– “while the sun was still ḥayyah”: the ḥāʾ carries a fatḥah, the yāʾ (referred to by the early grammarians as the “doubled bāʾ”) is geminated, and the word ends with a tāʾ. Ḥayyah here means that the sun remained perfectly white, radiant, and intense in both heat and light. The initial waw is circumstantial, and the whole nominal clause functions as a ḥāl (circumstantial qualifier) for the subject of “he would return.” In other words, the sun’s “life” refers to the persistence of its disk and color, for change only begins when it nears the horizon.

– yanfatil: written with a fāʾ and a tāʾ (bearing a kasrah) after it. It means that he would turn toward the people behind him and dismiss them.

– jalīsuh (his companion): jalīs is on the pattern faʿīl, meaning “the one sitting,” i.e., the person directly next to him.

– bighalas: with two fatḥahs. Al-ghalas is the darkness of the last part of the night when it mingles with the first light of dawn.

– abṭaʾū: the verb abṭaʾa—yubṭiʾu means “his arrival was delayed.” From baṭuʾa (baṭuʾa–yabṭuʾu, pattern qaruba) comes baṭīʾ, “slow.”

– inshaqqa al-fajr: the basic verb shaqqa—yanshaqqu means “to split.” As Ibn al-Athīr says in al-Nihāyah: “the dawn is said to be ‘split’ when it rises,” as though the place of its rise is opened.

– al-ghadāh (or al-ghudwah with ḍamma on the ghayn): the early morning. Some define it as the period between the Fajr prayer and sunrise.

– lā yakād: kāda is one of the verbs of approximation indicating that something is about to occur. Al-Miṣbāḥ explains: “kidt an afʿala” means “I nearly did but did not,” whereas “mā kidtu afʿal” means “I did, but only after hesitation.” Hence the Qur’anic verse, “Then they slaughtered her, but almost did not” (Q. 2:71), meaning they slaughtered after much delay.

What is drawn from the ḥadith

1. It is recommended to perform the ʿAsr prayer at the very beginning of its time, for the Companions would pray with the Prophet ﷺ and still reach their dwellings in the farthest part of Madinah while the sun was high, white, and untinged by the yellow of late afternoon.

2. It is encouraged to delay the ʿIshāʾ prayer until a good portion of the night has passed, with the qualification that this applies