And "the prayer" here refers to the Eid prayer, and "arrived" (hallat) is derived from the meaning of occurrence, like their saying: "The debt has arrived (halla al-dayn)" when its term has come. Second, its meaning is when the prayer is permitted, meaning the supererogatory prayer, and its meaning is when the time of prohibition has expired, which is when the sun has risen to the height of a spear (2), and "hallat" is derived from "hill" (lawfulness), which is permissibility, like the saying of Allah the Exalted: {And He makes the good things lawful for them} (3). This meaning is better because it contains an explanation of its time, defining it by the time that has been identified elsewhere. According to the first opinion, there is no clarification of its time. Therefore, according to this, its time is from the moment the sun rises to the height of a spear until the zenith (the time of high noon), and that is between the two times prohibited for supererogatory prayer. The companions of al-Shafi'i said: The beginning of its time is when the sun has risen, because of what Yazid ibn Khumayr narrated, saying: 'Abdullah ibn Busr, a companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, went out on the day of Eid al-Fitr or al-Adha, and he disapproved of the Imam's delay, saying: "We would have finished by this hour of ours." And that was at the time of the Tasbih prayer. Narrated by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah (4). Our evidence is what Uqbah ibn Amir narrated, saying: "There are three hours in which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, used to forbid us to pray, and to bury our dead: when the sun rises clearly until it ascends" (5). And because it is a time in which prayer is prohibited, so it is not a time for Eid, just like before the sunrise. And because the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and those after him did not pray until the sun had ascended, evidenced by the consensus (ijma') that it is better to perform it at that time. The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would not do anything except what is better and more appropriate. If it had a time before that, his restricting it to the rising of the sun would have been an arbitrary action without a text or the meaning of a text, and timing by arbitrary action is not permissible. As for the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn Busr, he disapproved of the Imam's delay beyond its agreed-upon time...