Title: Timings of Prayer Question/Comments: Could you tell in which category that this forbiddance belongs to? "The Prophet forbade praying after the Fajr prayer till the sun rises and after the 'Asr prayer till the sun sets"( Bukhari ). Does it come under Sunnah ? Regards, Ameen Answer: The referred 'prohibition' is obviously not a part of the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). In fact, the referred 'prohibition' is quite questionable in view of the contrary reports of the Prophet's own actions. It seems that the referred narrative is, in fact, related to one of the Prophet's implementation of a decision directed to discourage people from their historical religious traditions. It is well known that some of the Arabs were used to worshiping the sun. The timings of their worship generally related to the position of the sun - sun rise, midday and sunset. After these people accepted Islam, the Prophet (pbuh) in his effort to completely eradicate any remains of the incorrect practice, stopped them from praying at these times. The stated 'prohibition' is, in fact, not a part of the Shari`ah , but is clearly a reformatory step of the Prophet of God. Regards, Moiz Amjad November 5, 2001