Home » Hanafi Fiqh » Qibla.com » About Delaying the Asr & An Important Note

About Delaying the Asr & An Important Note

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

How much time before magrib is it considered “zawal” time, is it 15 -20 min before magrib?…say if one is late for asr and wants to pray right before the scheduled magrib time, is that allowed? does the asr prayer count as “on time” if prayed in that period?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

Walaikum assalam,

1. “Zawal” only refers to the time when the sun it at its peak (the zenith).

2. The disliked time for Asr is when the sun draws close to setting, such that its rays are now weaker. The fuqaha defined it as being when you can look towards the sun without it dazzling your eyes. [Tahtawi] It would range from 20 to 30 minutes (or more) before depending on where you are and the time of year.

3. The rulings related to this time:

  • It would to prohibitively disliked (makruh tahriman), though valid, to pray any nafl prayers, even such things like the mosque greeting prayer (tahiyyat al-masjid) or the wudu prayer;
  • It would be prohibitively disliked to delay one’s Asr prayer to this time. However, it would of course remainobligatory for you to pray it within the time, and seek forgiveness for this remissness;
  • It would be invalid to pray any makeup prayers at this time. That is, you would sin for praying them at this time, and they would not count. [Taken from Maraqi al-Falah, and Ibn Abidin]

Note: that the fuqaha mention that even travel, sickness or food are not excuses to delay the Asr prayer to this time. [Tahtawi, Ibn Abidin]

Walaikum assalam,
Faraz Rabbani.

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

Read answers with similar topics: