Al-Mubdi', 1/349; Al-Insaf, 1/438).

Ibn Hubayra said: they agreed that the first time of Fajr is the rise of the spreading second dawn, with no darkness after it; and the chosen time extends to the brightening. They differed: is advancing to the beginning of the time preferable? Abu Hanifa said: the brightening is preferable, except at Muzdalifa. Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad said the dark is preferable; one transmission from Ahmad considers the state of the worshipers: if the dark is hard on them, the brightening is preferable. They agreed that the time of necessity extends to sunrise (Al-Ifsah, 1/86).

Ibn Rushd said: they differed over its preferred time: the Kufans, Abu Hanifa and his companions, al-Thawri and most of the Iraqis held that the brightening is preferable; Malik, al-Shafi'i and his companions, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Thawr and Dawud held that the dark is preferable. The cause of their disagreement is their different ways of reconciling the hadiths of differing apparent meanings: it is reported from Rafi' ibn Khadij: "Pray Subh at the brightening; whenever you brighten, it is greater in reward"; he was asked which deed is best and said: "The prayer at its first time"; and it is established that he prayed Subh and the women would leave wrapped in their wraps unrecognized in the dark: the apparent meaning is that this was his most frequent practice.

Whoever deems the hadith of Rafi' specific and "the prayer at its first time" general says the specific qualifies the general by excepting the Subh prayer, carries the hadith of Aisha as regarding permissibility, and holds that he only reported that this happened of him, not that it was his most frequent state: he says the brightening is preferable to the dark. Whoever prefers the general hadith, in agreement with the hadith of Aisha which is explicit, and interprets the hadith of Rafi' as aiming at the clarification of dawn and its confirmation, says the preferable time is its first. As for whoever says the last time is the brightening, he interpreted the hadith "Whoever catches a rak'a of Subh before the sun rises has caught Subh" as concerning those with excuses, in the manner of the majority for Asr; the wonder is that they abandoned this method here and agreed with the literalists, who may therefore demand of them the difference (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/142-143).

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya was asked: is the dark or the brightening preferable? He answered: praise be to Allah, it is the dark that is preferable, unless there is a cause requiring delay. The authentic, widespread hadiths of the Prophet show that he prayed Fajr in the dark, as in the Two Sahihs from Aisha: "The Messenger of Allah prayed Fajr and believing women attended with him wrapped in their wraps, then returned to their homes unrecognized because of the dark"; and the Prophet had no lamps in his mosque, as in the Two Sahihs from Abu Barza al-Aslami: he recited between sixty and one hundred verses and finished when a man recognized his neighbor, this recitation amounting to about a half or a third of a juz'. Likewise, in the Sahih, his rightly guided caliphs followed him; after them came rulers who delayed the prayer from its time, and jurists formed in their state thought that delaying Fajr and Asr was preferable to advancing them: that is an error in the Sunnah.

They are opposed with the hadith reported by al-Tirmidhi: "Pray Fajr at the brightening, for it is greater in reward," which he authenticated; this hadith, even if it opposed them, would not withstand them: the hadiths of Aisha and Abu Barza are in the Two Sahihs, famous and widespread, and an isolated view contradicting the famous, widespread report is odd (shadh) and may be abrogated, for the dark was his practice until his death and the practice of the rightly guided caliphs after him. Al-Tahawi, of the companions of Abu Hanifa, and Abu Hafs al-Barmaki, of the companions of Ahmad, interpreted "pray at the brightening" as referring to the prayer's exit: prolong the Fajr prayer until you leave it at the brightening; or the brightening means clarification: pray it when dawn is clear and manifest; in the Two Sahihs, from Ibn Mas'ud: "I never saw the Messenger of Allah pray a prayer outside its time, except Fajr at Muzdalifa and Maghrib in combination," and Fajr that day he prayed after the rise of dawn; likewise in the Sahih of Muslim, from Jabir: "He prayed Fajr when dawn brightened." Ibn Mas'ud's meaning is that he delayed Fajr beyond its first rise until it clarified and manifested, and that day he hastened it before.

