Praying Asr early

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: We used to pray Asr so early that a person could go to Quba and reach them while the sun was still high.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray Asr (at a time) when the sun was clearly high and bright, and if someone went to the upper part of Madinah (al-Awali), the sun would still be clearly bright.

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to lead the Asr prayer (at a time) when the sun was quite high (that is, its whiteness remained), and someone could go to the upper part of Madinah and the sun would still be high; and the upper area of Madinah is at a distance of three or four miles from Madinah.
(b) Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Al-Layth, through Yunus, added that the distance of the upper part of Madinah is three or four miles.

(a) It is narrated from al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) informed me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to offer the Asr prayer while the sun was high and bright, and a person could go to the upper part of Madinah while the sun was (still) high; and the distance of the upper part from Madinah is four miles.
(b) Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) recorded the report in his book Sahih al-Bukhari from Abu al-Yaman, and said that the upper part of Madinah is at a distance of about four miles from the city.

(a) Al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) informed me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to lead the Asr prayer, and a person could reach the upper part of Madinah while the sun was still bright.
(b) Imam al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The distance of the upper part of Madinah from Madinah is two or three miles, and I think he said four miles.

Mansur (may Allah have mercy on him) said: We asked Khaythamah (may Allah have mercy on him) about the sun being "alive," and he said: Its being alive is that its heat can be felt.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); he would pray Zuhr after the sun had declined, though occasionally he would delay it a little in severe heat, and he would pray Asr at a time when the sun was quite clear (that is, its heat was still present). A man, after finishing the prayer, would reach Dhu al-Hulayfah before sunset, while it is at a distance of six miles from Madinah. Then he mentioned the complete hadith.

It is narrated from Imam al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: I heard Urwah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) narrating a hadith to Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) during his rule, at a time when Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) used to delay the Asr prayer. Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) said to him: One day al-Mughirah bin Shu'bah (may Allah be pleased with him) delayed the Asr prayer while he was the governor of Kufah. Abu Mas'ud Uqbah bin Amr al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), who was the maternal grandfather of Zayd bin al-Hasan and a Companion who fought at Badr, came to him and said: O Mughirah, what is this? By Allah, you know that Jibril (peace be upon him) came down and prayed, then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also prayed. He prayed again and the Master (peace and blessings be upon him) also prayed, five prayers. Then Jibril (peace be upon him) said: "This is how I have been commanded." When Urwah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated this hadith before Umar (may Allah have mercy on him), Umar (may Allah have mercy on him) was alarmed and said: O Urwah, consider carefully what you are narrating! Did Jibril (peace be upon him) really fix the times of prayer for them? Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Yes, Bashir bin Abi Mas'ud (may Allah have mercy on him) also narrates it in the same way from his father.
Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to lead the Asr prayer while the sun(light) was in her chamber, that is, before the shadow of the sun appeared. After that day, Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) used to recognise the time of prayer by this sign of the sun until he departed from this world.

It is narrated from Ibn Shihab (may Allah have mercy on him) that one day Umar bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) offered the prayer late, so Urwah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) came to him and said: One day in Kufah al-Mughirah bin Shu'bah (may Allah be pleased with him) delayed the prayer, so Abu Mas'ud al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) came to him and said: O Mughirah, do you not know that Jibril (peace be upon him) came down and prayed, then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also prayed? In this way he mentioned the complete hadith.
Urwah said: Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), narrated to me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to offer the Asr prayer at a time when the sun was in her (Sayyidah Aishah's, may Allah be pleased with her) chamber.
Yunus and al-Layth narrate from Imam al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him): The sun was in her chamber, that is, the shadow had not appeared from her chamber.
Ibn Uyaynah narrates from Imam al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him): The sun was shining in my room and the shadow had not appeared.
Hisham bin Urwah narrates from his father, from Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), that she said: The sun had not gone out of her chamber (that is, there was sunlight in the chamber).
Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Abu Usamah narrates from Hisham: (The rays of the sun were) in the inner part of her house.

It is narrated from Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would be offering the Asr prayer while the rays of the sun were falling on the inner corner of my room.

(a) Hisham bin Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned the complete hadith to us, and said: The sun was bright, that is, shining in my chamber.
(b) Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him), after mentioning the hadith of Malik (may Allah have mercy on him), said: Of all the reports about the beginning of the time, this report is the clearest, because the chambers of the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (may Allah be pleased with them) were in a place that was a low-lying area of Madinah, not in a wide and elevated place; for this reason the sun would appear high at the beginning of the time of Asr.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: We offered the Asr prayer with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). When he finished the prayer, a man from the tribe of Banu Salamah came and said: O Messenger of Allah, we want to slaughter a camel of ours, and we would like you to be present. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Very well." So he set off, and we went along with him. (When we arrived) the camel had not yet been slaughtered. (After we arrived) the camel was slaughtered, then it was cut into pieces, then some of its meat was cooked, and we even ate it before the sun set.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Rafi' bin Khadij (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: We used to offer the Asr prayer with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), then a camel would be slaughtered and divided into ten portions, then it would be cooked, and we would eat the meat before the sun set.
(b) This report of Rafi' bin Khadij (may Allah be pleased with him) is authentic, and the report is not correct which Abd al-Wahid or Abd al-Hamid bin Nafi' or Nufay' al-Kilabi narrated from the son of Rafi' bin Khadij, from his father, namely that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) "used to order them to offer the Asr prayer late," because there is disagreement about the name of this narrator and the name of his father.
Al-Bukhari said: He is not corroborated in it, and he cited the hadith of Abu al-Najashi from Rafi' as proof of his error. Abu al-Hasan al-Daraqutni said: This hadith has a weak chain, and what is authentic from Rafi' and others is the opposite of this.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: We would offer the Asr prayer, then one of us would go to the tribe of Banu Amr bin Awf and find that they had not yet offered the Asr prayer.
In the hadith of al-Qa'nabi, instead of "thumma yakhruju al-insan" (then a person would go out) it is "fa-yakhruju al-insan" (so a person would go out).

It is narrated from Uthman bin Abd al-Rahman that Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) informed him that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to offer the Asr prayer roughly so long before sunset that in that time a camel could be slaughtered, then we could cut it into portions, and so long before sunset that a man could go to Banu Harithah bin al-Harith and come back before the sun set.