but only to highlight the sin incurred by anyone who deliberately postpones a prayer until its time has completely elapsed—whether another prayer follows it, such as ʿAsr vis-à-vis Maghrib, or whether no prayer immediately follows it, such as Fajr in relation to Zuhr. The proof of this is that the hadith was narrated in connection with the Fajr prayer that the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions missed because they had fallen asleep while travelling. The Companions were greatly distressed by what had happened, whereupon he ﷺ said to them, “Do you not have in me a model to follow?” and then related the hadith; this wording appears in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and other collections. Had the hadith meant what they claim—that the valid time for each prayer continues until the time of the next prayer begins—it would have been an explicit text establishing that the time for Fajr lasts until Zuhr, something they themselves do not maintain. For that reason they were compelled to exclude Fajr from their rule, yet, as we have shown, the very context of the hadith invalidates this exclusion, since it concerns Fajr in particular—so how can it logically be exempted?

The fact is that the hadith was not transmitted to specify prayer times, but rather to condemn the intentional act of letting a prayer lapse beyond its appointed time altogether. Hence Ibn Ḥazm said in al-Muḥallā 3/178 while responding to their argument:

“This text in no way proves what they allege. They themselves agree with us that the time for the Fajr prayer does not extend to the time for Zuhr. It therefore follows that the report does not show that each prayer’s time runs into the time of the prayer that follows. All it establishes is that a person is sinful if he delays a prayer until the time of another prayer, whether the end of the former’s time directly meets the beginning of the latter’s or not. It does not state that one is free of negligence if he delays the prayer until its time ends where no subsequent prayer’s time has begun, nor that he is necessarily negligent; on that matter the report is silent. The clarification lies in other traditions that specify when the time for every prayer ends. Necessity dictates that whoever exceeds the time limit Allah Most High has set for any deed has transgressed the bounds of Allah, and He said: ‘And whoever transgresses the limits set by Allah—such are the wrongdoers.’ ”

Since it is now established that this hadith provides no evidence for extending the time of ʿIshāʾ until dawn, it