Which Prayer Did the Prophet Call Most Important?
Understanding Prayer Timings and the Identification of Salat al-Wusta
Summary
Sh. Ali Mashhour begins with a community announcement regarding the mother of MCCT's president, whose janazah will be held today at salat al-zuhr (12:40 PM). The primary content focuses on a detailed study of prayer timings (mawaqit al-salah) from Al-Wajeez fi Kitab al-Salah. Sh. Ali Mashhour explains the framework for the five daily prayers, discussing when each prayer begins and ends. He then addresses the identification of Salat al-Wusta (the middle prayer), which Allah commands Muslims to guard with special care. Through a hadith narrated by Ali ibn Abi Talib, Sh. Ali Mashhour establishes that Salat al-Asr is the middle prayer, using the historical context of the Battle of al-Khandaq (the Trench) to illustrate this point. During this intense siege, Muslims were so preoccupied with defense that they nearly missed Asr prayer, prompting the Prophet to emphasize its importance. Sh. Ali Mashhour provides details about the trench's construction and the military strategy employed, explaining how this historical event clarifies Islamic jurisprudence regarding prayer times.
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And the president of the MCCT, we all know brother Masood, his mother passed away a couple days ago, yesterday I believe in the morning. And her janazah will be held today at salat al-zuhr 12:40. And then we will head to the cemetery right after inshallah. Again, that's today at at salat al-zuhr 12:40.
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Al-wajeez fi kitab al-salah in the chapters regarding the timings of prayer, mawaqit al-salah. We've discussed the general framework for the timing of each prayer, zuhr, asr, maghrib, isha, and fajr. We We mentioned the starting time and the ending time in the narration of Jabir ibn Abdillah collected by Tirmidhi and others. And we discussed this narration and we mentioned that this narration discusses the idyllic time to pray in each of the prayers. The general principle that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam gives us is that every prayer ends at the beginning of the next, except for Fajr. Every prayer ends, its time ends, at the start of the next prayer, the following prayer. So, ends at the start of ends at the start of of Isha, and Isha ends at the start of Fajr. However, Fajr is the only salah that is the odd one out of that and does not fit into that general framework. For this reason, some of the scholars have considered Fajr to be a salah al-wusta, the middle prayer. However, it's very important for us to identify which prayer is a salah al-wusta. Which prayer is the middle salah? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has said,.
[Arabic recitation]
Be mindful guarding of your prayers and especially the middle prayer. So, we have a general command of all prayers, but specifically the middle one. So, we need to identify which is the middle prayer. The author says, "A salah al-wusta ma hi?".
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An Ali radiyallahu anhu qala, "Qala.
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Yawm al-ahzab, Shaghaluna an al-salat al-wusta, salat.
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Quburahum naran.
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238th verse of Surat al-Baqarah, "And be mindful and dutiful in fulfilling your prayers and especially the middle prayer." On the authority of Ali ibn Abi Talib, he narrates that the messenger of Allah Sallallahu alayhi wasallam said on the day of al-Ahzab, "The Battle of al-Ahzab is also known as the Battle of what?" "The Battle of the Confederates is also known as the Battle of Huh? al-Khandaq, the Trench. The Battle of the Trench. What was the Battle of the Trench? Well, essentially, Medina has different fronts. In the backside, there are walls and villages that were able to protect it. But, there was one side of it that was very, very exposed. And so, being that they did not have enough forces to combat the huge amounts of confederates, it's called the confederates because all of the known enemies of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam at the time got together. They could never agree, but they agreed on this. Got together and attacked Medina trying to put an end to the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Islam once and for all. So, the back end was protected and mainly occupied by Banu Banu an-Nadir, a Jewish tribe that was on the outskirts. They were into importation, farming, and arms dealing. And they had a truce and an allegiance to the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam to protect the Muslimin from that angle. And so Salman al-Farsi being that he was exposed to you know, Persian warfare and the Persians were one of the two superpowers at the time, he posed the suggestion that they should dig a giant trench that is deep enough and long enough that the military would be impeded if they all tried to enter all at once. The trench wasn't all all the way around Medina. It was just in this part. It was about 15 m long and about 6 m deep. So, if you can imagine this 15 m long and about 6 m deep, 15 m is probably roughly to where Abu Usama is, the pillars there. And so, if a cavalry or or soldiers tried to get in, they would have to go down into this pit. And this would slow them down enough to be able to fend them off with arrows. And if any stragglers get across, they can be dealt with as they get across. And so, this is what they did. They dug the trench and they had to guard this trench. They had to mind it. And so, the Muslimin were there and this went on for about 10 days. A little over 10 days where they were fighting and guarding this trench and they had to take shifts to mind the trench, right? And so, one day when it became ex- especially vicious, the fighting, they had to all be there, and they could not leave for a moment. And so, what happened? They continued to fend them off until the sun set. They had not prayed Asr yet. And the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, "They have distracted us from the middle prayer. May Allah fill their homes and their graves with fire for doing so." What is the middle prayer based on this context? Salat al-Asr. Ali narrates that it is Salat al-Asr that they collectively missed, and then they later joined Asr and Maghrib together when the fighting died down due to the dark. So, this is the story of the trench, and this is the strongest opinion, and it's the opinion of Aisha radiyallahu anha. In her recitation of Surat al-Baqarah, she would recite in one recitation, "Hafizu ala salawati wa.
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Nas'al Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala an.
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