Fiqh (jurisprudence) is the interpretation of Hadith. Since every Muslim in not knowledgeable enough to interpret the Qur'an and Hadith, he/she must rely on some scholar who has done this interpretation to determine Prayer times. In early Islamic period there were four major scholars, Imam Abu-Hanifah in Iraq, Imam Malik in Madinah, Imam Shafi'i in Egypt, and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in Baghdad, who did a thorough job for this interpretation. An overwhelming majority of Muslims (Sunni or Ahl-e-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah) have converged to limit the interpretation within these four school of thoughts of Fiqh. All, or at least overwhelming majority, of the Fiqh scholars (Fuqahaa') in the later centuries consider themselves either Hanafi, Malikii, Shafi'i, or Hanbali.

 

For the beginning time of Asr, there are two distinct Fiqh positions and both are valid. Shafi, Maliki, and Hanbali fuqaha' agree that Asr time begins when shadow of any vertical object is equal to its length. Hanafi fuqahaa' say that Asr time begins when the shadow of any vertical object is twice its length. Both are based on authentic Hadith and practices of Sahaabah and both are available as options in a given script.

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Topic 175150 updated on 22-May-03 Topic URL: http://www.qppsupport.net/webhelp/index.html?asr.htm