at all. Regarding her statement: "Umar erred; the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, only forbade intentionally seeking the time of the sunrise or sunset." Both were narrated by Muslim (9). As for the statement of Ali, regarding the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "There is no prayer after the Asr, unless the sun is still high" (10).

Our evidence is the hadiths mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, which are authentic and explicit. Abu Basrah narrated, saying: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, led us in the Asr prayer at al-Mukhammas (11), then said: "This prayer was presented to those who were before you, and they neglected it. Whoever guards it will have his reward twice, and there is no prayer after it until the 'witness' (the dawn) rises." Narrated by Muslim (12). This is specific to the subject of dispute.

As for the hadith of Aisha, her freed slave Dhakwan narrated from her that she told him that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to pray after the Asr and prohibit it. Narrated by Abu Dawud (13). Abu Salamah narrated that he asked Aisha about the two prostrations (rak'ahs) that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to perform after the Asr. She said: He used to perform them before the Asr, then he became occupied or forgot them, so he performed them after the Asr. Then he firmly established them, and he used to fix a prayer if he performed it. From Umm Salamah, she said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibiting them, then I saw him performing them. He said: "O daughter of Abu Umayyah, some people from Abd al-Qays came to me with the Islam of their people, and they distracted me from the two rak'ahs that are after the Dhuhr, so these are they." Both were narrated by Muslim (14).

This indicates that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, only performed it for a reason, which is making up for the sunnah he missed, and that he prohibited prayer after the Asr, as narrated by others. The hadith of Aisha indicates that this was specific to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and that he prohibited others from it. This is a proof against those who disagree with this, for the dispute is only regarding others than the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and this has been established with no contradiction to it.

Section: As for the supererogatory prayer performed for a reason other than what al-Khiraqi mentioned, the textual ruling from Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, regarding the Witr is that he [permits its performance] (15) before the Fajr prayer. Al-Athram said: I heard Abu Abd Allah being asked: Should a man perform Witr after the Fajr rises (16)? He said: Yes. This was also narrated from Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Hudhayfah, Abu al-Darda, Ubadah ibn al-Samit, Fadalah ibn Ubayd (17), Aisha, Abdullah ibn Amir ibn Rabi'ah (18), and Amr ibn Shurahbil. Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani and Humayd al-Tawil said: Most of our Witr was after...