Nawafil after Asr Prayer
Question:
Salam brother,
Offering Nawafil after Asr is not allowed by Prophet PBUH due to Sun worshipers used to do their prayers to Sun at that time. Can we not associate this instruction for sahaba & tabieens. reasons as under.
1- Now you do not see people worshiping Sun.
2- In west you are facing Kaaba in east & Sun is at your back, so there is no way anyone can associate me as sun worshiper if i am offering nawafil after Asr.
3- If above reasons are not valid then Asr timings should not be till Maghrib because at some point you are in that grey area.
please clarify.
Answer:
Before answering your question and commenting on your reasoning allow me to provide three points as background information. These can help with looking at this subject from a wider perspective:
1. While there are some Hadiths forbidding reading Nawafil after the Asr prayer, there are also some Hadiths that narrate that the Prophet (pbuh) used to read two Rak'ah non-obligatory prayers after Asr. For instance:
"A'isihah said: Anytime God’s messenger (pbuh) came to my house after the Asr he prayed two Rak’ah."
(Bukhari, 593)
The scholars of Islam have tried to find a reconciliation between Hadiths like the above and the ones that narrate that the Prophet (pbuh) forbade reading prayers after the Asr, however there is no agreement on this. Some believe that the Prophet (pbuh) did not continue to read this prayer. Others believe that the Prophet (pbuh) read it for a specific reason (i.e. missing the after-the- Zuhr- non-obligatory prayers) but then continued reading it regularly because once he read it, as a prophet, he would make it upon himself to make it his habit and to read it every day. Others consider this prayer to be specific to the Prophet (pbuh). Then there are those who believe that the directives that forbid reading prayers after Asr have abrogated the allowance that can be derived from the above Hadith. However, others have said the opposite, i.e. it is the above allowance that have abrogated the forbidding directives.
(Refer to Fat'h al-Bari, Sharh al-Bukhari by Ibn Rajab, 5:78-100)
2. The above is perhaps one of the reasons that the four famous schools of Feqh have different views about reading Nafl after Asr. While Hanafies and Habalies do not allow it, Malikies and the famous view among the Shafe'ies do allow it but consider it disliked (Makruh). For your information, the dominating view among the Shia scholars is that reading prayers after the Asr prayer is neither forbidden nor disliked.
3. There are another groups of Hadiths that narrate that the Prophet (pbuh) prohibited praying and burying the dead during sunrise and sunset and when the sun is in its meridian. It is likely that the Hadiths that forbid reading prayers after the Subh prayer and after the Asr prayer in fact refer to the times when it gets very close to sunset or sunrise.
*******
With the above points in mind, I now proceed to answer your question and comment on your reasons:
You suggest that at our time it is fine to read Nafl after the Asr prayer. You have provided three reasons for this:
Reason one: "Now you do not see people worshiping Sun."
The issue is not really about having or not having sun worshipers around. The issue is about not doing something that could make others see us as sun worshipers. You might be interested to know that some of the contemporary critics of Islam consider Islam to be an originally moon worshiping religion, due to its use of lunar calendar!
Also, at the time of the Prophet (pbuh) there was another danger, and that was the possibility that some of the Arabs (who were not quite close to the Prophet (pbuh) and his companions) could get it all wrong and think that it is not just the timing of the prayers that is associated with the sun and that the prayers are in fact at least partially for the sun.
Reason two: "In west you are facing Kaaba in east & Sun is at your back, so there is no way anyone can associate me as sun worshiper if i am offering nawafil after Asr."
This does not seem to be a valid reason. The Prophet (pbuh) was living in Medina and to pray in Medina one needs to face South to be in the direction of Qibla. So the same thing that you suggest applies there. The main issue was not about facing the direction of the sun, but was about reading prayers at the time when people used to pray for sun".
Reason three: "If above reasons are not valid then Asr timings should not be till Maghrib because at some point you are in that grey area."
You have a point here and this is where what I wrote for point 3 applies. To my understanding the Hadiths that forbid reading prayers after Asr refers to the situation where the time was very close to sunset.Therefore that grey area, as you mentioned, to my understanding does not exist. It is only a very short time just before sunset that reading prayers can be associated with sun worshiping.
To conclude:
At our time if Muslims pray after the Asr prayer or even near the time of sunset, there is almost no chance to be associated with sun worshipers. Every one knows or can easily come to know that Muslims do not pray to the sun.
On the other hand it seems like the real significant forbidden times for prayers were during the sunset and the sunrise and that the advice against praying after the Asr and the Subh prayers was really to avoid the sunset and sunrise times.
Accordingly I do not consider it a problem to read Nafl prayers after the Asr prayer and in this conclusion I am in agreement with you. I however prefer to avoid reading Nafl prayers during sunset (and during sunrise) to avoid any risk of being misunderstood.