The Beginning and End of the Zuhr Time

By this the meanings of the hadiths of the Prophet agree; and when he delayed a prayer for a cause requiring delay, like the one resorting to tayammum: he only delays to pray at the end of the time in a state of ablution; the solitary one delays to pray at the end of the time in congregation, or to be able to pray standing at the end of the time whereas at the beginning he can only sit; and whatever contains a virtue exceeding the prayer at the beginning of the time: the delay is then preferable, and Allah knows best (Majmu' al-Fatawa, 22/95-97).

The beginning of the Zuhr time. The men of knowledge agreed that the first time of Zuhr is the decline of the sun; stated by Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abd al-Barr and many others. Ibn al-Mundhir said: the men of knowledge agreed that the first time of Zuhr is the decline of the sun (Al-Ishraf, 1/394; Al-Ijma', 47). Ibn Abd al-Barr said: the Muslim scholars of every era and every city, as far as their reports have reached us, agreed that the first time of Zuhr is the decline of the sun from the middle of the sky and the midst of the sphere, once this is ascertained on earth by checking and observation, that is, the beginning of the increase of the shadow after its utmost decrease, in winter and summer alike, even if the summer shadow differs from the winter one; this is a consensus of all the Muslim scholars on the first time of Zuhr. When the decline of the sun is ascertained by what we said or otherwise, the Zuhr time has entered, and this is undisputed; it is the interpretation of "Establish prayer at the decline (duluk)" (Surah al-Isra, 78), duluk being its inclination according to most of the scholars (Al-Tamhid, 8/70-71).

Abu Bakr al-Jassas said: the first time of Zuhr is when the sun declines, with no disagreement among the scholars; Allah says: "And at the evening hour and when you are at the day's meridian" (Surah ar-Rum, 18) and "Establish prayer at the decline" (Surah al-Isra, 78) (Ahkam al-Qur'an, 3/251).

The meaning of the sun's decline is its inclining from the middle of the sky; it is known by planting a straight stick in level ground while the sun is in the east: as long as the stick's shadow decreases, the sun is before the decline; when the stick has no shadow or the decrease is complete, the shadow being at its least, the sun is at the middle of the sky, and that is the time in which prayer is forbidden. When the shadow moves from west to east and begins to increase, the sun has declined from the middle of the sky and the Zuhr time has entered.

Al-Mawardi said: know that the shadow of decline varies in increase and decrease according to the countries, and changes with the passing of times. The shadow of decline is shorter in the land aligned with the qibla of the sphere than in any other, for the sun may there stand directly over a person, to the point it is said that in Mecca a person has no shadow at the time of decline on the longest day of the year, June 7. Then the shadow of decline in summer is less than in winter, for the sun in summer crosses the midst of the sphere and its decline is at the midst, so the shadow is shortest; in winter it crosses the side of the sphere, its decline is at the side and the sphere is longer; the sun, at its decline, has as it were a pause that slows its course at the midst of the sphere (Al-Hawi al-Kabir, 2/12).

The reports corroborated this, among them the hadith of Ibn Abbas cited earlier: "Jibril led me twice at the House: he prayed Zuhr when the sun declined, the shadow being like the strap... then the second day, Zuhr when the shadow of everything was like that of Asr the day before" (authentic hadith, cited earlier). And the hadith of Abu Musa: "He led Zuhr when the sun declined, the speaker saying: midday has passed" (reported by Muslim (614)).

The End of the Zuhr Time

The jurists differed over the end of the Zuhr time. The majority (Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis, and the two companions Abu Yusuf and Muhammad among the Hanafis, which is a transmission from Abu Hanifa) held that the end of the Zuhr time is when the shadow of everything equals its own length after the shadow of decline, according to the hadith of Abdallah ibn Amr: "The time of Zuhr: when the sun declines and the man's shadow equals his height, as long as Asr has not arrived"; according to the hadith of Ibn Abbas on Jibril's imama: "He prayed the second day Zuhr when the shadow of everything was like that of Asr the day before"; and according to the hadith of Abu Musa: "He delayed Zuhr until near the time of Asr the day before" (Muslim (614)).

Abu Hanifa, in one transmission, held that the end of the Zuhr time is when the shadow of everything equals its own length (al-mithl), which is for him the beginning of the Asr time. It is also reported from him that the end of Zuhr is the equal (mithl) and the beginning of Asr the double (mithlayn), what lies between the two not being valid for Zuhr; and it is also reported from him the view of the majority (Ahkam al-Qur'an of al-Jassas, 3/251-252; Al-Ikhtiyar, 1/38; Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/148; Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-'Ulama of al-Tahawi, 1/193-194; Al-Awsat, 2/327; Al-Istidhkar, 1/24-25; Hashiyat al-Tahtawi, 1/118; Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/390; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/136; Kifayat al-Akhyar, 123; Al-Majmu', 3/21; Al-Mughni, 1/469).

Al-Jassas said: three transmissions from Abu Hanifa: that the shadow become less than two spears; or, according to the transmission of al-Hasan ibn Ziyad, that the shadow of everything equal its own length; or that the shadow reach two spears, the transmission of the basis (al-asl). Abu Yusuf, Muhammad, Zufar, al-Hasan ibn Ziyad, al-Hasan ibn Salih, al-Thawri and al-Shafi'i said: that the shadow of everything equal its own length.

The view of the double (the end of Zuhr at the double of the shadow) is argued from the verse "And establish prayer at the two ends of the day" (Surah Hud, 114), which requires Asr after the double: whatever is closer to sunset is more worthy of the name "end" (taraf); the Asr time being at the double, what precedes it is the Zuhr time, according to the hadith of Abu Hurayra: the Messenger of Allah said: "The first time of Zuhr is at the decline of the sun, and its last when the time of Asr enters." It is also argued from "Establish prayer at the decline of the sun until the darkness of the night" (Surah al-Isra, 78): the decline possibly meaning the meridian, the time would extend to sunset; but it is established that what is after the double is not a time for Zuhr, so its time is fixed until the double by the apparent meaning.

It is also argued from the Sunnah, in the hadith of Ibn Umar from the Prophet:

Your term, compared to that of those who preceded you, is like that which separates the Asr prayer from the setting of the sun. Your example and that of the People of the Two Books before you is that of a man who hired workers and said: who will work for me from dawn to midday for a qirat? The Jews worked. Then he said: who will work for me from midday to Asr for a qirat? The Christians worked. Then he said: who will work for me from Asr to sunset for two qirats? And you worked. The Jews and the Christians grew angry and said: we worked more and received less. He said: have you been wronged of your right? They said: no. He said: it is My gift; I bestow it upon whom I will

The Beginning and End of the Asr Time

The proof of this report is twofold. On the one hand his words: "Your term... is like that which separates the Asr prayer from the setting of the sun": he informs of the brevity of the time; and his words: "I was sent, together with the Hour, like these two," joining the index and the middle finger; in another report: "like between this one and this one": what remains of the duration of the world is like the decrease of the index relative to the middle finger, estimated at half of a seventh. He therefore likened our term to that of our predecessors by the Asr time in its brevity: it cannot be from the equal (mithl), otherwise it would be longer; this proves the Asr time is after the double.

On the other hand, the parable of labor in the mentioned times: were the Asr time at the equal, the Christians would not have worked more than the Muslims; rather the Muslims would work more, for what lies between the equal and sunset is more than what lies between the decline and the equal: the Asr time is therefore shorter than the Zuhr time (Ahkam al-Qur'an, 3/252).

