﴿ سُنَّةَ مَن قَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مِن رُّسُلِنَا ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ لِسُنَّتِنَا تَحْوِيلًا ﴾

“[such has been Our] way with all of Our apostles whom We sent before thy time; and no change wilt thou find in Our ways.”

The literal translation of this verse is, ‘keep up prayer from the declining of the sun till the darkness of the night.’ These words appear to mean that right from the declining of the sun till the darkness of night prayer is to be said continuously. There is no doubt about it that the majesty of God and man’s obligations to his Creator demand that His servants continue to say their prayers at all times. This verse has been explained by the Prophet in a hadith which makes this difficult command easy for the believers. According to this hadith except for four prayers appointed at specific times, zuhr, ‘asr, maghrib, and ‘isha’ i.e. from afternoon till evening, people may keep their contact with God only by remembering Him (dhikr). The literal translation of part of the next verse is, ‘and the dawn (fajr) recitation of the Quran.’ If this part too is taken in its literal sense, it will mean that the Quran must be recited during the whole morning. But according to a hadith, the specific meaning of this command is that one prayer should be said in the morning, the special feature of which should be a longer recitation from the Quran. This makes the observance of this command easier.