----------------
March 2013
Salam brother,
Offering Nawafil after Asr is not allowed by Prophet PBUH due to Sun worshipers used to do their prayers to Sun at that time. Can we not associate this instruction for sahaba & tabieens. reasons as under.
1- Now you do not see people worshiping Sun.
2- In west you are facing Kaaba in east & Sun is at your back, so there is no way anyone can associate me as sun worshiper if i am offering nawafil after Asr.
3- If above reasons are not valid then Asr timings should not be till Maghrib because at some point you are in that grey area.
please clarify.
Answer:
Before answering your question and commenting on your reasoning allow me to provide three points as background information. These can help with looking at this subject from a wider perspective:
1. While there are some Hadiths forbidding reading Nawafil after the Asr prayer, there are also some Hadiths that narrate that the Prophet (pbuh) used to read two Rak'ah non-obligatory prayers after Asr. For instance:
"A'isihah said: Anytime God’s messenger (pbuh) came to my house after the Asr he prayed two Rak’ah."
(Bukhari, 593)
The scholars of Islam have tried to find a reconciliation between Hadiths like the above and the ones that narrate that the Prophet (pbuh) forbade reading prayers after the Asr, however there is no agreement on this. Some believe that the Prophet (pbuh) did not continue to read this prayer. Others believe that the Prophet (pbuh) read it for a specific reason (i.e. missing the after-the- Zuhr- non-obligatory prayers) but then continued reading it regularly because once he read it, as a prophet, he would make it upon himself to make it his habit and to read it every day. Others consider this prayer to be specific to the Prophet (pbuh). Then there are those who believe that the directives that forbid reading prayers after Asr have abrogated the allowance that can be derived from the above Hadith. However, others have said the opposite, i.e. it is the above allowance that have abrogated the forbidding directives.
(Refer to Fat'h al-Bari, Sharh al-Bukhari by Ibn Rajab, 5:78-100)
2. The above is perhaps one of the reasons that the four famous schools of Feqh have different views about reading Nafl after Asr. While Hanafies and Habalies do not allow it, Malikies and the famous view among the Shafe'ies do allow it but consider it disliked (Makruh). For your information, the dominating view among the Shia scholars is that reading prayers after the Asr prayer is neither forbidden nor disliked.
3. There are another groups of Hadiths that narrate that the Prophet (pbuh) prohibited praying and burying the dead during sunrise and sunset and when the sun is in its meridian. It is likely that the Hadiths that forbid reading prayers after the Subh prayer and after the Asr prayer in fact refer to the times when it gets very close to sunset or sunrise.
*******
With the above points in mind, I now proceed to answer your question and comment on your reasons:
You suggest that at our time it is fine to read Nafl after the Asr prayer. You have provided three reasons for this:
Reason one: "Now you do not see people worshiping Sun."
The issue is not really about having or not having sun worshipers around. The issue is about not doing something that could make others see us as sun worshipers. You might be interested to know that some of the contemporary critics of Islam consider Islam to be an originally moon worshiping religion, due to its use of lunar calendar!
Also, at the time of the Prophet (pbuh) there was another danger, and that was the possibility that some of the Arabs (who were not quite close to the Prophet (pbuh) and his companions) could get it all wrong and think that it is not just the timing of the prayers that is associated with the sun and that the prayers are in fact at least partially for the sun.
Reason two: "In west you are facing Kaaba in east & Sun is at your back, so there is no way anyone can associate me as sun worshiper if i am offering nawafil after Asr."
This does not seem to be a valid reason. The Prophet (pbuh) was living in Medina and to pray in Medina one needs to face South to be in the direction of Qibla. So the same thing that you suggest applies there. The main issue was not about facing the direction of the sun, but was about reading prayers at the time when people used to pray for sun".
Reason three: "If above reasons are not valid then Asr timings should not be till Maghrib because at some point you are in that grey area."
You have a point here and this is where what I wrote for point 3 applies. To my understanding the Hadiths that forbid reading prayers after Asr refers to the situation where the time was very close to sunset.Therefore that grey area, as you mentioned, to my understanding does not exist. It is only a very short time just before sunset that reading prayers can be associated with sun worshiping.
To conclude:
At our time if Muslims pray after the Asr prayer or even near the time of sunset, there is almost no chance to be associated with sun worshipers. Every one knows or can easily come to know that Muslims do not pray to the sun.
On the other hand it seems like the real significant forbidden times for prayers were during the sunset and the sunrise and that the advice against praying after the Asr and the Subh prayers was really to avoid the sunset and sunrise times.
Accordingly I do not consider it a problem to read Nafl prayers after the Asr prayer and in this conclusion I am in agreement with you. I however prefer to avoid reading Nafl prayers during sunset (and during sunrise) to avoid any risk of being misunderstood.
----------------
March 2013
