The Times of Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ

Question: I am a teacher from the Syrian Arab Republic who has been seconded to the brotherly Yemeni Arab Republic. I was posted to an area whose prevailing madhhab differs from mine, which is the Shāfiʿī school. In this locality they perform the ʿIshāʾ prayer only half an hour after the adhān of Maghrib. I am not inwardly convinced of this practice, but I discussed it with them. One of them said to me that there is a ḥadīth stating, “The time for ʿIshāʾ is after the disappearance of the red twilight,” and that this interval is estimated to be just half an hour after the Maghrib adhān. Consequently, I pray ʿIshāʾ with them in congregation. Is my doing so permissible, or must I go home and perform ʿIshāʾ after its true time begins? And if praying with them is not permissible, what is the ruling concerning my past prayers? Please advise me, and may Allah bless you.

Answer: The time for the late-night prayer (ʿIshāʾ) begins when the red twilight disappears, as mentioned in the ḥadīth. As for your statement that there is only half an hour between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ, I can conceive of that happening only if they are delaying Maghrib until a mere half hour remains before the disappearance of the red twilight. In that case the prayer is valid. What matters is that once the red twilight has vanished, the time for ʿIshāʾ has entered; so if you perform it after the red twilight is gone, you have offered it within its proper time.

The time for Maghrib, however, begins the moment the sun sets, and I find it difficult to imagine that there would be only half an hour between sunset and the disappearance of the red twilight unless they postpone Maghrib from its initial time until only half an hour remains before the twilight disappears. In doing so they would be mistaken, because they have delayed Maghrib past the start of its appointed time, whereas it is better for Maghrib to be performed at the very beginning of its time.