Fatawa of the Makkah Haram-1411-10a

The reciter: And he (may Allah have mercy on him) said, in what he narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas, who said: .

The Shaykh : Yes, this is also one of the hadiths related to the prayer times. And his saying: . means he delayed it until he prayed it in the darkness. means because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) delayed the prayer from its usual time. . He came out with his head dripping because he had performed ghusl, for the head cannot drip from wudu', since the obligation for the head in wudu' is wiping. And wiping cannot result in droplets, but he (peace and blessings be upon him) had performed ghusl. So he said: .
Good. This hadith indicates that the best thing regarding the 'Isha' prayer is to delay it, but until when? Until one-third of the night, and it is not permissible to delay it until after the middle of the night. However, the imam must take into account the people praying behind him. If being gentle with them means praying early, let him pray early. And if it means delaying, let him delay, as this is the original ruling. For this reason, it came in the hadith of Jabir: . But if the two options are equal, delaying is better. And if it causes hardship, praying early is better. So if a person is in charge of his own prayer, such as being in a place where there is no mosque around him, and he asked us and said: "Which is better, to pray 'Isha' at the beginning of its time or at the end of it?" We said: Answer them.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : At the end of it. And if a woman in her house asked whether it is better to pray early or delay? We said: It is better for her to delay it, I mean the 'Isha' prayer, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .