What time is forbidden to pray?

Are there forbidden hours to pray?  And, why? That’s what we will find out in this article. During the day there are five hours that you are not allowed to pray in which there are three periods during which you can’t offer both obligatory and supererogatory prayers. , What are forbidden prayer times?

What are the forbidden times of prayer?

Those three forbidden prayer times are as follows:

1) At the time of sunrise.

2) At the time of Zawal (when the sun is at its absolute zenith or midday), and

3) At the time of sunset.

However, what if I didn’t pray the Asr yet and it’s the time of sunset, can’t I pray Asr? In this case, you are allowed to pray Asr, what’s more, important is that you don’t let a prayer go by without praying it.

Besides those three periods there are other two hours here it is forbidden to offer supererogatory prayers in or as it is said “Makrooh”.

However, it is allowed to pray any obligatory prayers that are due on you because you couldn’t pray it on time.

These two hours are:

•         From the offering of Fajr Salah till sunrise.
•         And from the offering of ’Asr Salah till sunset.

When can you not pray Asr?

It’s forbidden to pray at the time of sunset; however, if you couldn’t pray Asr at the time then you can pray at the time of sunset.  

To sum this out, what times are you not allowed to pray?

•         At the time of sunrise.
•         the time of Zawal (when the sun is at its absolute zenith or midday).
•         At the time of sunset.
•         From the offering of Fajr Salah till sunrise.
•         And from the offering of ’Asr Salah till sunset.

 

When can you not pray Fajr?

Amr Salmi says that he asked Prophet Muhammad, “O Messenger of Allah! Tell me something that Allah has informed you about and I am unaware of that. Tell me something, especially in relation to Salah”.

Why are there forbidden prayer times in Islam?

Prophet Muhammad said, “After offering the Morning Prayer, refrain from offering any other prayer till the time the sun rises properly because the sun comes out from between the two horns of Satan, and at that very moment non-believers who worship the sun prostrate before it. You can pray only after the sun has risen a bit from the ground because each and every Salah is presented in Allah’s court. However, do not offer Salah when the spear loses its shadow (at midday) because this is the time when Hellfire is fed with fuel.

And, after midday, as the shadow gets bigger and bigger, you can once again offer Salah because it is presented before Allah. When you have performed the ’Asr Salah then you should once again refrain from offering any other Salah until sunset because the sun sets between the two horns of Satan and at that very moment non-believers who worship the sun prostrate before it” (Muslim).

Also, Prophet Muhammad said, “After the morning prayer there is no prayer to be offered till the time the sun has risen a little above the ground, and after offering ’Asr prayer it is not appropriate to offer any other prayer till sunset” (Bukhari).

 

How long after sunrise can I pray Fajr? And what about the other prayers?

So, how long after sunrise can I pray fajr? You can pray Fajr until the time of sunrise (until the Fajr prayer ends). Once the praying time of Fajr is over you should wait 15 minutes before you pray. That’s what our prophet instructed us to do.

Why is it forbidden to pray at sunrise? Because the sun comes out from between the two horns of Satan and at that very moment non-believers who worship the sun prostrate before it.

At the zawaal time (when the sun starts going down) it takes a few minutes. And also, our prophet instructed that we shouldn’t offer any prayers. We then can pray before the afternoon prayer starts by ten minutes.

Although praying at sunset is not allowed, however, if you didn’t pray Asr and it is the time of sunset then you can pray Asr. But you need to know that it’s not right to pray Asr at that time, and you shouldn’t delay salah al-Asr to that time.

 

References of Authentic Hadiths for forbidden times of prayer.

The Forbidden prayer times are:

1) At the time of sunrise.

2) At the time of Zawal (when the sun is at its absolute zenith or midday), and

3) At the time of sunset.

4) From Fajr Salah till sunrise.

5) From Asr Salah till sunset.

 

Here are forbidden times of prayer based on hadiths and sunnah:

‘Amr b. ‘Abasa said:

After the Prophet had gone to Medina I went there, and I visited him and said, “Tell me about the prayer.” He replied, “Observe the Morning Prayer, then stop praying when the sun is rising till it is fully up, for when it rises it comes up between the horns of the devil, and the infidels prostrate themselves to it at that time. Then pray, for the prayer is witnessed and angels are attendant at it, till the shadow becomes about the breadth of a lance; then cease prayer, for at that time jahannam is heated up. Then when the shadow moves forward to pray, for the prayer is witnessed and angels are attendant at it, till you pray the afternoon prayer; then cease prayer till the sun sets, for it sets between the horns of the devil, and at that time the infidels prostrate themselves to it.” [Sahih, Mishkat al-Masabih 1042, Book 4, Hadith 460]

Narrated Ibn `Umar: “I pray as I saw my companions praying. I do not forbid praying at any time during the day or night except at sunset and sunrise.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 589, Book 9, Hadith 64]

Narrated ‘Uqbah bin ‘Amir: “There were three times at which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to forbid us to pray or bury our dead – when the sun begins to rise till it is fully up, when the sun is at its height midway till it passes the meridian, and when the sun draws near to setting till it sets, or as he said.” [Sahih, Sunan Abi Dawud 3192, Book 21, Hadith 104]

Narrated Nafi`: “Ibn `Umar never offered the Duha prayer except on two occasions: (1) Whenever he reached Mecca; and he always used to reach Mecca in the forenoon. He would perform Tawaf around the Ka`ba and then offer two Rakat at the rear of Maqam Ibrahim. (2) Whenever he visited Quba, he used to visit it every Saturday. When he entered the Mosque, he disliked to leave it without offering a prayer. Ibn `Umar narrated that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) used to visit the Mosque of Quba (sometime) walking and (sometime) riding. And he (i.e. Ibn `Umar) used to say, “I do only what my companions used to do and I don’t forbid anybody to pray at any time during the day or night except that one should not intend to pray at sunrise or sunset.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 1191, 1192, Book 20, Hadith 4]

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to ‘Amr ibn ‘Abasah (may Allaah be pleased with him): “Pray Fajr, then refrain from praying until the sun has risen and become high”. [Saheeh Muslim (832)]

Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘There is no prayer after ‘Asr prayer until the sun has set, and no prayer after Fajr prayer until the sun has risen.’” [Al-Bukhaari (586) and Muslim (728)]

 ‘Amr ibn ‘Abasah al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “I said, ‘O Prophet of Allah, tell me what Allah has taught you and I do not know, tell me about the prayer.’ The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘Pray Subh (Fajr) prayer, then do not pray until the sun has appeared and risen… then pray for your prayer is witnessed and attended (by the angels), until the shadow of spear points due north  – which is the time when the sun is in the middle of the sky – then stop praying, for at that time Hell is stoked up. When the shadow turns – which is the beginning of the time for Zuhr – then pray, for your prayer is witnessed and attended (by the angels), until you pray ‘Asr. Then stop praying until the sun sets…” [Muslim (832)]