His statement: ( . . . . to the middle of the night ) Does this permit delaying the 'Isha' prayer until the middle of the night?

The questioner : His statement Did the prayer end before the middle of the night, or did it begin?

The Shaykh : No, this is understood to mean that it ended at the middle of the night.

The questioner : Or perhaps some people use it as evidence for the permissibility of delaying the prayer until after the middle of the night.

The Shaykh : No, we say there is a possibility in this, and we have a clear text: the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And we have informed you before that if a text that allows for interpretation is found alongside a text that does not allow for interpretation, the former is understood in light of the latter. Three, two? Yes.