Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:238

It is said that it was ordered amidst the explanation of the intricate legal rulings regarding spouses and children as a signal that it is worthy of complete attention and perseverance without being distracted from it by the affairs of those people. It is as if it were said: "Do not let attachment to women and their affairs distract you; rather, turn to your Master by guarding that which is the pillar of the religion and the ascension of the believer."

1. That it is the Zuhr (noon) prayer, because it is performed in the middle of the day.
2. That it is the ʿAṣr (afternoon) prayer, because it is between the two prayers of the day and the two prayers of the night. This is narrated from ʿAlī, al-Ḥasan, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn Masʿūd, and many others, and it is the position of the Shāfiʿīs.
3. That it is the Maghrib (sunset) prayer, the position of Qabīṣa ibn Dhuʾayb, because it is the middle in terms of length and shortness.
4. That it is the ʿIshāʾ (night) prayer, because it is between two prayers that are not shortened.
5. That it is the Fajr (dawn) prayer, because it is between the two prayers of the night and the day, and because it is a prayer that is not combined with another, making it singular between two pairs. This is narrated from Muʿādh, Jābir, ʿAṭāʾ, ʿIkrimah, and Mujāhid, and it was chosen by al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah the Exalted be pleased with him.

Others have said it refers to the Witr prayer, the Ḍuḥā (forenoon) prayer, the ʿĪd al-Fiṭr prayer, the ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā prayer, the night prayer, the Jumuʿah (Friday) prayer, the congregation, or the prayer of fear (ṣalāt al-khawf).

The majority have affirmed that it is the ʿAṣr prayer, based on what Muslim narrated from the hadith of ʿAlī, may Allah honor his face, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said on the day of the Battle of the Trench: "They distracted us from the middle prayer, the ʿAṣr prayer; may Allah fill their houses with fire." It was singled out for mention because it occurs at a time when people are busy, especially the Arabs.

Some investigators have said: The position that evidence necessitates among these views is that it is the Zuhr prayer, and this is attributed to Imam Abū Ḥanīfah, may Allah the Exalted be pleased with him. The explanation for this is that all other positions have no standing for the seeker of truth, except for the position that it is the ʿAṣr prayer. The hadiths reported to support this are of two types: marfūʿ (raised to the Prophet) and mawqūf (attributed to a companion). The mawqūf reports are not used as proof because they are statements of companions which are contradicted by other companions who held it to be otherwise; the statement of a companion is not used as proof when it is contradicted by another, definitively. The disagreement regarding its use as proof only occurs when there is no contradiction.

As for the marfūʿ reports, most of them do not lack criticism regarding their chains of transmission. Those that are free from criticism are of two types: a brief version with the wording "The middle prayer, the ʿAṣr prayer," and an extended version containing a story within which this phrase occurs. The brief version is taken from the extended one; some narrators shortened it and thus erred in their shortening, as you will hear. All the extended hadiths do not lack probability, so using them as proof is invalid. The statement in the hadith of Muslim, "They distracted us from the middle prayer, the ʿAṣr prayer," has two possibilities:

1. That the words "the ʿAṣr prayer" are not marfūʿ, but rather mudraj (inserted/interpolated) into the hadith by some narrators as an explanation—as happens frequently in hadith. This is supported by what Muslim narrated through another channel from ʿAlī, may Allah honor his face, with the wording: "They restrained us from the middle prayer until the sun set," meaning the ʿAṣr.
2. That even if it is not mudraj, it could be a conjunctive clause where the conjunction is omitted, not meant as an explanation or substitution. The implied meaning is: "They distracted us from the middle prayer AND the ʿAṣr prayer." This is supported by the fact that on the day of the Trench, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was not only distracted from the ʿAṣr prayer, but from both the Zuhr and the ʿAṣr together, as reported through another path. Thus, he likely intended the Zuhr by "the middle prayer" and conjoined the ʿAṣr to it.

Given these two possibilities, using the hadith as proof is not viable, and the first possibility is stronger due to the aforementioned narration. This is supported externally by the fact that if it were established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as an explanation that it is the ʿAṣr, the companions would have stopped at that and would not have differed. Ibn Jarīr narrated from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab that he said: "The companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) were in disagreement regarding the middle prayer, like this," and he interlaced his fingers.

Furthermore, even assuming neither possibility, the hadith is contradicted by the marfūʿ hadith that it is the Zuhr. When two hadiths contradict and cannot be reconciled, one must seek preponderance (tarjīḥ). The scholars of uṣūl have stated that one of the factors of preponderance is mentioning the cause (sabab), and the hadith reported that it is the Zuhr contains the reason for the revelation and is presented to mention it intentionally, unlike the "They distracted us" hadith. Therefore, one must revert to it, which is what Aḥmad and Abū Dāwūd narrated with a sound chain from Zayd ibn Thābit: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray the Zuhr in the midday heat, and there was no prayer more difficult for the companions than it, so the verse (Guard the prayers and the middle prayer) was revealed."

It is further confirmed that it is not the ʿAṣr by what Muslim and others narrated through various paths from Abū Yūnus, the freed slave of ʿĀʾishah, who said: "ʿĀʾishah ordered me to write a copy of the Qurʾān for her. When I reached this verse, she said: 'Write: Guard the prayers and the middle prayer and the ʿAṣr prayer.' And she said: 'I heard it from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).'" The conjunction (wāw) necessitates a distinction. Mālik and others also narrated through various paths from ʿAmr ibn Rāfiʿ: "I was writing a copy of the Qurʾān for Ḥafṣah, the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and she dictated to me: 'Guard the prayers and the middle prayer and the ʿAṣr prayer.'" Ibn Abī Dāwūd also narrated in al-Maṣāḥif from ʿAbdallāh ibn Rāfiʿ that he wrote for Umm Salamah a copy, and she dictated to him the same as ʿĀʾishah and Ḥafṣah had. And Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, read it the same way.

Abū Rāfiʿ, the freed slave of Ḥafṣah, said: "I wrote a copy for Ḥafṣah, and she said: 'Write: Guard the prayers and the middle prayer and the ʿAṣr prayer.' I then met Ubayy ibn Kaʿb and said: 'Is it as she said?' He replied: 'Is it not that the time we are most occupied is during the Zuhr prayer, in our work and our camels?'" This indicates that the companions understood from this reading that it refers to the Zuhr.

From al-Rabīʿ ibn Khaytham and Abū Bakr al-Warrāq, it is said that it is one of the five prayers, but Allah the Exalted did not specify it, hiding it within the sum of the prescribed "prayers" so that they would guard all of them—just as He hid the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr) among the nights of Ramadan, His Greatest Name among all His names, and the hour of response among the hours of Friday.

ʿAbdallāh and ʿAlī read it as "the middle prayer." It is narrated from ʿĀʾishah that she read it in the accusative case (naṣb) as an expression of praise and specification. Nāfiʿ read "the middle" (al-wusṭā) with the letter ṣād.

Al-Bukhārī interpreted it in his Ṣaḥīḥ as "silent," based on what he, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, and others narrated from Zayd ibn Arqam: "We used to speak during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while in prayer; one of us would speak to his companion beside him until the verse 'And stand for Allah devoutly obedient' was revealed. Then we were ordered to be silent and forbidden from speaking." It is obvious that this is not a literal text for the intended meaning. Perhaps clearer than this is what Ibn Jarīr narrated from Ibn Masʿūd, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said: "I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was praying, and I greeted him, but he did not return my greeting. When he finished the prayer, he said: 'Nothing prevented me from returning your greeting except that we were ordered to stand devoutly obedient (qānitīn) and not speak in prayer.'"

Al-Musayyab said: The intended meaning is the qunūt (supplication) in the dawn prayer, which is a narration from Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both. The prepositional phrase is connected to what precedes it or to what follows it.