Chapter: Making Up Missed Obligatory Prayers (1) and Observing Their Order

Narrated by Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah (may Allah be pleased with both of them): ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with him) came on the Day of the Trench after the sun had set, cursing the disbelievers of Quraysh. He said, “O Messenger of Allah, I very nearly missed the ʿAsr prayer; the sun was on the verge of setting.” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “By Allah, I have not prayed it either.” He continued, “So we rose and went to Buṭḥān. He performed ablution for the prayer, and we did likewise. He then prayed ʿAsr after the sun had already set, and after it he prayed Maghrib.”

Unfamiliar Terms:
1- “Day of the Trench”: The expedition of al-Aḥzāb, when the pagan Quraysh and allied tribes from Najd besieged Madinah.
2- “I very nearly”: The verb kāda belongs to the class of “verbs of near occurrence” and means that something was on the point of happening but did not.
3- “Set”: Al-Zarkashī vocalised the rāʾ with fatḥa and deemed the ḍamma reading incorrect. Here the meaning is: I did not pray ʿAsr until the sun was close to setting.
4- “Buṭḥān”: With ḍamma on the bāʾ and sukūn on the ṭāʾ; a valley in Madinah.

Overall Meaning:
ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of the Trench after sunset, cursing the pagan Quraysh because they had occupied him until he almost missed the ʿAsr prayer. To console ʿUmar, who was distressed, the Prophet ﷺ—ever truthful—swore that he too had not yet prayed it. He then rose, performed ablution, and the Companions did the same. He prayed ʿAsr after the sun had set, and immediately thereafter he prayed Maghrib.