“Maintain the prescribed prayers, especially the middle prayer, and stand before Allah in devout obedience. If you are in fear, then pray on foot or while riding; but when you are safe, remember Allah as He has taught you what you did not know.” (238–239)

Allah’s saying, “Maintain the prescribed prayers, especially the middle prayer,” means: Be constant and persistent in observing the prescribed prayers at their appointed times, within their proper limits, and with all their essential elements completed. He then singled out the middle prayer from among them for particular observance, indicating its excellence. Wustā is the feminine form of awsaṭ, and the middle of a thing is its finest and most balanced part.

The scholars among the Companions and those after them differed concerning the middle prayer. One group held that it is the dawn prayer. This was the view of Umar, Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Muʿadh, and Jabir; it was also held by Ata, Ikrimah, and Mujahid. Malik and al-Shafiʿi inclined to this view, because Allah Most High says, “And stand before Allah in devout obedience.” Devout obedience means prolonged standing, and the dawn prayer is distinguished by its prolonged standing and by the qunūt supplication. Moreover, Allah singled it out from among the prayers in another verse, saying: “And the dawn recitation—for the dawn recitation is witnessed.” (17:78) That is, it is attended by the angels of the night and the angels of the day; thus, it is recorded in both the register of the night and the register of the day. It also falls between two prayers that may be combined, while it is neither shortened nor combined with any other prayer.

Another group held that it is the noon prayer. This was the view of Zayd ibn Thabit, Abu Saʿid al-Khudri, and Usamah ibn Zayd, because it occurs in the middle of the day and is the middlemost of the daytime prayers in length.