Asr (prayer)
ʿAsr (Arabic عصر, DMG 'Asr) is the Muslim afternoon prayer and one of the five mandatory prayers in Islam during a day.
Prayer time
The time for the ʿAsr prayer begins when the time for Zuhr ends. However, the different schools of law indicate the beginning time of the angegebenAsr prayer differently. According to the Shafiites , Malikites and Hanbalites , the time for afternoon prayer begins when the shadow ( s ) of a vertical object is larger than at noon by the length ( l ) of the object, i.e. when s = s 0 + l . According to the Hanafis, on the other hand, the ʿAsr prayer only begins when the shadow ( s ) of the object exceeds it by twice the length (2 l ) of the object at noon, i.e. when s = s 0 + 2 l . The time of the ʿAsr prayer ends with sunset.
However, the rough point in time is when the length of an object's shadow equals the length of the object itself. There are two points at the end of ʿAsr d. H.:
- The "preferred time" which lasts from the beginning of time for ʿAsr until the sun turns yellow. It is based on the Mohammed quote “The preferred time for ʿAsr is until the sun turns yellow.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 1275 / No. 612) This time can be determined using the clock and depends on the season .
- The “time of necessity”, which begins when the sun turns yellow until sunset. It is based on the Mohammed quote, "Whoever achieves a rakah of ʿAsr before the sun goes down has reached ʿAsr." (Sahih Bukhari No. 579; Muslim No. 608)
composition
The ʿAsr prayer consists of four rakʿa sunna and four rakʿa fard , i.e. H. Mohammed performed four rakʿa before the ʿAsr prayer, so these are the Sunnah. When praying in community, the Qur'an is recited quietly during prayer as in the Zuhr prayer .
If for any reason the rakʿa sunnah is not performed, they are omitted, but the four rakʿa fardh are compulsory and must be performed. The rakʿa sunna is omitted when traveling. There is also the possibility of shortening the ʿAsr prayer by half, i.e. to two rakʿa , on a longer journey , as well as the Zuhr prayer and the Isha prayer .
Mention in the literature
With Karl May in Die Sklavenkarawane :
“Haï es sala” - exclaimed the pious Shekh el Jemali, the leader of the caravan - “to prayer! El Asr is here, the time to bend the knees, three hours after noon! ""