بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The preferred time for offering Ishā
Imām Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī said:
The narrations differ regarding the end of the preferred time (of ‘Ishā). It is narrated from Ahmad that it is the (first) one-third of the night… This is also the opinion of Umar ibn Al-Khattāb, Abū Hurayrah, Umar ibn Abdul-‘Azīz, and Mālik.
This is because in the hadīth of Jibrīl, he prayed with the Prophet (ﷺ) in the second time at (the first) one-third of the night and said: “The time is between these two (periods).” (Abū Dawūd 393. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī).
And in the hadīth of Buraydah, “the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed it on the second day at the (first) one-third of the night.” (al-Nasā’ī 520. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī).
And from Ā’ishah that the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “Pray it between the disappearance of twilight until (the first) one-third of the night.” (al-Nasā’ī 536. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī) And in her other hadīth: “They would pray between the disappearance of the twilight until (the first) one-third of the night.” (Sahīh al-Bukhārī 569)
…the second narration states that its end is the middle of the night, which is the opinion of Al-Thawri, Ibn Al-Mubārak, Abū Thawr, the people of opinion (i.e. Hanafīs) and one of Al-Shāfi’ī’s two opinions. This is based on what was narrated from Anas ibn Mālik who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) delayed the Ishā prayer until the middle of the night.” (Sahīh al-Bukhārī 572, Chapter: The time of Ishā extends until the middle of the night)
And from Abū Sa’īd Al-Khudrī who said: The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “If not for the weakness of the weak and the illness of the sick, I would have ordered this prayer to be delayed until half of the night.” (Abū Dawūd 422. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī) . And in the hadīth of Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr, from the Prophet (ﷺ) who said: “The time of Ishā extends until the middle of the night.” (Sahīh Muslim 612. Abū Dawūd 396)
The preferred option – Allāh willing – is not to delay it beyond the (first) one-third of the night, though it’s permitted to delay it until the middle of the night. (al-Mughnī 1/434, slightly abridged)
There is no evidence to show that it extends until Fajr
Imām Al-Albānī said:
The beginning of its time (i.e. ‘Ishā prayer) is when the twilight disappears, which is the red (twilight)…and this is the saying of the majority of the scholars.
And its end time is when the night reaches its middle, as in the previous hadīth of Abū Hurayrah and (Abdullāh) ibn ‘Amr.
This is the opinion of Ibn Hazm (2/164), and it has been narrated from Umar (رضي الله عنه): “And pray the Ishā prayer from Ishā until the middle of the night, that is, when you wish” (al-Muhallā 2/190). This isnād is Sahīh upon the conditions of the two shaykhs (i.e. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim).
This narration has another path which Mālik (1/125) reported through the path of Hishām ibn ‘Urwah from his father that ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattāb wrote to Abū Mūsā saying: “And pray Ishā what is between you and the (first) third of the night, and if you wish then until half of the night, and do not be among the heedless“, and this is an extremely Sahīh chain of narration.
As for what Al-Tahāwī narrated through the path of Sufyān Al-Thawrī from Habīb ibn Abī Thābit from Nāfi’ ibn Jubayr who said: “Umar wrote to Abū Mūsā: “Pray the ‘Ishā prayer at whatever time of night you wish, and don’t be heedless of it.” This contradicts what has preceded, and the defect in this narration is the break/disconnection between Habīb and Nāfi’, for although Habīb was trustworthy, he frequently practiced irsāl and tadlīs as mentioned in “Al-Taqrīb.” You can see that he used ‘an’ana (i.e. from/on the authority of) and did not explicitly state direct transmission, so this narration cannot be used as evidence, especially since it contradicts what the trustworthy narrators reported.
[The Shaykh, may Allāh have mercy upon him, then mentions the variant narrations from Anas (رضي الله عنه) which establish that the Ishā prayer can be offered until the middle of the night, from them: The Prophet of Allāh (ﷺ) delayed the Ishā prayer until the middle of the night, then he prayed and said: ‘The people have prayed and slept, but you have been in prayer as long as you were waiting for it (i.e. the prayer)'” (al-Bukhārī 572), “… until it was close to the middle of the night” (al-Nasā’ī 540, Ahmad 3/189), “until the middle of the night”, “… until the middle of the night almost passed”, (Muslim 640, Ahmad 3/267)]
Al-Tayālasī (2108) also narrated it with the wording “until the middle of the night passed“, but this wording is shaadh (irregular) and contradicts the other (established) narrations.
