Explaining the times of the prescribed prayer.

The Shaykh : After that, at sunset, I go out holding a date in my hand, I stop here on the porch and look to see if the sun has set behind... I break my fast.

The questioner : You pray, and then you break your fast at the adhan.

The Shaykh : It is amazing [The Shaykh laughs!].

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : No, be patient, we still need to answer your question. Did you forget your question? This question from the Shi'ite. We are talking to you about the times; the times, my brother, the Lawgiver did not define them except by a natural means that every person with sight shares in observing and recognizing, whether he is a scholar, a student, or ignorant. It is this light that extends from the north to the south. This is the time of Fajr, and this advances and recedes as we said according to... The time of Dhuhr is fixed, it does not change or advance. It is only the clock, as we see in countries, they advance the clock and delay the clock, but the time does not change, like the rising and like the setting. Why? Because the time of Dhuhr in the Shari'ah definition is when the sun tilts toward the zenith toward the west a little. Suppose this is the south, not the qiblah. The south, you know, in some countries it is like this and in others like that. So this south, to know that the time of Dhuhr has arrived, we place a gnomon. A gnomon means an iron stick standing like this, but it must be vertical in appearance, not tilted like this or like that.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Good; we complete this. We observe the shadow of this gnomon. Do you know now, when the sun rises in the morning, how long is the shadow of this gnomon? Very long. As it comes, it shortens. What is the cause of its shortening...? The rising of the sun. Like this, it rises and rises, the shadow of this gnomon shortens and shortens and shortens until it reaches a point where you see it is neither long nor short. This is the time of makruh (disliked). Do you hear? It is necessary that prayer is disliked before Dhuhr. This is the time of makruh, and this time can be five minutes, seven minutes, not long. When you see the shadow of this gnomon tilt toward the east from one side and lengthen, it becomes the time of Dhuhr. Is this clear? Now we come to the time of the 'Asr prayer.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : This is it, and this Dhuhr does not change.

The questioner : ... the beginning of the time.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : The beginning of the time.

The Shaykh : Ah, of course, the entry of the time.

The questioner : The entry of the time...

The Shaykh : No, it is coming to the end of the time of the 'Asr prayer.

The questioner : The time of the 'Asr prayer.

The Shaykh : Ah, this shadow that tilted toward the east a little starts to lengthen now, because the sun is tilting toward the west, the opposite of the process of the sun's rising. When this shadow lengthens until it becomes the length of the gnomon, suppose the gnomon is one meter in length, its shadow becomes one meter. The time of 'Asr has not entered yet. When does the time of 'Asr enter? Here too, there is observation; that is why the job of the mu'adhdhins is a job that requires precision. This shadow, which the jurists call the shadow of the zenith, this shadow moves in its length and shortness. I, you imagine with me now, when it is winter, by the wisdom of Allah the Exalted, the sun tilts toward the south; such that the sun enters the rooms whose direction is south. And therefore, it is advised in building systems that the facade of houses and the facade of shops and the like should face what? The south, because the sun enters them when this place needs the heat of the sun. In summer, the sun is almost vertical, it does not come to the room; because it does not need it, it comes almost vertically.
My intention is, if you noticed this natural fact, the shadow of this gnomon at the time of the zenith lengthens and shortens with the tilt of the sun toward the south or its rising to the middle... We are now in this time when the sun has started to rise... We place this gnomon and we observe the shadow until it stops as we said. If it lengthens a little, we say what happened here? The time of Dhuhr has entered. We need to measure now how long is this shadow? Since the length of the gnomon is one meter, we need to see how long is the shadow? Suppose it is a quarter of a meter. We observe the shadow of this gnomon when its length becomes one meter, the length of the gnomon plus the shadow of the zenith which is a quarter, this is the time of the 'Asr prayer. And the time of the Dhuhr prayer extends to this time; meaning two and a half hours, meaning exactly approximately. The Arabs knew this before, and they, as He - the Exalted - said: illiterate, but this matter does not need philosophy, it does not need culture, it is something observed with the eyes. We come to Maghrib, simpler and simpler; merely when the sun sets, as he - peace be upon him - said: , this is also very, very simple.

Another questioner : My master, the sun has set, it is no longer visible.

The Shaykh : It is no longer visible, the sun has set, that is its meaning.

The questioner : ... the sun has set, its meaning is...

The Shaykh : Of course, but you need to observe the hadith. What is the hadith saying? and he pointed to the east. When you are in the valley, if you see that this light is still shining, the time of iftar has not yet arrived; because two conditions are required in it, but in reality, they seem to be interconnected; especially in countries like this. Then when you imagine yourself in a deep, deep valley and the two peaks are close, like two walls standing like this, and the person is like this in the valley, like in a trench, do you see? At that time, the darkness does not appear from the east side. You observe something, one day when the matter comes to your mind, you see when the darkness starts to come to us from the east, you do not see there in the west the sun rising... I heard it from his saying - peace be upon him - : ; meaning: it has become permissible for him to break his fast.
The fifth and last time remains, the time of 'Isha. There is also a natural phenomenon. When the sun sets, you must have seen one day a red twilight. As long as the red twilight is present, it is the time of Maghrib. When the red twilight disappears, it becomes the time of 'Isha. Today, between the red twilight and 'Isha is approximately half an hour. They delay, they delay, all these five times.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : He - peace be upon him - said: , contrary to what is prevalent among people that it extends to the rising of Fajr. No; so this is an explicit text from the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings be upon him - and it is authentic in the most authentic books after the Book of Allah and "Sahih al-Bukhari"; which is "Sahih Muslim", .

Another questioner : How do we determine...?

The Shaykh : Yes?

Another questioner : How do we determine...?

The Shaykh : As we said about the other times, how do we determine Fajr? How do we determine 'Isha? We need to keep observing the matter; so this determination is by observing the length and shortness of the night...