attain it with less than that, which is the apparent meaning of the words of al-Khiraqī and the madhhab of Mālik, due to the apparent meaning of the report we narrated; for his specifying attainment with one rakʿah indicates that attainment is not achieved with less than it. Also, because it is an attainment of the prayer, it is not achieved with less than one rakʿah, like the attainment of Jumuʿah. The second [narration] is that he attains it by attaining any part of it, whichever part it may be. Al-Qāḍī said: The apparent meaning of Aḥmad's words is that he is considered to have attained it by his attaining [any part] of it. Abū al-Khaṭṭāb said: Whoever attains from the prayer the amount of the opening takbīr before the time expires has attained it. This is the madhhab of Abū Ḥanīfah. For al-Shāfiʿī, there are two opinions like the two madhhabs. [This is] because Abū Hurayrah narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, that he said: "Whoever attains a prostration of the ʿAṣr prayer before the sun sets, let him complete his prayer; and when he attains a prostration of the morning prayer before the sun rises, let him complete his prayer." Agreed upon (5). In the narration of al-Nasāʾī: "He has attained it (6)." Also, because when a ruling in the prayer is attached to attainment, the rakʿah and what is less than it are equal, like the attainment of the congregation and the traveler's attainment of the resident's prayer. The wording of the first hadith indicates this by its implication, and the explicit statement is more worthy than it, and the analogy is invalidated by the attainment of a rakʿah without its tashahhud.

Section: The ʿAṣr prayer is the middle prayer, according to the statement of the majority of the people of knowledge among the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and others, including: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Abū Hurayrah, Abū Ayyūb, Abū Saʿīd, ʿAbīdah al-Salmānī, al-Ḥasan, al-Ḍaḥḥāk, Abū Ḥanīfah, and his companions. It was narrated from Zayd ibn Thābit and ʿĀʾishah that it is the Ẓuhr prayer. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād (7) also said this, due to what was narrated from Zayd ibn Thābit, who said: The Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, used to pray Ẓuhr in the midday heat, and there was no prayer more difficult for the Companions of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, than it,