twenty-four hours. Yet Allah’s power rises above all of that, and Allah is Able to do all things.

The Companions seldom asked about cosmic or predestinarian matters, for they were convinced of Allah’s omnipotence. What concerned them were the practical religious rulings. Thus, when he informed them that the first day would last as long as a year, they said, “Messenger of Allah, that day which is like a year—will one prayer be enough for us?” He replied, “No. Estimate its length and pray accordingly,” meaning: work out the usual intervals between the obligatory prayers and perform them.

For instance, when dawn breaks they pray Fajr; after the normal span between dawn and the sun’s zenith they pray Zuhr, even though the sun is still at the far eastern horizon—where it will remain for six full months. They simply calculate the intervals. Consequently, on that first day they will perform a whole year’s cycle of prayers, fast one month, and reckon zakah in the same way. Someone might even puzzle over this and say, “Wealth that was owned for only one day, yet zakah became due on it!”

Likewise, on the second day they will calculate a month’s worth of prayers, on the third a week’s, and by the fourth day time returns to its normal pattern. Allah’s prompting the Companions to ask this question is itself a lesson, for in the far north and far south of the earth today there are people for whom the sun disappears—or remains—for six months. Without this hadith people would have been bewildered: how should such inhabitants pray and fast? Now we apply this prophetic guidance to their situation and say: those whose sun is absent or present for six continuous months must estimate their prayer times just as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed the Companions regarding the days of the Dajjal.