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From: paul@lane.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Ahadith dilemma: # of prayers/day
Message-ID: <1991May31.073332.11425@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 31 May 91 07:33:32 GMT
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Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
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My previous posting detailed prayer times as featured in the Qur'an.
The Qur'an nowhere mentions the 'asr prayer, but mentions prayers at
times other than the "traditional five".

Looking into Sahih Muslim (for those with the Siddiqi translation see
volume 1, pages 342-344) one sees Chapter 249, entitled
"PERMISSIBILITY OF COMBINING TWO PRAYERS ON A JOURNEY" in which the
sunset and 'isha prayers are combined in some verses and the noon and
afternoon prayers are combine in other verses in that chapter.

The next chapter is entitled "COMBINATION OF PRAYERS WHEN ONE IS
RESIDENT" in which the first verse states

"Ibn 'Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him)
observed the noon and afternoon prayers together, and the sunset and
'Isha prayers together without being in a state of fear or in a state
of journey."

The next verse is a bit more explicit:

"Ibn 'Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him)
observed the noon and afternoon prayers together in Medina without
being in a state of fear or in a state of journey. (Abu Zubair said: I
asked Sa'id [one of the narrators] why he did that. He said: I asked
Ibn 'Abbas as you have asked me, and he replied that he [the Holy
Prophet] wanted that no one among his Ummah should be put to
[unnecessary] hardship.)"

In Sahih al Bukhari, book 58, "The Merits of the Ansar" (Volume 5 in
Kazi Publications 9 volume bilingual version) is Chapter 41, entitled
"Al'Miraj" ("The Ascent of the Prophet" or "The Night Journey").

The end of the long hadith is as follows (from Muhammad Asad's _Sahih
al Bukhari, The Early Years of Islam_, p. 193

(Muhammad (PBUH) was addressing Moses (PBUH) after Moses had yet again
asked the Prophet to return to God and beg for fewer prayers than
5/day, when at the beginning the command was 50:)

"I answered: I have begged so much of my Sustainer that I feel
ashamed. But I am content now, and I shall submit [to God's will]. -
And when I left, I heard a voice: I have confirmed My injunction, and
have lightened the burden of My worshippers!"

So some ahadith say 5 prayers/day and some say 3/day is OK. Yet the
Qur'an says nothing about fixed prayer times.

How does one solve this dilemma?