Then, when he again wished to give the call to prayer, he said, “Wait until it cools.” Then, when he wished once more to give the call to prayer, he said, “Wait until it cools.” He then gave the call to prayer when the shadow equaled the small hills (1)—that is, near the time for the afternoon prayer. This is because, when an object’s shadow equals it, nothing remains of that shadow except the noon shadow; and in the summer days, when the heat is intense, the noon shadow is extremely short. Thus, the wording in the hadith, “until the shadow equaled the small hills,” means including the noon shadow. This is necessarily so, for if equality were reckoned after the noon shadow, the time for the noon prayer would already have ended. Therefore, in extreme heat, the noon prayer should be delayed until this time—that is, until near the time for the afternoon prayer.

Some scholars said instead: until fixed objects cast a shade in which one may seek shelter (2). But this is not a precise criterion, because if a building is tall, a shade in which one can seek shelter will be found sooner; whereas if it is low, the opposite is the case. So when would people have shade in which to walk?!

But the soundest view is that the shadow of everything should equal its length, with the noon shadow added to it—that is, near the time for the afternoon prayer. This is what truly constitutes delaying the prayer until it cools. As for what people used to do previously—praying about half an hour or an hour after the sun had passed its zenith, and then saying, “This is delaying it until it cools”—that is not delaying it until it cools at all! Rather, it is praying in greater heat, for it is well known that the heat is at its most intense about an hour after the sun passes its zenith.

So, if we assume, for example, that during the summer the sun passes its zenith at