above the horizon until it has risen high; when the sun stands at its zenith until it begins to decline; and when the sun approaches sunset until it has set.”

The time of the sun’s zenith is not mentioned in most of the hadiths. Al-Bukhārī did not include the hadith concerning it, but Muslim transmitted it from ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Āmir and ‘Amr ibn ‘Abasah. Al-Sunābihī also related a corroborating report.

Ahmad relied on these three reports. When the concession allowing prayer at midday on Friday was mentioned to him, he said:

“This is reported from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through three routes: the hadith of ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Āmir, the hadith of ‘Amr ibn ‘Abasah, and the hadith of al-Sunābihī.”

Al-Khiraqī did not include this among the times when prayer is prohibited. Rather, he said:

“One may make up missed obligatory prayers, perform the prayer associated with circumambulation, and repeat the prayer if one is in the mosque when the call to commence prayer is given and has already prayed—all during any time when prayer is prohibited: after Fajr until sunrise, and after Asr until sunset.”

This implies that there are no prohibited times other than these two. It also implies that the prayers he permits may be performed during the prohibited times, in accordance with one of the two reported positions. It further implies that the prohibition is tied to the performance of the prayer, for he said, “After Fajr until sunrise,” and did not say “Fajr.” Had the prohibition applied from the onset of dawn, he would have excepted the two rak‘ahs; instead, he excepted both the obligatory and the voluntary prayer. These are also the Messenger’s own words: he prohibited prayer after the Fajr prayer until sunrise, just as he prohibited prayer after Asr until sunset.