Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (6/1013)

Silsilat al-Ahadith al-SahihahNasir al-Din al-Albani

I have found a third narration that lends further support to both of them. It is narrated by Israʾil, from al-Miqdam ibn Shurayh, from his father, who said: I asked ʿAʾishah about how the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, used to pray. She said: “He would perform the midday prayer, then pray two rakʿahs afterwards; then he would perform ʿAsr, then pray two rakʿahs afterwards.” I said: “But ʿUmar used to strike people for performing these two rakʿahs and forbid them from doing so.” She replied: “ʿUmar himself used to pray them, and he knew that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, used to pray them. But your people, despite their religious devotion, are a crude rabble: they pray Zuhr, then pray between Zuhr and ʿAsr; and they pray ʿAsr, then pray between ʿAsr and Maghrib. So ʿUmar struck them, and he did well.”

Abu al-ʿAbbas al-Sarraj recorded it in his Musnad (folio 132/1). I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic, and it is a strong corroborating report for the two narrations mentioned above. It is an unequivocal statement that ʿUmar’s prohibition of the two rakʿahs, may Allah be pleased with him, was not because of the prayers themselves, as many people suppose. Rather, it was out of fear that people would continue praying after them, or delay them until the disapproved time, when the sun begins to yellow. This is the time intended by the prohibition of prayer after ʿAsr that is established in hadiths, as was explained previously under hadiths 200 and 314.

In sum, the two rakʿahs after ʿAsr are sunnah, provided that ʿAsr and these two rakʿahs are performed before the sun begins to yellow. ʿUmar’s striking people for them was only his independent legal reasoning, with which some of the Companions agreed and which others opposed, foremost among them the Mother of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with her. Each side had supporters, so it is necessary to return to the sunnah. It is firmly and authentically established through the narration of the Mother of the Believers, with no opposing proof except the general prohibition, which is qualified by the hadiths of ʿAli and Anas referred to earlier by their numbers.

This also appears to have been Ibn ʿUmar’s position, for al-Bukhari (589) narrated from him that he said:

وقد وقفت على رواية ثالثة تشد من عضدهما، وهي من رواية إسرائيل عن المقدام ابن شريح عن أبيه قال: سألت عائشة عن صلاة رسول الله ﷺ كيف كان يصلي؟ [قالت:] " كان يصلي الهجير ثم يصلي بعدها ركعتين، ثم يصلي العصر ثم يصلي بعدها ركعتين. فقلت : فقد كان [عمر] يضرب عليهما وينهى عنهما؟ فقالت: قد كان عمر يصليهما، وقد علم أن رسول الله ﷺ [كان] يصليهما، ولكن قومك أهل الدين قوم طغام، يصلون الظهر، ثم يصلون ما بين الظهر والعصر، ويصلون العصر ثم يصلون ما بين العصر والمغرب، فضربهم عمر، وقد أحسن ". أخرجه أبو العباس السراج في " مسنده " (ق ١٣٢ / ١) . قلت: وإسناده صحيح، وهو شاهد قوي للأثرين المشار إليهما آنفا، وهو نص صريح أن نهي عمر ﵁ عن الركعتين ليس لذاتهما كما يتوهم الكثيرون، وإنما هو خشية الاستمرار في الصلاة بعدهما، أو تأخيرهما إلى وقت الكراهة وهو اصفرار الشمس، وهذا الوقت هو المراد بالنهي عن الصلاة بعد العصر الذي صح في أحاديث كما سبق بيانه تحت الحديثين المتقدمين برقم (٢٠٠ و ٣١٤) . ويتلخص مما سبق أن الركعتين بعد العصر سنة إذا صليت العصر معها قبل اصفرار الشمس، وأن ضرب عمر عليها إنما هو اجتهاد منه وافقه عليه بعض الصحابة، وخالفه آخرون، وعلى رأسهم أم المؤمنين ﵂، ولكل من الفريقين موافقون، فوجب الرجوع إلى السنة، وهي ثابتة صحيحة برواية أم المؤمنين، دون دليل يعارضه إلا العموم المخصص بحديث علي وأنس المشار إلى أرقامهما آنفا. ويبدو أن هذا هو مذهب ابن عمر أيضا، فقد روى البخاري (٥٨٩) عنه قال: