—and Fajr is even more burdensome for them, for the chance to show off is altogether lost. That is one reason. Another is that both the ʿIshāʾ and Fajr prayers coincide with times of rest and sleep. In the Prophet’s ﷺ time, people did not stay up late the way they do today; they would go to bed soon after ʿIshāʾ and rise for Fajr—some granted by Allah the favour of rising for night prayer, others getting up for Fajr itself. Both prayers, then, weigh heavily on the hypocrites.
Therefore a believer should be keen to perform the ʿIshāʾ and Fajr prayers. Yet ʿIshāʾ is not superior to ʿAṣr; rather, ʿAṣr is the more virtuous. For this reason Fajr is linked to ʿAṣr as well as to ʿIshāʾ. It is paired with ʿAṣr in the Prophet’s saying, “Whoever performs the two cool prayers will enter Paradise,” and again in his words ﷺ: “You will see your Lord just as you see the full moon on a clear night. If you can avoid being overpowered with regard to the prayer before sunrise—Fajr—and the prayer before sunset—ʿAṣr—then do so.”
Moreover, when Fajr and ʿIshāʾ are both performed in congregation, it is as though a person has stood in worship the whole night. Likewise, had people known the reward contained in ʿIshāʾ and Fajr, they would come to them even if they had to crawl. So, my Muslim brother, be diligent in all the prayers and guard them consistently, for