And the last of its time is when the sun turns yellow and its first rim disappears below the horizon, as is stated in the previously-cited reports of Abū Hurayrah and Ibn ʿAmr. This is further indicated by the Prophet’s words: “Whoever catches one rakʿah of ʿAṣr before the sun sets has caught the ʿAṣr prayer” (agreed upon). This is the position of the majority, as noted in Nayl al-Awṭār (2/267), and it is also the view of Abū Ḥanīfah, Abū Yūsuf, and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan—may Allah have mercy on them—as related by al-Ṭaḥāwī ⦗90⦘. As for al-Shawkānī’s remark, “Abū Ḥanīfah said its final time is the yellowing,” that is evidently a separate report traced back to Abū Ḥanīfah.

Even so, it is not permissible to delay the prayer until that period of yellowing, just before sunset, except for a valid excuse. The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said: “That is the prayer of the hypocrite: he sits watching the sun; when it is between the horns of Satan he springs up and pecks out four quick units, remembering Allah only a little” (reported by all the compilers except al-Bukhārī and Ibn Mājah). Al-Tirmidhī (300) records the view that such a delay is disliked from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, and Isḥāq, and the same was held by Ibn Ḥazm (3/164).

This prayer is the middle prayer. On the Day of the Trench the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said: “May Allah fill their graves and houses with fire, for they kept us busy from the middle prayer until the sun had set” (agreed upon). Muslim, Aḥmad, and Abū Dāwūd add: “They kept us from the middle prayer—namely the ʿAṣr prayer.” Numerous other authentic reports convey the same meaning, and, as al-Tirmidhī states (1/342), this is the opinion held by most of the scholars among the Companions and those who followed them.