Have you been trying to figure out the times of the five daily prayers? Or maybe you just want to know how the time is calculated without using a clock.
Read the second part: https://muslim-news.com/times-of-the-five-daily-prayers-part-2/
What is the wisdom behind the allocation of these times for prayer?
Is There Any Way Other Than Clock To Know The Times The Five Daily Prayers?
Yes, there is a way to know the time of Solat.
Let me ask you. Is there any wall clock or wristwatch at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)? Have you ever think of what they are using to find the times of prayer?
In case you don’t know, it is just the sun and the shadow of an object placed inside the sun. Just like the moon is used in calculating months. The sun is for calculating the hours and minutes.
Don’t freak out if you don’t know how to find the times of the five prayers. That’s what you will learn by reading this article.
Let get started.
The Prophet (PBUH) Mention The Times Of The Prayers
Let understand the whole rule of finding the times, before jumping through and getting a clear picture.
The times of the prayers were mentioned by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in the hadith:
“The time for Zhuhr is from when the sun has passed its zenith and a man’s shadow is equal in length to his height until the time for ‘Asr comes.
The time for ‘Asr lasts until the sun turns yellow.
The time for Maghrib lasts until the twilight has faded.
The time for ‘Isha’ lasts until midnight.
The time for Subh (Fajr) prayer lasts from the beginning of the pre-dawn so long as the sun has not yet started to rise.
When the sun starts to rise then stop praying, for it rises between the two horns of the Shaytan.” – Muslim, 612
By reading through this Hadith, you should have to know the basics of the time of the five prayers.
Just the basic.
However, I know it will still be hard for you to understand it in detail. And that’s why you should continue reading.
Times Of The Five Daily Prayers
The times of the prayers were mentioned by the Prophet (PBUH) in the above hadith under the subheading “The Prophet (PBUH) Mention The Times Of The Prayers”
As the Hadith explain, the timings of the five daily prayers are not majorly calculated by the clock, but rather by the sun and shadow.
However, the clock can also be used as a means of knowing the time of Solat, especially if the time has already been know using the sun and shadow.
1. What Is The Time Of Zhuhr?
The Prophet (PBUH) said: “The time for Zhuhr is from when the sun has passed its zenith and a man’s shadow is equal in length to his height (this is the end time) until the time for ‘Asr comes.”
Here, the Prophet (PBUH) let us know the beginning and the end of the time for Zhuhr.
This means when the sun has passed the highest part of the sky and started to descend towards the west.
How To Know When The Time For Zhuhr Has Begun
For instance, put a stick in an open place. When the sun rises in the east, the shadow of this stick will fall towards the west.
The higher the sun rises, the shorter the shadow will become.
As long as it keeps growing shorter, it means the sun has not yet reached its zenith.
The shadow will keep on growing shorter until it reaches a certain point, then it will start to increase, falling towards the east.
So when it increases by even a small amount, then the sun has passed its zenith. At that point, the time for Zhuhr has begun.
How to know when the time for Zhuhr has ended
When the shadow of everything is equal in length to the object itself, plus the length of the shadow of the object at the time of the zenith. That’s the end of the time for Zhuhr.
Go back to the stick which you place in the sun earlier.
Assuming that its length is one meter. You will notice that before the sun reached its zenith, the shadow decreased gradually until it reached a certain point (make a mark at this point), then it started to increase, at which point the time for Zuhr began.
However, the shadow will continue to increase, falling towards the east until the length of the shadow is equal to the length of the object itself.
It will be one meter long, starting from the point marked at the zenith.
As for the shadow before the mark, that is not counted, and it is called fay’ al-zawaal (the shadow of the zenith).
Read the part 2 of the series: https://muslim-news.com/times-of-the-five-daily-prayers-part-2/
At this point, the time for Zuhr ends and the time for ‘Asr begins right away.
And Allah knows best.
