Glossary of the ḥadith:
• “lā ṣalāh” – the particle lā here negates in the sense of a prohibition, i.e. “do not pray.”
• “two prostrations” – meaning two complete rakʿahs; this is a figure of speech in which a part is named while the whole is intended, as the second narration explains.
Points derived from the ḥadith:
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The phrase expresses a negation that carries the force of a prohibition against offering any voluntary prayer after dawn has broken, except the two rakʿahs of fajr, which are the regular sunnah attached to the fajr prayer.
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It indicates the permissibility of praying the two rakʿahs of fajr once dawn has entered and that this is their appointed time. This, however, is opposed by stronger evidence, such as the report in al-Bukhārī (1995) and Muslim (827) from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “There is no prayer after the fajr prayer until the sun rises,” and by the ḥadith in al-Bukhārī (581) stating that the Prophet ﷺ “forbade prayer after the dawn prayer until the sun rises.” Al-Majd remarked in al-Muntaqā that these sound texts show the prohibition related to fajr is not tied merely to the appearance of dawn.
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The author may have cited this ḥadith to show the permissibility of making up the two rakʿahs of fajr after performing the obligatory fajr prayer, even though it falls within a time in which prayer is otherwise forbidden.