Question:
Why there is a difference in the time of the Asr prayer between the Shafi‘i and Hanafi schools. According to the Sunnah, which one is correct and which one should be followed?
Answer:
Generally speaking, the times of all the prayers are almost the same in the Shafi‘i and Hanafi schools. But regarding the Asr prayer, there is a difference. The time used by the Shafi‘i school for Asr is actually the time accepted by almost everyone — scholars of hadith, the people of Tawheed, and the Salaf.
The Hanafi time for Asr is later.
For example, if you check the prayer time today for Chennai, the Asr time according to the common calculation appears around 3:15 PM. But if you specifically search for Hanafi Asr time, it appears around 4:05 PM.
That means there is roughly a 50-minute difference.
So, if someone prays Asr at 4:00 PM, according to everyone except the Hanafis the prayer is valid. But according to the Hanafi school, he prayed before the correct time began, so it would not count.
Thus, only the Hanafi school delays the Asr prayer time like this.
Now we must ask: do they have any evidence for this?
If you examine it carefully, the evidence they present is something that even a person with ordinary reasoning would find difficult to accept. The majority of scholars say the correct time is the earlier time.
Ibn Hajar mentions that the Asr time that begins when the shadow equals the length of an object is accepted by:
- Malikis
- Shafi‘is
- Hanbalis
Not only them — even two of the major Hanafi authorities themselves:
- Abu Yusuf
- Muhammad ibn al-Hasan
These two were the most important students of Imam Abu Hanifa.
Yet they also accepted the earlier time.
Similarly, the Hanafi scholar Tahawi also supported the earlier view.
Therefore, many scholars state that almost everyone stood against Abu Hanifa’s view in this issue — even his own students. If his view had been strong, his students would have defended it with strong arguments. But even they rejected it.
How prayer times were determined
In the time of the Prophet ﷺ there were no clocks. Prayer times were determined using shadows.
When the sun rises in the east, an object’s shadow falls to the west. As the sun rises higher, the shadow gradually shortens.
When the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, the shadow becomes the shortest possible.
After that moment the shadow begins to grow again — but now toward the east. The moment the shadow starts growing again is when Dhuhr begins. Then the shadow continues growing longer. When the shadow of an object becomes equal to its length, that marks the end of Dhuhr and the beginning of Asr.
For example:
If you place a stick that is 5 feet tall, when the shadow becomes 5 feet long, that is the start of Asr. But the Hanafi opinion says Asr begins only when the shadow becomes twice the object’s length. So, if the stick is one unit tall, the shadow must reach two units before Asr begins.
That is why the Hanafi Asr time is later.
The hadith evidence
There is a famous hadith about Jibreel teaching the Prophet ﷺ the prayer times.
Jibreel came on two consecutive days. On the first day, he prayed each prayer at the earliest time. On the second day, he prayed each prayer at the latest time.
Then he said: “The time of prayer is between these two times.”
On the first day, Jibreel prayed Asr when the shadow equaled the object’s length. On the second day, he prayed Asr when the shadow became twice the object’s length. Then he said the time of Asr is between those two points.
So according to the hadith:
- When shadow = object → Asr begins
- When shadow = twice object → latest time
But the Hanafi view takes the latest limit and treats it as the beginning.
In fact, the hadith shows that when the shadow reaches twice the length, Asr time is almost ending, not starting.
Other hadith also say that Asr continues until sunset, but scholars explain this as a permissible extension, not the preferred time.
The best time is earlier.
Weak arguments used for the Hanafi view
Some Hanafi scholars tried to justify the later time with indirect arguments.
One argument comes from a hadith in Bukhari that compares the Muslim community to workers hired later in the day. They argue that since the Muslim community works only from Asr to Maghrib, that time must be short, so Asr should start later.
But this argument is weak. Even if Asr begins earlier, the Asr period is still shorter than the Dhuhr period.
Example (Chennai):
Dhuhr time ≈ 3 hours 19 minutes
Asr time (Shafi‘i) ≈ 2 hours 28 minutes
Asr time (Hanafi) ≈ 1 hour 36 minutes
In both cases Asr time is shorter than Dhuhr time, so the argument fails.
Another weak argument
Another hadith says: When the heat is severe, delay Dhuhr until it cools. Some Hanafi scholars interpret this as delaying Dhuhr almost until their Asr time.
But this is incorrect.
Another hadith in Bukhari (629) explains how long the delay was. The Prophet ﷺ delayed Dhuhr until the shadow of an object reached its length. That means Dhuhr was delayed only until the beginning of Asr, not until the late Hanafi time.
Additional hadith evidence
Another hadith in Bukhari (550) states:
The Prophet ﷺ prayed Asr while the sun was still high.
People would pray Asr and then travel four miles, and the sun would still be bright.
This shows Asr was prayed much earlier, not near sunset.
Therefore:
- The authentic hadith clearly show Asr begins when the shadow equals the object’s length.
- The Hanafi view delays the start unnecessarily.
- Even major Hanafi scholars and students of Abu Hanifa rejected that position.
Thus the earlier Asr time (Shafi‘i time) is the one supported by the stronger evidence from the Sunnah.