Reading the Explanation
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The Reciter: Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "As for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) delaying the 'Asr prayer until the sun had set, this was before the revelation of the prayer of fear. The scholars stated that it is possible that he delayed it out of forgetfulness, not intentionally, and the cause of the forgetfulness was being occupied with the matter of the enemy. It is also possible that he delayed it intentionally due to being occupied with the enemy, and this was an excuse for delaying the prayer before the revelation of the prayer of fear. However, today it is not permissible to delay the prayer from its time because of the enemy or fighting; rather, one should perform the prayer of fear according to the circumstances. It has known types in the books of Islamic jurisprudence, and we will refer to its objectives in its chapter in this explanation, if Allah wills. Know that in this hadith, here and in al-Bukhari, it is stated that the missed prayer was the 'Asr prayer, and its apparent meaning is that no other prayer was missed. In al-Muwatta', it is stated that it was the Dhuhr and 'Asr prayers, and in other narrations, it is stated that he delayed four prayers: Dhuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, and 'Isha', until the night had passed. The way to reconcile these narrations is that the Battle of the Trench lasted for days, so this happened on some days and that on others. His statement in the hadith of 'Aishah: 'So I dictated to you: "Guard the prayers and the middle prayer, and the 'Asr prayer." This is how it is in the narrations, with "and the 'Asr prayer" using the conjunction "wa" (and). Some of our companions used this as evidence that the middle prayer is not the 'Asr prayer, because the conjunction implies difference. However, our school of thought holds that an anomalous reading is not used as evidence and does not have the ruling of a report from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), because its transmitter did not transmit it except as Qur'an...".