Walahu alhamdu fee assamawati wal-ardi waAAashiyyan waheena tuthhiroon (surah Rum: 18)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(30:18) His is all praise in the heavens and in the earth; (and glorify Him) in the afternoon and when the sun begins to decline. *24

Wa lahul hamdu fis samaawaati wal ardi wa `ashiyyanw wa heena tuzhiroon

*24) This verse clearly points to the times of the Fajr (morning), Maghrib (evening). 'Asr (late afternoon) and the Zuhr (early afternoon) Prayers. Besides this, the other allusions made to the times of the Prayer in the Qur'an are as follows:
"Establish the Salat from the declining of the sun to the darkness of the night, and be particular about the recital of the Qur'an at dawn." (Bani Isra'il 78)
"Establish the ,Salat at the two ends of the day and in the early part of the night." (Hud: 114).
"And glorify your Lord with His praise before the rising of the sun and before its setting, and glorify Him again during the hours of the night and at the extremes of the day. " (Ta Ha: 130)
The first of these verses tells that the times of the Prayer are from the declining of the sun to the darkness of the night (`Isha`) after which is the time of the morning Prayer (Fajr). In the second verse, the `"two ends of the day" imply the times of the morning (Fajr) and the evening (Maghrib) Prayers, and "in the early part of the night" implies the time of 'Isha`. In the third verse, "before the rising of the sun" implies the Fajr time and "before its setting" the Asr tune, and "during the hours of the night" implies the times of both the Maghrib and the 'Isha' Prayers; and the "extremes of the day" are three: the morning, the declining of the sun and the evening. Thus, the Qur'an at different places has pointed to the five Prayer times at which the Muslims the world over offer their Prayers. But, obviously, no one by merely reading these verses could have determined the Prayer times unless the divinely appointed teacher of the Qur'an, the Holy Prophet himself, had given guidance to these by his word and deed.
Let us pause a while here and consider the boldness of the deniers of Hadith. They make fun of "offering the Prayer", and say that the Prayer that the Muslims offer today is not at alt the thing prescribed by the Qur'an. They assert that the Qur'anic injunction to establish the Salat does not mean the offering of the Prayer but establishing the Nizam-i-Rububiyat(Order of Providence). Ask thetas: "What is that hove! order of Providence which can either be established before the rising of the sun or after the declining of the sun till the early hours of the night? And what is that order of Providence which is required to be established especially on Fridays? ("O believers when you hear the call to the Friday Prayer, hasten to the remembrance of Allah".--(LXII: 9). And what is that special kind of the order of Providence for establishing which one has first to wash one's face and the hands up to the elbows and the feet up to the ankles and wipe one's head with wet hands, otherwise one will not establish it ? ( "O believers, when you stand up to offer the .Salat, you must wash your faces and your hands and arms up to the elbows, and wipe your heads with wet hands."--(V: 6). And what is this peculiarity of this order of Providence that one cannot establish it unless one has completely washed oneself after sexual intercourse? ("O believers, do not offer the Prayer . . . if you are unclean until you take your bath, except when passing on the way."--(IV: 433) And what is this odd thing that if one has touched the women, one will have to strike one's hands on pure dust and wipe thereby one's face and hands in case one does not fmd water, for the purpose of establishing this strange order of Providence ? ("... or if you have touched women and you can find no water, then cleanse yourselves with pure dust: strike your palms on it and wipe your Bands and faces with it."--(1V: 43). And what is this amazing order of Providence that while on a journey one should establish only half of it? ("When you go on a journey, there is no harm if you shorten the Salat. "--(IV : 101) Then, what an odd thing that during a war half of the soldiers should fall out,.carrying their weapons, in order to' establish the order of Providence behind the Imam, and the other half should stick to their positions and continue fighting the enemy; when the first group has performed one sajdah behind the Imam in its effort to establish the "order of Providence" it should go to relieve the other group, which should fall out and start establishing the "order of Providence" behind the Imam? ("And when you, O Prophet, are among the Muslims and are going to lead them in salat (in a state of war), Iet a party of them stand behind you, carrying their weapons with thetas. When they have made their prostrations, they should fall back, and let another party of them, who have not yet offered their Salat say it with you. "--(IV 102)
All these verses of the Qur'an clearly indicate that to establish the Salat unplies the Prayer that the Muslims offer everywhere in the world today. But the deniers of Hadith seem to be bent upon changing the Qur'an instead of changing themselves. The fact is that unless a person becomes wholly fearless of Allah, he cannot dare play with His Word as these people do. Or, only such a person can engage in a pastime like this with respect to the Qur'an who believes it is not Allah's Word, but intends to mislead the Muslims in the name of the Qur'an. (See also E.N. 50 below in this connection).