CHAPTER: The Time For ’Asr Prayer.
Anas bin Malik said the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم used to say the Asr prayer when the sun was high and bright and living, then one would go off to al-Awali and get there while the sun was still high.
Al-Zuhri said: Al-Awali is situated at a distance of two miles or three (from Madina). He (the narrator) said: I think he said: or four miles.
Khaythamah said: By the life of the sun is meant that you may find heat in it.
Aishah said: The Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم would offer the Zuhr prayer while the sunlight was present in her apartment before it ascended (the walls).
Narrated Ali ibn Shayban: We came upon the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم in Madina. He would postpone the afternoon prayer as long as the sun remained white and clear.
Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reported the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم as saying on the day of Battle of Khandaq (Trench). They (the unbelievers) prevented is from offering the middle prayer i. e. Asr prayer. May Allah fill their houses and their graves with Hell-fire.
Abu Yunus, the freed slave of Aishah said: Aishah commanded me to write for her come passage from the Quran. She also added: When you reach the following verse, inform me: Be guardian of your prayers and of the midmost prayer (2: 238). When I reached it, I informed her. She asked me to write: Be guardians of your prayers, and of the midmost prayer, and of the Asr prayer, and stand up with devotion of Allah (2: 238). Aishah then said: I heard it from the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم.
Zaid bin Thabit said: The Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم used to offer the Zuhr prayer in midday heat; and no prayer was harder on the Companions of the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم that this one. Hence the revelation came down: Be guardians of your prayers, and of the midmost prayer (2: 238). He (the narrator) said: There are two prayers before it and two prayers after it.
Abu Hurairah reported the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم as saying: If anyone says a rak'ah of the Asr prayer before sunset, he has observed (the Asr prayer), and if anyone performs a rak'ah of the Fajr prayer, he has observed (the Fajr prayer).
Ala bin Abdur-Rahman said: We came upon Anas bin Malik after the Zuhr prayer. He stood for saying the Asr prayer. When he became free from praying, we mentioned to him about observing prayer in its early period or he himself mentioned it. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم say: This is how hypocrites pray, this is how hypocrites pray, this is how hypocrites pray: He sits (watching the sun), and when it becomes yellow and is between the horns of the devil, or is on the horns of the devil, he rises and prays for rak'ahs quickly, remembering Allah only seldom during them.
Ibn Umar reported the Messenger of Allah صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم as saying: Anyone who loses his Asr prayer is like a person whose family has perished and whose property has been plundered. Abu Dawud said: Abdullah bin Umar narrated the word utira (instead of wutira, meaning perished). The dispute on this point goes back to Ayyub. Al-Zuhri reported from Salim on the authority of this father from the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم the word 'wutira'.
Al-Awzai said: Delaying the Asr prayer means that the sunshine becomes yellow on the earth.