When Should You Pray Each Salah?
Prayer Timings According to the Narration of Jabir and Imam al-Bukhari's Commentary
Summary
Sh. Ali Mashhour continues his study of prayer timings from the book Al-Wajeez, focusing on the narration of Jabir regarding the five daily prayers. He explains the scholarly difference of opinion on whether the narration of Jabir describes the bare minimum times for prayer validity or the optimal and acceptable times. Sh. Ali Mashhour then presents Imam al-Bukhari's commentary on this narration, detailing the specific start and end times for each of the five prayers: Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, and Fajr, with reference to authentic narrations from Sahih Muslim. The lecture establishes the framework for understanding prayer timings in Islamic jurisprudence.
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[Silence]
Continuing in the book of salah in al-wajiz So, we are continuing in the chapters regarding the timings of prayer from the book of prayer from al-wajiz. Yesterday, we read as the author took us through a lengthy narration.
[Arabic recitation]
Regarding the various timings of prayer. That Jibreel alayhis salaam came to him on the first day and commanded him to pray at the starting time of each salah. And then he came to him the following day and told him to start praying near the end of the time for each salah. And then he said to him between each of those two these two times is the time to make salah. Couple of things that are important for us to understand before we continue. Number one, this narration of Jaber the scholars differ on whether or not this narration is discussing the bare minimum time or the best times to pray. And what do I mean by that? Well, we see that for instance Jibril alayhis salaam comes to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam at the start time of Dhuhr. And then he comes to him at the end time of Dhuhr. But for Asr, he comes to him at the start time and then near the end time. And it's not all the way at when the sun sets. Same thing with Isha. He comes to him at the start time of Isha, and he doesn't come to him the next day at the end of Isha per se. He comes to him at the at the middle of the night or at the end of the first third of the night, etc. So the scholars differ on whether this narration is discussing bare minimum meaning anything outside of these times is considered an invalid prayer or this narration is speaking about the beginning time, which is the best time to make salah, and the acceptable time to make salah, but not necessarily the valid time to make salah. Does that make sense? So, is the time for Isha, for instance, based on the understanding of this narration, is the time for Isha, it starts when the redness in the western hemisphere is gone. But, is its end time the the at the middle of the night, or is its end time at the break of Fajr? This is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars. Some say the middle of the night is the end time for Isha. Meaning, if you pray Isha after the middle of the night, the prayer is not valid, or you have to have a valid excuse and necessity to do this. Whilst others mention that no, the the nature of prayers is that every salah is in until the next salah comes in. It is the time for each prayer until the next salah comes in, except for Fajr. All of the scholars agree that Fajr ends with the rising of the sun. And we'll discuss this, in sha Allah. But, the least we can learn from the narration of Jabir is that these are the appropriate times to make salah. So, the appropriate time to make salah, when is the starting time of each prayer? Here in the narration of Jabir, Zuhr is as soon as the sun crosses the zenith, and so afternoon, right? Number two, Asr is when everything's shadow is its same length along with a little bit that it was for Zuhr. Maghrib is as soon as the sun, the disc of the sun sets. Isha is as soon as the redness in the western sunset in the western horizon is completely gone. And Fajr is as soon as the dawn breaks, the true dawn. Then we have in the narration of Jabir, the next day, Zuhr was the end time that Jibreel commanded him was when everything's shadow was its same length, meaning without that small addition of Asr. Maghrib was the same. Asr was when everything, the second day he came to him, when everything's shadow was twice its length. Maghrib was the same. Isha was the first, the end of the first half of the night. And in some wordings, the end of the first third of the night. And Fajr just before the actual sun rise and was very bright in the eastern horizon. Now we'll listen to Al-Imam Al-Bukhari, his commentary on this narration of Jabir. Qala At-Tirmidhiu, At-Tirmidhi Abu Isa, he is one of the most prominent students of al-Bukhari. Muslim, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, they are all students of al-Bukhari. At-Tirmidhi his book is almost a companion book to Sahih al-Bukhari because he documents the opinions of al-Bukhari rahimahullah not just in Hadith but also in fiqh. At-Tirmidhi narrates in his Jami' that al-Bukhari al-Imam al-Bukhari said.
[Silence]
So he says that al-Bukhari said, "The most authentic narration regarding the timings of prayers of the various prayers is the narration of Jabir." So it's the most authentic and what does he mean by that? He means by a single narration mentioning all of the five prayers timings. He says Dhuhr is from as from once the sun crosses its zenith until everything is its own length shadow-wise. He says al-Asr waqtuhu min sayrurati dhilli mithlahu ila ghurubi shams. He says Asr, "Its time is from when everything is its own length shadow-wise until the sun sets." Notice the words of al-Bukhari very specific here. He says, "Until the sun sets." He says, "Al-Maghrib.
[Silence]
He says, "And the time for Maghrib is once the sun sets up until the red the redness in the western horizon completely dissipates and is gone is no longer visible due to the other narration of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in Sahih Muslim, the time for Maghrib is as long as there is still redness in the western horizon.".
[Silence]
He says, "And the time for Isha is from when the redness in the western horizon has dissipated up until the first half of the night has completely passed due to the other narration of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam also in Sahih Muslim, the time for Salat al-Isha is up until the first the end of the first half of the night.".
[Silence]
[Arabic recitation]
When the sun when the dawn first breaks until the sun itself is visible until the disc of the sun rises." Due to the other narration of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam also in Sahih Muslim, he says, "The time of the morning prayer Fajr is from when the dawn first breaks until the sun has risen until the the sun is visible." Now, having said that, we will hear some other narrations regarding Isha. We will hear some other narrations regarding Asr. We'll discuss those details in sha Allah when we arrive at that.