and by permitting actions that are not performed in times of security.1
80- The “prayer of fear” (ṣalāt al-khawf) is abundantly attested in the Prophetic Sunnah and is mentioned by all the leading imams. It is rigorously established that the Prophet ﷺ performed it in several different forms.2
The jurists’ opinions on the prayer of fear during close combat
81- When the fighting reaches the point of hand-to-hand engagement,3 the jurists hold three views:
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The majority maintain that the combatants pray according to their circumstances while still facing the enemy. This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī and others and is the apparent view of Aḥmad.
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They may postpone the prayer; this is the view of Abū Ḥanīfah.
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They are given a choice between the two options; this is one of the two reports from Aḥmad.
82- His—Exalted is He—statement: “Guard diligently your prayers, especially the middle prayer, and stand before Allah in devout obedience. If you are in fear, then (pray) on foot or mounted” (al-Baqarah 2:238),
together with the authentic ḥadīth4 that, during the Year of the Trench, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “They kept us from the middle prayer, the ‘ʿAṣr prayer,’ until the sun had set. May Allah fill their houses and graves with fire,” has been cited, along with other evidence, as proof for