The beginning of the Asr time. The majority (Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis, and Abu Yusuf and Muhammad among the Hanafis) held that the first time of Asr is exactly the last time of Zuhr, that is, when the shadow of everything equals its own length, except the shadow of decline, according to the hadiths cited earlier.

Malik, however, holds that the end of the Zuhr time and the beginning of the Asr time are one time shared by both prayers: if two men pray together, one Asr and the other Zuhr, when the shadow of everything equals its length except the shadow of decline, by about four rak'as, each of the two prays his prayer in its time, that is, as an on-time performance (ada). The Shafi'is and the Hanbalis, in the madhhab, said: there is no sharing between the Zuhr time and the Asr time; as soon as the Zuhr time exits, when the shadow of a thing equals its length except the shadow of decline, the Asr time enters, and nothing of the Zuhr time remains.

The cause of Malik's disagreement with al-Shafi'i and Ahmad is the opposition between the hadith of Jibril and the hadith of Abdallah ibn Umar: in the hadith of Jibril's imama, he prayed Zuhr with the Prophet the second day at the time at which he had prayed Asr the first day; and in the hadith of Ibn Umar: "The Zuhr time lasts as long as the Asr time has not arrived," an explicit text that when the Asr time arrives, the Zuhr time exits. Whoever prefers the hadith of Jibril makes the time shared; whoever prefers that of Abdallah puts no sharing between them.

Abu Hanifa held that the beginning of the Asr time is when the shadow of everything equals its own length, except the fay' (the shadow of decline). Ibn Abd al-Barr said of this view of Abu Hanifa: it contradicts the reports and the majority, and it is an abandoned view among the jurists of his companions and others (Al-Istidhkar, 1/26-27). Al-Jassas said: the first time of Asr is the exit of the Zuhr time according to their disagreement; the sound of their views is that there is no interval of another time between the Zuhr time and the Asr time. What is reported from Abu Hanifa (the end of Zuhr at a shadow less than two spears and the beginning of Asr at two spears) is an odd transmission, which also contradicts the reports establishing that the Zuhr time lasts as long as Asr has not arrived; in some wordings of the hadith of Abu Hurayra: "The last time of Zuhr is when the time of Asr enters"; in the hadith of Abu Qatada: "The negligence in prayer is to leave it until the time of the next one enters." The sound position of the madhhab of Abu Hanifa is one of two views: the double or the equal, with the Asr time entering at the exit of the Zuhr time (Ahkam al-Qur'an, 3/256).

The End of the Asr Time

Abu Bakr al-Jassas said: the jurists of the cities agreed that the end of the Asr time is the setting of the sun (Al-Istidhkar, 1/26-27). Ibn Qudama said: I know of no disagreement on this. Al-Nawawi said: the end of the Asr time is the setting of the sun; this is the sound position, stated explicitly by al-Shafi'i and settled by most of his companions. Abu Sa'id al-Astakhri said: its end is when the shadow of a thing equals its own length; whoever delays beyond that sins, and it is a make-up. Shaykh Abu Hamid (al-Ghazali) said: what al-Astakhri said he did not derive from the basis of al-Shafi'i, for al-Shafi'i stated explicitly, in the old and the new, that its time extends until the setting of the sun: it is but a personal choice, contrary to the text of al-Shafi'i and his companions.

The proof of the madhhab is the hadith of Jibril, in which he prayed Asr the second day when his shadow equaled its own length; and the hadith of Abu Qatada: "There is no negligence in sleep; negligence is only for the one who does not pray a prayer until the time of the next prayer comes" (reported by Muslim (681)); and the hadith of Abu Hurayra: the Prophet said: "Whoever catches a rak'a of Subh before the sun rises has caught Subh, and whoever catches a rak'a of Asr before the sun sets has caught Asr" (reported by al-Bukhari (554) and Muslim (608)); and the hadith of Abu Musa: the Prophet delayed Asr until he finished it while the speaker said: the sun has turned red (Muslim (614)); and the saying of the Prophet: "Whoever misses Asr, it is as if his family and his wealth had been ruined" (reported by al-Bukhari (527) and Muslim (608)).

