—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in the report of ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr. This is the best of the hadiths concerning prayer times, because it explains them in the Prophet’s own words, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“The time for the dawn prayer lasts until the sun rises; the time for the noon prayer lasts until the shadow of each object equals its height; the time for the afternoon prayer lasts until the sun turns yellow; the time for the sunset prayer lasts until the twilight glow disappears; and the time for the night prayer lasts until the middle of the night.”

Something similar has been narrated from Abū Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, though this report is open to question. Imam Ahmad relied on these hadiths because of his extensive knowledge of the Sunnah. Other imams received some of these hadiths but not others, so they followed what had reached them. Whoever follows what has reached him has done well, and no blame attaches to those who do good.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in more than one hadith:

“There will be rulers who delay the prayer beyond its proper time. So perform the prayer at its proper time, then let your prayer with them be a voluntary prayer.”

This proves that it is not permissible to delay the first prayer until the time of the second, nor to combine prayers without a need. Those rulers did not delay daytime prayers until night, or nighttime prayers until day. At most, they delayed the noon prayer until the time of the afternoon prayer, the afternoon prayer until the sun turned yellow, or the sunset prayer until the twilight disappeared. As for the night prayer, delaying it until the middle of the night would not be disliked. No one used to delay it beyond that, nor is that something rulers do.