becomes imperative to turn to the other hadiths that state explicitly when ʿIshāʾ ends, such as his ﷺ saying, “The time for the ʿIshāʾ prayer lasts until the middle of the night….” Muslim and others relate it, and it has already been quoted in full earlier in this book. Supporting it is the letter ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb wrote to Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī: “…Pray ʿIshāʾ any time between now and one-third of the night; if you delay it, then up to half the night—but do not be among the heedless.” Mālik, al-Ṭaḥāwī, and Ibn Ḥazm all transmit this with an authentic chain.

This report is clear proof that the time for ʿIshāʾ extends only to midnight, and that is the correct view. Al-Shawkānī therefore chose it in al-Durar al-Bahiyya, saying, “…and the last time for the ʿIshāʾ prayer is midnight.”¹ Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān adopted the same position in his commentary (1/69–70). The view is also ascribed to Mālik, as recorded in Bidāyat al-Mujtahid, and was preferred by a group of Shāfiʿīs, including Abū Saʿīd al-Isṭakhrī and others; see al-Majmūʿ 3/40.

Benefit: The night ends with the appearance of true dawn, a point on which all scholars agree, as noted in the source just cited.