3 – Maghrib

The first moment of Maghrib begins when the sun has set, and its last moment is when the twilight disappears. This is established in the hadith of Abū Hurayrah and in the hadith of Ibn ʿAmr that were cited at the start of this section.

The former ruling is unanimously accepted, whereas the latter is subject to disagreement. Some scholars maintain that Maghrib has only a single time window; they cite the previously mentioned hadith of Gabriel—peace be upon him—in which he led the Prophet in Maghrib on two consecutive days immediately after the sun went down, at the same time. This is the position of Ibn al-Mubārak and al-Shāfiʿī.

Authentic reports, however, indicate that Maghrib may be offered until the twilight vanishes. This is also one of the two opinions related from al-Shāfiʿī, both in his earlier and later views; a number of Shāfiʿī scholars classed it as sound, and al-Nawawī adopted and championed it—see his discussion in al-Majmūʿ (3/29–33). The hadith of Gabriel merely points to the optimal and preferred time, just as it does with respect to the ʿAṣr prayer.

The twilight (al-shafaq) intended here is the red glow, for the Prophet said: “The time of Maghrib lasts so long as the fiery red twilight has not fallen away.” Muslim records this (2/104) in the narration from Ibn ʿAmr mentioned above, and Abū Dāwūd transmits it with the wording “fawr al-shafaq,” which has the same meaning as thawr, i.e., its surge. Al-Nawawī remarks in al-Majmūʿ (3/36), “This describes the red, not the white.” Ibn Khuzaymah likewise relates it in his Ṣaḥīḥ, stating explicitly: “ʿAmmār ibn Khālid narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd narrated to us—” and so forth.