Times forbidden to observe Solāt

Times forbidden to observe Solāt

Can you please tell me what the forbidden times of prayers in a day are?

In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful;

All the praise and Thanks are due to Allāh, the Lord of the al-ā’lamīn. There is none worthy of worship except Allāh, and that Muhammad, Sallallāhu alayhi wa sallam, is His Messenger.

There are certain times when it is forbidden to observe Solāt; they are as follows: 

• From the dawn until sunrise
• From the sunrise until it has risen to the height of a spear above the horizon; nowadays it equivalent to twelve minutes after sunrise, but to be on the safe side one should make it a quarter of an hour.
• When the sun is overhead at noon, until it has passed its zenith
• From after solat ‘Asar until sunset
• When the sun starts to set until it is completely set 

It is meant that one should not offer any nāfil solat after the adzān of Fajar except the Sunnah of Fajr. This is the view of the Hanbalis. The Shāfi’ies are of the view that the prohibition has to do with Solat Fajr itself, so it is not forbidden to offer nāfil solat between the adzān and iqāmah, rather it is forbidden to offer nāfil solat after offering the obligatory Solat Fajar. 

This is the more correct view, but one should not offer any nāfil solat after dawn apart from the two Sunnah raka’ahs of Fajr, because the (Sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) only observed two brief raka’ahs nāfil solat after the dawn had broken. 

[See al-Sharh al-Mumti’ by Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 4/160] 

Ibn ‘Abbās, (radiallāhu‘anhu) said:  Some trustworthy men bore witness in my presence, the most trustworthy of whom in my view was ‘Umar, that the Prophet (Sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) forbade praying after Fajr until the sun had risen and after ‘Asar until the sun had set.” [Narrated by al-Bukhāri (547) and Muslim (1367)]

Ibn ‘Umar (radiallāhu‘anhu) said: The Messenger of Allāh (Sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “When the top edge of the sun has risen, then delay praying until it has risen above the horizon, and when the lower part of the sun has set, delay praying until it is fully set.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri (548) and Muslim (1371)]

Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (radiallāhu‘anhu) said: I heard the Messenger of Allāh (Sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) say: “There is no prayer after Fajr until the sun has risen fully and no prayer after ‘Asr until the sun has set.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri (551)]

‘Uqbah ibn ‘Āmir al-Juhani (radiallāhu‘anhu) said: “There are three times at which the Messenger of Allāh (Sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) forbade us to pray or to bury our dead: when the sun has clearly started to rise until it is fully risen, when it is directly overhead at midday until it has passed its zenith, and when the sun starts to set until it has fully set.” [Narrated by Muslim (1373)]

These times may be summed up more briefly as follows: 

• From dawn until the sun has risen to the height of a spear
• When it is directly overhead at noon until it has passed its zenith
• From ‘Asr prayer until the sun has set completely.

And Allāh Almighty knows best.

[Via Islam Q&A (48998)]