When Should Muslims Refrain from Praying?
Prayer Timings in Islam and the Prohibition of Praying at Sunrise, Zenith, and Sunset
Summary
Sh. Ali Mashhour delivers a detailed explanation of prayer timings based on a hadith from Sahih Muslim narrated by Absah. The lecture covers the specific times when Muslims should and should not pray throughout the day, including the prohibition against praying at sunrise, when the sun is at zenith, and at sunset. Sh. Ali Mashhour explains that these prohibitions are rooted in the pre-Islamic practice of sun worship, where disbelievers would prostrate to the sun during its rising and setting. He clarifies that the phrase 'between two horns of a devil' refers to anything that distracts from the worship of Allah, illustrated through an anecdote about a man obsessed with pigeons who neglected his prayers.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
At 7:30. Also, ASA is at 4:45. These prayers have changed.
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Never.
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Mind. Alhamdulillah. Continuing in the book of prayer in the timings of salah and we had arrived at the narration of Absah. And abs tells us that when he arrived in Medina, the prophet sallall.aii wasallam informed him of the times in which he should pray and the times in which he is not permitted to pray. And so he says to this companion, our nar narrators, our prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam said.
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He says pray the prayer of mourning is referred to as al is referred to as both are correct. And so he says pray the morning prayer and then refrain from praying until the sun rises until the sun rises clearly above the horizon. We mention this is about 15 minutes. He says because when the sun rises it rises between two horns of a shaitan of a devil and at that time the disbeliever prays and makes sud towards it. He says,.
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He says, "And then after the sun has risen clearly above the horizon, then proceed to pray for indeed prayer at that time," meaning between you know after sunrise when the sun rises until high noon vhor time until high noon when the sun is exactly in the center of the sky the prayer is witnessed by angels and witnessed and documented and written. He says and then refrain from praying once a stick has no shade. So once there is no more shade left around, this is the time when we refrain from praying again. What does that mean? When there is no more shade, meaning when the sun rises and it is exactly in the middle of the sky. If we were on the equator where he is sallaihi wasallam. When the sun rises and it is right in the middle of the sky, the the light is coming straight down on things. There is no shade to the right or to the left. At this time, stop praying. refrain from praying because at this time the hellfire is kept up and reignited. Right? He says, "And continue in refraining from prayer until the sun crosses its zenith and a bit of shade starts to appear to items again, then you may continue and proceed to pray again." He says,.
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Muslim. He says, "After which continue to pray and pray until you make upon completing once again refrain from praying." And refrain from praying until the sun sets. For indeed when the sun sets, it sets just as it rises between two horns of a shaitan. And at that time the disbelievers are the ones who are praying to the sun. This narration is in Muslim. So what exactly does this narration mean? So in Jahidya people worshiped all kinds of things and they worshiped celestial objects and of the most prominent of those is the sun and the moon and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala clearly prohibits in the Quran and says he says do not make sujud to the sun nor to the moon rather make sujud to Allah Now if a person were to wish to prostrate himself and bow himself in worship of the sun, when is the sun most in front of him? Obviously when it is first rising and when it is setting, right? That's when you can face the sun and it is appearing to be straight in front of you and your prayer and prostration is to the sun. And so this is the most prominent time when they would pray to the sun. And they figured this into their lore and into their belief system that the sun makes itself available for its worshippers to worship it while it is setting and while it is rising. And we are to thank the sun when it rises and thank the sun when it sets. And so the Muslim, they are to differentiate themselves from this. And so it is not permissible to pray during those optimal times when they used to pray to the sun and to all other things except for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And as for and this is the meaning of this is the meaning of between two horns of a devil. He doesn't say the devil. He says shan a devil and that is that a shaitan in the Arabic language is anything that takes a person off of the path of Allah or anything that distracts from Allah. It is referred to as a shan by the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. So in the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam saw a man following a pigeon trying to catch it. See I got your attention now. And when he saw this he said to the companions listen to what he says. He commented on this man and he said, "This is one devil chasing after another." What does this mean? Does this mean it's haram to admire pigeons? No, of course not. But have you ever met probably some of us that have grown up overseas, you've met some people, every village has one, someone who is obsessed with pigeons. They keep them on the roof. They upkeep them. They right? You remember this? We every every village has one of these guys. But they become so obsessed with this hobby that it distracts them from everything. Everything. They don't take care of themselves. They don't mind if their house smells. They don't mind anything. What matters is the pigeon. And if and they might have 600 pigeons, but if one of them is missing or walking different, they will notice it immediately. And so this man is one of those guys, one of the guys that is so absorbed in this sport of pigeon racing and training and collecting and so forth that it distracts him from salah. It distracts him from the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And even as the prophet Muhammad himself sai wasallam is present, he's not worried about that. He's worried about the pigeon. Right? So the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam commented on this and said he says one devil chasing another doesn't mean all pigeons are devils doesn't mean this man is a devil meaning he's going to hell it means in this respect he is sidetracked and this is his fitna this pigeon and so to him it is a shaitan and to himself self. He is a shaitan to others. All right? So a shaitan in the Arabic language is used to refer to anyone or anything that takes or distracts from the path and the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is the meaning here where he says when it sets when it ra rises it rises and sets between two horns of a shaan. Meaning this is the time in which people in were taken from the path of Allah because of the movements of this sun.
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