Explanation of the author's statement: "…and following it is the time of 'Isha' until the second dawn, which is the horizontal whiteness…"

The Shaykh : Then he said "and following it is the time of 'Isha' until the second dawn, which is the horizontal whiteness", and delaying it until the last third of the night is better if it is easy. "Following it" means following the time of Maghrib; the time of 'Isha' is until the appearance of the dawn, according to the author's statement, until the appearance of the second dawn, which is the horizontal whiteness. On this basis, the prayer of 'Isha' is the longest of the prayers in terms of time, because it covers almost the entire night, from the end of the time of Maghrib until the appearance of the dawn, the second dawn. The second dawn, he said, "which is the horizontal whiteness", the whiteness that stretches across the horizon from north to south.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) benefited us with his statement "until the appearance of the second dawn" by indicating that there is a first dawn, and indeed there is. The first dawn ends about an hour or an hour and a quarter before the second, or close to that. The scholars mentioned that there are three differences between it and the second dawn.
The first difference is that the first dawn is vertical, not horizontal; that is, it extends in length from east to west. And the second? It is horizontal, from north to south.
The second difference is that the first dawn is darkened; that is, this light lasts for a short time and then it becomes dark. The second dawn is not darkened, but rather its light and brightness increase.
The third difference is that the second dawn is connected to the horizon; there is no darkness between it and the horizon. The first dawn is disconnected from the horizon; that is, there is darkness between it and the horizon. These are three differences between the reality of this one and the reality of that one.
Does anything follow from the first dawn? No, nothing whatsoever from the matters of the Shari'ah follows from it, absolutely not. There is no abstention in fasting, and the prayer of Fajr is not permitted. The rulings are based on the second dawn.
So, until the second dawn, which is the horizontal whiteness, what is the evidence? As for the evidence for the entry of its time, it is the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As and the hadith of Jibril; all of them indicate that the time of 'Isha' enters with the setting of the red twilight. As for its ending at the second dawn, there is no evidence for it, no evidence except for an evidence that has no indication. It is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said They said, "So this is evidence that the times of the prayers are connected." Is there any evidence in this hadith? There is no evidence, because his statement that it is negligence to delay the prayer until the time of the other prayer enters means in cases where their times are connected. For this reason, the prayer of Fajr does not include the prayer of Zuhr by consensus, because the prayer of Fajr does not extend to the prayer of Zuhr by consensus. If that is the case, then it is obligatory to return to the other evidences. If there is no evidence in this, then it is obligatory to return to the other evidences.
The other evidences do not contain any evidence indicating that the time of 'Isha' extends to the appearance of the dawn, absolutely not. The hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As and the hadith of Jibril all indicate that the time of Fajr ends at the middle of the night.

The questioner : 'Isha'.

The Shaykh : 'Isha', I mean, that the time of 'Isha' ends at the middle of the night. This is what the Sunnah indicated, and it is also what the apparent meaning of the Qur'an indicated, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said in the Qur'an—Ya Fahd—what does it say? So it becomes obligatory at the declining of the sun, meaning from the declining of the sun. But the letter "lam" was used to indicate that the entry of the time is the cause of the obligation, i.e., the reason. The evidence is that the "lam" here means "from," but the "lam" was used to clarify the cause. The evidence for the limit is "until," and the limit is all beginning, or is it not? It has a beginning. As if he said "from the declining of the sun until the darkness of the night", but the "lam" was used, as I said, as a reference to the fact that the entry of the time is the cause of the obligation. For this reason, the jurists (may Allah have mercy on them) said that the time is a cause and a condition: a cause for the obligation of the prayer and a condition for its validity.
So, from the declining to the darkness of the night, when is the darkness of the night? At its middle, meaning when the night is at its darkest. Yes, in the middle, when the sun is at its midpoint in the horizon from the other side of the earth. This is the darkness of the night.
So, from the middle of the day, which is its zenith, to the middle of the night, Allah made this one time because the times of the obligatory prayers in it are continuous, or connected to one another, is that not so? Zuhr is followed by 'Asr, which is followed by Maghrib, which is followed by 'Isha'. So, is what is after the limit included or excluded?

The questioner : Excluded.

The Shaykh : What is after the limit is excluded. For this reason, He separated and said So He separated and made Fajr independent. This indicates that of the five prayers, four are consecutive and one is separate. This is what the Sunnah also supports, indeed the Sunnah is explicit in this.
So the correct view is that the time of 'Isha' is until the middle of the night. But what is meant by the middle of the night? Is the night from the setting of the sun to its rising, or from the setting of the sun to the appearance of the dawn? As for the Arabic language, both are called night. For this reason, you find in the dictionary it says "from [the setting of the sun] to the appearance of the dawn or the rising of the sun" is night. But in the Shari'ah, the apparent view is that the night ends with the appearance of the dawn.
On this basis, we say that the middle of the night for the prayer of 'Isha' is from the setting of the sun. That is, the night that is halved in order to know the prayer of 'Isha' is from the setting of the sun to the appearance of the dawn. So you halve what is between them, and what is between them is the end of the time.
So this is the stronger position, to which the evidences do not point except to it, and that what is after the middle of the night is not a time for an obligatory prayer, but rather it is a time for voluntary prayer and tahajjud.