Explaining the time for the entry of the 'Asr prayer with an experiment

The questioner : 'Asr, my Shaykh, how is the time determined?

The Shaykh : Ah, 'Asr, we are done here now.
The student : It has passed, my Shaykh, certainly.

The Shaykh : That is enough.
The student : Now I have placed a ruler showing that it has passed.

The Shaykh : Very good, very good. Now let us assume this pole, its shadow is moving from here, right? Its length is, for example, ten centimeters. The shadow's length is ten centimeters. Keep in mind that the shadow varies in length and shortness depending on the seasons of the year. It is longest in the height of winter and shortest in the height of summer, because the sun rises high in summer, so what shortens? The shadow. In winter, it tilts toward the south, so it lengthens. Now, therefore, from here, the mu'adhdhin's job is a precise one, but everyone is ignorant now. The shadow of this pole is equal to it at the time of zawal, right? When does 'Asr occur? It occurs when the shadow of the object becomes equal to it plus the shadow of zawal. That is, when the shadow of this pole becomes double its length. So now we can measure and do this: this is one, this is two.
The student : The time for 'Asr has arrived.

The Shaykh : The time for 'Asr has arrived.
The student : If it reaches here, the time for 'Asr has arrived.

The Shaykh : Yes... there is no longer any benefit in any case.
The student : Because...
Another student : Now he needs to take a circle that is not in this position.
The student : This is the first one, this is the second one.

The Shaykh : Yes, but this one, this one, it is possible that it moves.
The student : ... .

The Shaykh : The important thing is that the idea is now clear, meaning, but it will not be precise except by means of circles, yes.
The student : And then, meaning, now if we leave it now, now 'Asr has come, when we find its length is here, and again its length is again, it becomes here.

The Shaykh : Now I am telling him the same experiment at the time of 'Asr, but it has slipped now, let it be.
The student : No, Shaykh, it has not slipped, this is it.

The Shaykh : No, it has slipped. Where is the base? Where is the center?
The student : Okay, my Shaykh, let this be.

The Shaykh : It has slipped.
The student : Put it back, this one before... let us put it back.
Another student : No, this one, this one is fixed, this one.

The Shaykh : No, just as I am telling Ibrahim, it is fixed, put it back where it was, here. The shadow tilts a little. No, you have no control over it, this is not precise, my brother. This, when you tilt it, look at what it will give you. No, no, put it back, put it back. Yes, take it toward the east. Let the head be at this line.
The student : If Allah wills, if Allah wills, like that, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : No, put it back a little.
The student : Like this?

The Shaykh : Approximately. Put it, look. No, look, its length is equal to the shadow.
The student : It is tilted, my Shaykh, this one.
Another student : Meaning its length, my Shaykh, meaning this one.

The Shaykh : Its length a second time, its length a second time.
The student : This one is here like this, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : No, no, because the shadow tilts, it needs to come like that.
The student : Done. We know that this is its length.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : This is its length now. Here, this is the shadow of zawal. We need to take the length of the pole a second time.

The Shaykh : Yes, but where will the shadow be? The shadow will be like that.
The student : Like that, meaning, this one, my Shaykh, if we did it... like that.
Another student : But where is the problem? The problem is with the women. There are many women, there are many women... they must stand up to pray, and the sunnahs, the shop owners who do not pray in the mosques.

The Shaykh : How? How?
The student : Meaning, in the mosques, usually they wait a quarter of an hour, they establish the prayer, or a third of an hour.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : So approximately, the time for the obligatory prayer is in its proper time, fixed.

The Shaykh : Yes, the sunnah has passed.
The student : But where is the problem? The problem is that the sunnahs go, the pre-prayer sunnahs.

The Shaykh : They have passed, and you performed them in the time of dislike.

The Shaykh : In the time of dislike, yes.
The student : The second matter is the women in the houses. When the adhan is called, they stand up and pray. And the people in the shops or at work or in such places, here is the problem.

The Shaykh : Yes, they advise the people in the houses at the time, and only delay.
The student : By Allah, I always tell the women that they should delay until the iqamah, to the time of iqamah.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : Now, this, my Shaykh, is the shadow of zawal?

The Shaykh : Yes, this is it. Now it is established that the base, its tilt, look, after the mark I made.
The student : Mark.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, marked.
The student : This is the mark, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Yes, but its tilt, its tilt. Yes, no, no, do not tilt it, my brother. Bring it here, where you put the mark. Yes, it needs to be shorter, a few centimeters.
The student : Shorter, yes. Yes, because this one has increased now. This one now has, meaning, increased beyond the shadow of zawal.

The Shaykh : Yes, it is also an approximate idea regarding 'Asr, meaning. What we want to give you is approximate, not definitive. Definitive requires this to be fixed and we take its length precisely with a wooden ruler. If we have a meter, we take it in centimeters and millimeters, then we measure the shadow exactly.
The student : I measured ten centimeters, as you mentioned, and another ten, it comes out to twenty centimeters.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : Twenty from the center.
Another student : Twenty, twenty centimeters.

The Shaykh : If the length of the pole is ten and the shadow of zawal is ten, then at that time, the time of 'Asr becomes when the length of the shadow is twenty, because the length of the pole is ten and the shadow of zawal is ten, so the total becomes twenty.
The student : My Shaykh, regarding this one you made, is it a wire or what, a nail?

The Shaykh : A nail.
The student : The one with the ten centimeters?

The Shaykh : Yes, and it is better if the nail, you know, becomes like this.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : It is better if its tip is like a needle, and the tip is longer.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : So that its head becomes like a needle, like a needle, it is more precise than if you made it a nail.
The student : It is possible if we used the needle.

The Shaykh : What is it?
The student : The needle.

The Shaykh : What is a needle?
The student : Meaning the long needle.

The Shaykh : Okay.
The student : The sewing needle.

The Shaykh : Okay, but the problem is how do you fix it on the wood or on the marble slab or something like that, because the one I made for myself was a wooden slab covered with what?
The student : Formica.

The Shaykh : Formica. With the effects of heat, cold, and snow, and this.
The student : It was affected.

The Shaykh : It became strong, meaning it broke, but I got a good experiment from it.
The student : Shaykh... marble, a screw went into it.

The Shaykh : He is not talking about the marble being the original. My father, may Allah have mercy on him, had this hobby. He was in Sham, in our house, he had placed a marble slab, and he had placed numbers, and he had placed this pole in the middle of the marble slab, and he knew the times.
The student : He used to pray on it.

The Shaykh : No, but he used to make astronomical observations that might contradict even what is related to fasting.