his tent while I was looking on, and he performed two rakʿahs.

From this it is clear that ʿAlī acted upon what his first report indicated to be permissible.

Ibn Ḥazm (3/4) also transmitted—on the authority of Bilāl, the Messenger of Allah’s muʾadhdhin—that he said: “He only forbade prayer at the time of sunset.”

I say: its chain of transmission is sound, and it is a strong corroboration of ʿAlī’s ḥadīth.

With respect to the two rakʿahs after ʿAṣr, Ibn Ḥazm affirmed their legitimacy on the authority of a group of Companions; whoever wishes may refer to his discussion.

The implication of the ḥadīth—that it is permissible to pray, even supererogatory prayers, after the ʿAṣr prayer and before the sun begins to yellow—is what ought to be relied upon in this matter over which opinions have proliferated. This was also the position of Ibn Ḥazm, following Ibn ʿUmar, as noted by al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī and others. Do not therefore be taken in by sheer numbers when those numbers stand in opposition to the Sunnah.

I subsequently found another route for the ḥadīth on the authority of ʿAlī with the wording: “Do not pray after ʿAṣr unless you pray while the sun is still high.”

It was recorded by Imām Aḥmad (1/130): “Isḥāq ibn Yūsuf narrated to us; Sufyān informed us, from Abū Isḥāq, from ʿĀṣim, from ʿAlī, that the Prophet ﷺ said”—and he cited the wording above.

I say: This isnād is good; all its narrators are trustworthy transmitters cited by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, except for ʿĀṣim—ʿĀṣim ibn Ḍumrah al-Salūlī—who is truthful, as stated in al-Taqrīb.

I further say: This additional chain only lends the ḥadīth more strength, all the more so because it comes through ʿĀṣim, who also transmitted from ʿAlī that the Prophet ﷺ would not pray after ʿAṣr. Because of that latter narration al-Bayhaqī claimed the ḥadīth was defective, a contention we have already answered above; our answer was confirmed when we located this ḥadīth through ʿĀṣim as well. So praise be to Allah for