and its period then continues in force until the sky grows bright. Once full daylight appears, the time of choice has passed, and it is not permissible for someone who has no excuse to delay it until the sun actually rises before he has performed at least one rakʿah of it.

Mālik said: the “middle prayer” is the dawn prayer, because its window is so short, and of all the prayers none ever escaped the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—except the dawn prayer, which he once performed after sunrise. These, then, are what are called the “times of convenience.”

As for those who are constrained or have a valid excuse—such as a boy who reaches puberty, an unbeliever who embraces Islam, a menstruating woman who becomes pure, or an unconscious person who regains consciousness—each of them, if he or she catches even a single rakʿah before maghrib, is to pray ʿaṣr. If he manages, before sunset, a span of time equal to five rakʿahs, he prays ẓuhr and ʿaṣr together. Likewise, if they catch four rakʿahs before the break of dawn, they pray maghrib and ʿishāʾ; if the remaining time is less than that, they pray only ʿishāʾ.

With regard to the menstruating woman, Mālik takes into account her finishing the ritual bath: provided she has not been negligent, if she completes her ghusl and finds time for one rakʿah, she acts according to what we have just described. Other authorities do not impose any fixed limit for the bath; the obligation is waived for her, just as it is for someone in a state of janābah.

Fajr never combines with any other prayer—whether one is resident, travelling, or in any other circumstance. Combining maghrib and ʿishāʾ on a rainy night is a dispensation and an easing of hardship, yet praying each of them in its own time is preferable, for anyone who is not travelling, except in the Prophet’s Mosque. This is the version transmitted by the people of Medina from Mālik; Ziyād also related it from him, though the distilled position of his school according to most of his disciples