Al-Nawawi said: as for the hadith of Jibril, the time mentioned in it is the chosen time, not the time of permissibility, according to the authentic hadiths I mentioned. These hadiths are later than the hadith of Jibril and are therefore to be followed; they are more authentic than it, with no disagreement among the hadith masters, even though it too is sahih. And because the menstruating woman and the others with excuses, when their excuse ends before sunset by a rak'a, Asr is obligatory upon them without disagreement; were the time out, this would not be obligatory for them: it is a solid argument, mentioned by Imam al-Haramayn and others. Al-Ghazali said in his lessons: al-Astakhri applies the hadith "Whoever catches a rak'a of Asr" to the people with excuses (Al-Majmu', 3/30-31; Sharh Muslim, 5/96, 163; Al-Mabsut, 1/144-145; Al-Bahr al-Ra'iq, 1/258; Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/393; Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-'Ulama, 1/194; Al-Istidhkar, 1/26-27; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/138-139; Kifayat al-Akhyar, 124; Al-Mughni, 1/473).

The Beginning and End of the Maghrib Time

The beginning of the Maghrib time: it is the setting of the sun, with no disagreement among the jurists, according to the hadiths on the times reported from Ibn Abbas, Jabir, Abu Sa'id and others: the Prophet prayed Maghrib both days when the sun disappeared. Salama ibn al-Akwa' said: "We prayed Maghrib with the Prophet when it disappeared behind the veil" (reported by al-Bukhari (536) and Muslim (636)). Ibn al-Mundhir said: the men of knowledge agreed that the Maghrib prayer becomes obligatory when the sun sets (Al-Ijma', 48; Al-Ishraf, 1/398).

The end of the Maghrib time. The jurists differed: does it have one time, or two times like the other prayers? The Malikis (well-known view) and the Shafi'is (the later view of the madhhab) held that Maghrib has only one time, at sunset. According to the Shafi'is, its time exits by the measure of performing ablutions, covering the awra, the adhan and the iqama, and five rak'as, the estimation being based on the average person. According to the Malikis, it is measured at the like of three rak'as, after fulfilling its conditions: purification from minor and major impurity and covering the awra.

Their proof is the hadith of Jibril: he prayed Maghrib with the Prophet both days at one time. Abu Abdallah Khuwayz Mandad al-Basri reported in his book Al-Khilaf that in all the cities the Muslims never ceased to hasten Maghrib and to rush to it from the setting of the sun, and that we know of no Muslim who delayed Maghrib in congregation in a mosque beyond the setting of the sun: this suffices as practical proof of the practice of Medina in hastening it.

Ibn Abd al-Barr said: were its time wide, the Muslims would have acted as with the last Isha and the other prayers, one adhan following another among the muezzins, and other liberties; all of this is clear proof that the Prophet never ceased to pray it at one time until his death, and had he widened it for them, they would have widened, for the habit of scholars is to take the latitude. But the shortness of the Maghrib time is not something indivisible: it is measured by the custom of people in completing their ablutions, dressing, the adhan, the iqama and walking to nearby mosques, and the like (Al-Tamhid, 8/84-85).

The Hanafis, Malik in one transmission, al-Shafi'i in the old school (reported by Abu Thawr from him, the choice of a group of verifying Shafi'is) and the Hanbalis held that the end of the Maghrib time is the disappearance of the twilight (shafaq). Al-Nawawi said: a group authenticated the old view, that is, al-Shafi'i's old position that it has two times, among them Abu Bakr ibn Khuzayma, Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi, Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi, al-Ghazali in Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din and in his lessons, and al-Baghawi in al-Tahdhib; al-Ruyani reported it in al-Hilya from Abu Thawr; al-Muzani, Ibn al-Mundhir and Abu Abdallah al-Zubayri adopted it as their choice; al-'Ijli authenticated it, as did the shaykh Abu Amr Ibn al-Salah.

