For this reason, scholars agree that a prayer may be repeated both during the time exclusive to it and during the time it shares with another prayer (1). Thus, one may perform the noon prayer after the time of the afternoon prayer has begun, and delay (2) the afternoon prayer until the sun begins to turn yellow. The prayer of one who does this is valid, but he bears the sin of delaying it. He is among those censured in the words of Allah Most High:
“So woe to those who pray, yet are heedless of their prayer.”
[Surah al-Mā'ūn: 4–5]
And in His words:
“But they were succeeded by generations who neglected prayer and followed their desires.”
[Surah Maryam: 59]
For delaying it (3) beyond the time in which it must be performed constitutes neglecting it and being heedless of it. To my knowledge, there is no disagreement concerning this among scholars (4). Reports to this effect have also been transmitted from the Companions and the Successors.
It is authentically established that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said concerning rulers who delay the prayer beyond its appointed time:
“Perform the prayer at its appointed time, and let your prayer with them be a voluntary prayer.” (5)
They would only delay the noon prayer until the time of the afternoon prayer, and the afternoon prayer
(1) Manuscript wāw reads: “or the shared [time].”
(2) Manuscript wāw reads: “or delays.”
(3) The wording “For delaying it” appears only in manuscript bā’. The other manuscripts read: “For neglecting it is delaying it,” while manuscript nūn reads: “For neglecting it is its delay.”
(4) The words “among scholars” are absent from manuscripts nūn and mīm.
(5) The hadith is recorded in Muslim, 14/449, Book of Mosques and Places of Prayer, chapter “The Reprehensibility of Delaying the Prayer.” Its wording is: Abū al-Āliya al-Barrā’ reported: “I said to Abd Allāh ibn al-Sāmit, ‘On Fridays, we pray behind rulers who delay the prayer.’ He struck my thigh hard enough to hurt me and said, ‘I asked Abū Dharr about that, and he struck my thigh and said: “I asked the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—about that, and he said: ‘Perform the prayer at its appointed time, and regard your prayer with them as a voluntary prayer.’”’” Abd Allāh added: “I was told that the Prophet of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—struck Abū Dharr’s thigh.” The hadith is also narrated from Abū Dharr—may Allah be pleased with him—in Sunan al-Dārimī, 1/279, Book of Prayer, chapter “Praying Behind One Who Delays the Prayer Beyond Its Appointed Time”; al-Musnad, al-Halabī ed., 5/159. See also 4/338.