Whoever preferred Ibn ʿUmar’s report set the preferred end of ʿAṣr at the moment the sun turns yellow.

Whoever favored Abū Hurayrah’s ḥadīth said: “The time for ʿAṣr lasts until only one rakʿah can be performed before sunset.” These are the adherents of the Literalist school (Ahl al-Ẓāhir), as noted earlier.

As for the majority, when they weighed Abū Hurayrah’s and Ibn ʿUmar’s reports against the narration of Ibn ʿAbbās—which appears to oppose them completely—they chose the path of reconciliation. The boundaries mentioned in the narrations of Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn ʿUmar are close to one another, which is why Mālik at times ruled according to the one and at other times according to the other. The wording in Abū Hurayrah’s report, however, is far removed from both and markedly different; therefore they said that Abū Hurayrah’s ḥadīth applies only to those with valid excuses.

Third issue: They disagreed about Maghrib—does it have an extended window like the other prayers or not? One group held that its time is a single, non-extended period; this is the more widely transmitted position from Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī. Another group maintained that its time is indeed expansive, lasting from sunset until the disappearance of twilight; this was the view of Abū Ḥanīfah, Aḥmad, Abū Thawr, and Dāwūd, and it has also been reported from Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī.

The cause of their disagreement is the seeming conflict between the account of Jibrīl’s leadership and the ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar. In the former it is stated that he performed Maghrib on the two consecutive days at the same moment, whereas in the latter the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “The time for Maghrib lasts so long as the twilight has not disappeared.” Whoever gives precedence to the account of Jibrīl’s leadership regards Maghrib as having only one fixed moment, while whoever prefers ʿAbd Allāh’s report allows an extended time.

The narration of ʿAbd Allāh is recorded by Muslim, whereas neither of the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) included the account of Jibrīl’s leadership—that is, the report of Ibn ʿAbbās—in which Jibrīl led the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—in ten prayers at specified times, then said to him, “The time is between these two.” What appears in ʿAbd Allāh’s ḥadīth is likewise found in the narration of Buraydah al-Aslamī, also recorded by Muslim, and it is a foundational text in this chapter. They say that Buraydah’s ḥadīth is weightier, for it took place in Madinah when someone asked about the prayer times, whereas the account of Jibrīl occurred at the very beginning of the obligation, in Mecca.

Fourth issue: They differed over the ʿIshāʾ prayer in two respects: first, its beginning; second, its end. Regarding its beginning, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and a group of scholars held that it begins when the redness disappears. Abū Ḥanīfah maintained that it begins when the whiteness that follows that redness disappears. The root of their disagreement is that the Arabic word shafaq, like the word fajr, is used with more than one meaning