I say (al-Nawawi): this view is the sound one, by authentic hadiths, among them that of Abdallah ibn Amr ibn al-As: the Messenger of Allah said: "The time of the Maghrib prayer lasts as long as the twilight has not disappeared," and in a version: "The time of Maghrib as long as the swirl of the twilight has not fallen"; Muslim reported it with all these wordings, "the swirl of the twilight" meaning its revolving. And from Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, in the Prophet's explanation to the questioner about the times of prayer: "Then he delayed Maghrib until near the fall of the twilight," reported by Muslim. And from Burayda: "The Prophet prayed Maghrib the second day before the twilight disappeared," reported by Muslim; and the hadith of Abu Qatada cited earlier: "There is no negligence in sleep; negligence is only for the one who does not pray a prayer until the time of the next prayer comes," reported by Muslim.

When you know the authentic hadiths, the view becomes certain categorically: al-Shafi'i stated it in the old school, as Abu Thawr transmitted; he conditioned this view in al-Imla' upon the establishment of the hadith, and the hadith was established, indeed the hadiths; and al-Imla' is among the later books of al-Shafi'i: the view is thus stated explicitly in the old and the new. All this with the general rule al-Shafi'i enjoined: when a hadith is authentic against his view, his view is set aside and the hadith applied, his madhhab being what the hadith is authentic in, and he only abandons it when the hadith is not established with him; that is why he conditioned this view in al-Imla' upon the establishment of the hadith, and success is with Allah.

As for the hadith of Jibril, who prayed both days at one time, it has three answers, the best and soundest of which is that he only meant the time of choice, not the time of permissibility: so it is with most of the prayers, Asr, Isha and Subh, and likewise Maghrib. Second: the hadith of Jibril is earlier, at the beginning of Islam in Mecca, and these hadiths are later, in Medina: they must therefore be preferred in practice. Third: these hadiths are stronger than the hadith of Jibril, in two ways: their narrators are more numerous, and their chains more authentic; that is why Muslim reported them in his Sahih without the hadith of Jibril, which is beyond doubt. It follows that the sound choice is that Maghrib has two times extending to the disappearance of the twilight, and that it is lawful to begin the prayer at each of them (Al-Majmu', 3/33-34).

Ibn Qudama said: these are authentic texts that may not be opposed by anything interpretable; and because it is one of the prayers, it has a wide time like the others; and because it is one of the two prayers of combination, its time is continuous with that of the prayer it is combined with, like Zuhr and Asr; and because what precedes the disappearance of the twilight is a time for its continuation, it is a time for its beginning like its first time. Their hadiths are carried as recommendation, choice and dislike of delay; hence the words of al-Kharqi: "Its delay is not recommended"; the hadiths emphasize performing it at the beginning of its time, the least of their states being the emphasis on recommendation. And were the hadiths judged contradictory, the opposing hadiths must be carried as abrogated, for they were reported at the beginning of the prescription of prayer in Mecca, and our hadiths in Medina are later: they therefore abrogate what precedes and contradicts them, and Allah knows best (Al-Mughni, 1/479; Ahkam al-Qur'an of al-Jassas, 3/257; Ahkam al-Qur'an of Ibn al-Arabi, 3/212; Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/394; Al-Bahr al-Ra'iq, 1/258; Al-Mabsut, 1/144; Al-Tamhid, 8/78; Al-Sharh al-Saghir, 1/154; Hashiyat al-Dasuqi, 1/178; Al-Istidhkar, 1/28; Al-Awsat, 2/334-337; Kifayat al-Akhyar, 124; Tafsir al-Qurtubi, 10/304; Sharh Muslim, 5/68; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/140).