Whether the later Isha is hastened or delayed

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to offer the Isha prayer late.

Sayyiduna Nu'man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I am among the people who know best, or like the one who knows best, the time at which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) offered the Isha prayer. He used to offer it after the setting of the moon on the second night of the month.

Sayyiduna Abu Barzah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) liked to delay the Isha prayer, which people call al-Atamah.

Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would sometimes offer the Isha prayer early and sometimes late.

Urwah said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to offer the Isha prayer when the horizon had become dark, and sometimes he would delay it so that the people could gather.

Ibn Labibah said: Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me: Offer the Isha prayer when the twilight has disappeared and the night has grown dark, from then until a third of the night. And the sooner you pray it after the whiteness of the horizon has gone, the better.

Urwah said: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote to Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him): Offer the Isha prayer by a third of the night, or if you must delay it further, by half the night, and do not be among the heedless.

Abd al-Rahman bin Yazid said: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to offer the Isha prayer late.

Ibrahim said: The time of the Isha prayer is a quarter of the night.

Amr bin Marwan said: I said to my father: You have prayed with Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him); tell me at what time he used to offer the Isha prayer. He said: When the twilight had disappeared.

Makhul said: The time of Isha is until a third of the night; there is to be no sleeping or heedlessness in it.

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: One night we waited for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for the Isha prayer. When a third of the night or somewhat more had passed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came out. I do not know whether some task had kept him or whether he had some need with his family. He said: "I know of no followers of any religion other than you who wait for this prayer. Were it not that I feared hardship for my Ummah, I would lead them in this prayer at this hour."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Were it not that I feared hardship for my Ummah, I would delay the Isha prayer until a third of the night or half the night."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: One day we waited a long time for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to come for the Isha prayer, but he was so late that a man began to say: He has already prayed and will not come out. Then he came, and a man said: O Messenger of Allah, we thought that you had already prayed and would not come now. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Offer this prayer in the darkness, for through it you have been given excellence over all other nations; the nations before you did not offer this prayer."

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: One night the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) delayed the Isha prayer. When he came out, drops of water were dripping from his blessed head, and he said: "Were it not that I feared hardship for my Ummah, I would make this the time for this prayer."

A man from Juhaynah said: I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): When should I offer the Isha prayer? He said: "When the night has filled the hollow of every valley, then offer it."

Abd al-Rahman bin Ubayd narrates from his father: We used to offer the Maghrib prayer with Sayyiduna Nu'man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him), and the last of us would not yet have left the mosque before he began the Isha prayer.

Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Offer the Isha prayer early, before the worker grows tired and the sick person falls asleep.