Prayer times

Asalam Alaykum,

Brother Yusuf has requested from me to post the time frames for the obligatory prayers. So, the time frames are as followed:

There are two category of time frames the first being
1- The preferred time frames: these are the times that are the best times or that are the most in reward (Ajr.)
2- The mandatory time frames: these are the times that the prayer most be done in or else the prayer is missed and must be made up.

A- Fajr
1. The preferred timing is from dawn to sunrise
2. The mandatory time is the same

b- Dhuhr
1. the preferred time is from when the sun is in the middle of the sky and there are no shadows until the shadow of any erected object is the same length as the object itself

C.Asr
1. The preferred time is from when the shadow of every erected object is the same length as its self until the length of the shadow is twice the size of the object itself

Dhuhr and Asr Mandatory time frame.

You can pray both prayers either individually or together (within this timeframe) as long as the Dhuhr prayer is done before the Asr prayer.
The mandatory time is from when the sun is in the middle of the sky and there are no shadows until Sunset.

d- Maghreb
The preferred time is when you see the first night planet or star until the sun sets completely.

e- Esha
The preferred time is when the sun sets completely until the third of the night.

f- Maghreb and Esha mandatory time.

You can pray both prayers either individually or together (within this timeframe) as long as the Maghreb prayer is done before the Esha prayer.
It is when you see the first night planet or star until the third of the night.

I ask Allah that this may benefit you and Allah knows best.

Asalam aleikum,

Thank you for posting information about the salat time frames. Kindly answer two more questions concerning Salat.

1. Does folding hands invalidate Salat?(the reason for asking this is because only sunni mosques are present where i live and this is the practice in all mosques)
2. You have not mentioned about raising the right hand index finger while reading shahadat. What is your judgement about this practice?

best regards,

Yusuf