Shar‘i Ruling on Sitting Between Sunlight and Shade – Detailed Research

Source: Fatāwā ‘Ilmiyyah (Tawdīḥ al-Aḥkām), Vol. 2, p. 493


Question:
A narration states:


From Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:


“If any one of you is sitting in the shade, then the shade moves (so that part of his body is in the sun and part in the shade), he should get up and move (to be either fully in the shade or fully in the sun).”
(Sunan Abī Dāwūd)


In Sharḥ al-Sunnah, the wording is:


“…because sitting partly in the shade and partly in the sun is the sitting of Shayṭān.”
(Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, Vol. 2, p. 457, ḥadīth 4725–4726)


What is the explanation of praying in such a position according to the Qur’an and Sunnah? Please give a detailed answer.

1. Sources of the Narration​

This narration is found in:
◈ Sunan Abī Dāwūd (Kitāb al-Adab, Bāb 15, ḥadīth 4821)
◈ Musnad al-Ḥumaydī (ḥadīth 1145 – verified ed.)
◈ Al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī (3/236–237)

2. Chain Analysis​

Isnād: Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir said: “Ḥaddathanī man samiʿa Abā Hurayrah…”

• The phrase “Ḥaddathanī man samiʿa” has an unknown narrator between Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir and Abū Hurayrah.
• This makes the chain weak due to jahālah (unknown status).

Al-Mundhirī said:


“Its Tābiʿī narrator is unknown.”
(Al-Targhīb wa-al-Tarhīb, 4/59)


In Musnad Aḥmad (2/383, ḥadīth 8976), the mention of this unknown Tābiʿī is dropped.

3. Status in Sharḥ al-Sunnah and Other Sources​

• In Sharḥ al-Sunnah (al-Baghawī, 12/301, ḥadīth 3335), the narration is mauqūf (stopped at Abū Hurayrah) and munqaṭiʿ (broken chain).
• In Muṣannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq (11/23–24, ḥadīth 19799), ʿAbd al-Razzāq also reports it.

Issue: ʿAbd al-Razzāq was a mudallis, and without explicit taṣrīḥ bi-al-samāʿ (statement of hearing), his narration is not acceptable for proof.

4. Supporting Evidences (Shawāhid)​

First Supporting Chain:
From Qatādah → Kathīr ibn Abī Kathīr → Abū ʿIyāḍ → a man from the Companions…
(Musnad Aḥmad, 3/413–414, ḥadīth 15421)

• Qatādah is a mudallis; here he narrates with “ʿan” (without confirmation of hearing).
• In Ittiḥāf al-Mahrah (16/763, ḥadīth 21215), Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān narrates from Shuʿbah that Qatādah reported it mursal (without naming the Companion), which further weakens it.

Second Supporting Chain:
Abū al-Munīb → Ibn Buraydah → his father:


“The Prophet ﷺ forbade sitting between sunlight and shade.”
(Sunan Ibn Mājah, 3722; Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah, 8/491, ḥadīth 25954; al-Mustadrak, 4/272, ḥadīth 7714)

• This chain is ḥasan (good).
• Imām al-Būṣīrī and the author of Tashīl al-Ḥājah also graded it ḥasan.

5. Statements of the Tābiʿīn​

◈ ʿIkrimah رحمه الله:


“Whoever sits partly in the sun and partly in the shade — this is the sitting of Shayṭān.”
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah, 8/4891, ḥadīth 25953 – authentic chain)


◈ ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr رحمه الله:


“Sitting in both sun and shade is the sitting of Shayṭān.”
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah, ḥadīth 25952 – authentic chain)

6. Overall Conclusion on Authenticity​

• The Abū Dāwūd version in isolation is weak due to the unknown narrator.
• However, it is strengthened by the ḥasan chain of Ibn Mājah and by authentic statements from the Tābiʿīn, raising it to the level of ḥasan li-ghayrih (good due to supporting evidence).

7. Shar‘i Ruling​

• Sitting partly in sunlight and partly in shade is makrūh (disliked).
• The Companions and Tābiʿīn discouraged it, describing it as “the sitting of Shayṭān.”
• If praying in such a position, it is better to move so that the entire body is either in full shade or in full sunlight — to maintain focus and avoid discomfort that may reduce khushūʿ (humility) in prayer.

Hādhā mā ʿindī, wallāhu aʿlam biṣ-ṣawāb.