Should I Repeat the Late ‘Asr Prayer That I Performed Just before Maghrib?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
Sometimes I pray ‘Asr 10-20 min before Maghrib/sunset as I leave school late. I just heard a Mufti saying that the prayer will be valid, but I’ll have to repeat it nonetheless. I don’t know how many prayers I have accumulated this way for so many years. What do I do?
Answer
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
I pray this finds you in the best of states.
It is prohibitively disliked, and thus sinful, to perform the ‘Asr prayer of the day during the period before sunset when you can look directly at the sun without trouble. This period starts roughly 30 minutes before Maghrib time. Nonetheless, this ‘Asr prayer is valid. [Shurunbulali, Nur al-Idah]
Repeating Those Prayers
If you decide to repeat those prayers despite them being valid, you will be rewarded.
The fatwa position of most of the later scholars is that if a prayer was performed with something prohibitively disliked, it is:
- necessary (wajib) to repeat within the time; and
- not necessary to repeat after the time—but instead, it is recommended to repeat.
Of course, in the case of the ‘Asr prayer prayed during the disliked time, there is no choice except to repeat it after its time. Thus you won’t be punished for failing to repeat them. [Haskafi, al-Durr al-Mukhtar; Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiya ‘Ala Maraqi al-Falah]
And Allah knows best.
Wassalam
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found. Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha‘ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others. He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.
