Explanation of the Book of Prayer-03

The Shaykh : Then he said: "And from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said:

One of the best deeds is to offer Salat (prayer) in its early time.

أفضل الأعمال الصلاة في أول وقتها

Bulugh al-Maram 2:23

. Al-Tirmidhi and al-Hakim narrated it, and they graded it as authentic, and its root is in the two Sahihs" The best of prayer, yes, The best of deeds means bodily deeds, because deeds are divided into two categories: bodily deeds in the external limbs and spiritual deeds in the internal limbs.
And the question now is about the external bodily deeds. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And prayer is a general term that includes Fajr, Zuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, and 'Isha, and Zuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, 'Isha, and Fajr; it includes all the prayers. But it has been mentioned to us previously that some prayers are better to delay. Which ones? First: 'Isha, absolutely. Second: Zuhr in the intense heat. So, what was mentioned earlier is a specification of this generality. However, what the author indicated in *the two Sahihs* is not with this wording, but with another wording, which is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So, if the prayer is at its time, it means that if its time is at the beginning of the time, it is better; if its time is at the end of the time, it is better. This makes it consistent with the other hadiths and does not require an exception.