We haven’t found for those who held – and they are the majority – that the time of ‘Ishā extends until the Fajr prayer except two hadīths, and neither is explicit regarding this:
The first: From Abū Qatādah, raised to the Prophet (ﷺ): “There is no negligence in sleep; negligence is when one doesn’t offer the prayer until the time of the next prayer comes” (al-Nasā’ī 616). Some of the earlier Dhāhirī scholars and the later researcher Al-Shawkānī (10/10) used this as evidence for what we mentioned.
Ibn Hazm strongly refuted this, saying (3/178):
“This doesn’t support what they said at all. They are in agreement with us, with no disagreement from any of the imāms, that the time of the Fajr prayer doesn’t extend until the time of Dhuhr prayer. Thus, what’s correct is that this report doesn’t support that the time of each prayer connects with the time of the one after it.
Indeed, it only (shows) the sin of one who delays a prayer until the time of other than it, regardless of whether its last time connects with the first time of the next one or not.
And in this (narration) there isn’t (proof) that the one who delays (the prayer) until its time has elapsed isn’t negligent also, even if the time of another prayer hasn’t entered, nor that he would be negligent – rather, this is not mentioned in this report. However, the clarification (of this) is in other reports which contain explicit text about the expiration of each prayer’s time, and this necessitates that whoever transgresses with any deed its time which Allāh, The Most-High, has set for that deed, has indeed transgressed the limits of Allāh.
And Allāh, The Most-High, said:
﴿وَمَنْ يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ )
‘And whoever transgresses the limits of Allāh – it is those who are the wrongdoers‘ (al-Baqarah:229).”
The second hadīth from Ā’ishah who said: The Prophet of Allāh (ﷺ) delayed Ishā one night until most/great portion of the night had passed, and until the people of the mosque had slept. Then he came out and said: “Indeed this would be its time were it not that I would make things difficult for my nation.” [Reported by] Muslim (2/116), An-Nasā’ī (93), Ibn Mājah (1/276), and At-Tahāwī (94) through the route of Ibn Jurayj who said: Al-Mughīrah ibn Hakīm informed me from Umm Kulthūm bint Abī Bakr that she informed him from her (i.e. Ā’ishah).
The apparent meaning of the hadīth is that he prayed it after the first half of the night had passed, but the hadīth (requires) interpretation:
Al-Nawawī said: “What is meant by ‘most/a great portion of the night’ is much of it, and not that the intent is the majority of it, and this interpretation is necessary due to his saying ‘Indeed this would be its time,’ as it’s not possible that what is meant by this statement is after the middle of the night because no one from the scholars (held) that it is better to delay it after the middle of the night.”
I say (i.e. Al-Albānī): And what supports this interpretation is that the hadīth has come in Al-Bukhārī and Muslim and An-Nasā’ī and Ad-Dārimī and the Musnad (43/6 and 215 and 272) through routes from Az-Zuhrī from ‘Urwah from Ā’ishah, and it doesn’t contain the phrase “until most/a great portion of the night had passed” but rather contains: “until ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattāb called out to him: The women and children have gone to sleep,” and this usually happens before the middle of the night.
What strengthens this is that this hadīth was narrated more completely by Ibn ‘Abbās who said: “The Prophet (ﷺ) delayed the ‘Ishā’ prayer one night until part of the night had passed, then ‘Umar stood and called out: The Prayer, O Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ), the women and children have gone to sleep. So the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) came out with water dripping from his head saying: “Indeed this is the (preferred) time were it not that I would make things difficult for my nation“. Reported by An-Nasā’ī (92) and Ad-Dārimī (276) through the route of Sufyān from ‘Amr from ‘Atā’ from him (i.e. Ibn ‘Abbās) and from Ibn Jarīr from ‘Atā’ from him (i.e. Ibn ‘Abbās).
And these are two authentic chains according to the conditions of the two Shaykhs (i.e. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim)
(Abridged, Jāmi’ al-Turāth of Al-Albānī 2/199-204)
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