is also a time when one may hope to have one’s supplication answered; thus, both are times when supplications are answered. Even if the particular hour is the last hour after ‘Asr, it is a fixed hour of the day, neither earlier nor later. The time of prayer, however, follows the prayer itself, whether it is held earlier or later. The Muslims’ gathering, their prayer, and their humble and earnest supplication to Allah all contribute to their supplications being answered. Thus, the time when they gather is a time when an answer may be hoped for. Understood in this way, all the hadiths agree, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) urged his community to supplicate and beseech Allah at both these times.

A parallel is his statement when asked about the mosque founded upon piety. He said, “It is this mosque of yours,” pointing to the mosque in Medina (1). This does not exclude the mosque of Qubā’, concerning which the verse was revealed, from being founded upon piety; rather, both were founded upon piety. Likewise, his statement concerning the hour on Friday, “It is between the imam’s sitting down and the completion of the prayer” (2), does not contradict his statement in the other hadith, “Seek it in the last hour after ‘Asr” (3).

A similar example concerning the use of names is his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): “Whom do you consider childless among you?” They replied, “Someone who has never had a child.” He said, “The childless person is one none of whose children have preceded him in death” (4). He thus described this person as childless, since he has not received the reward through his children that someone whose child has gone before him has received.