Allah says that the Qur’an is clear and has no doubt in it. It is us who create confusion in the word of The God by trying to find something where it does not exist, due to our preconceived notions. The God willing, we will see that The God is very clear about the timings and the number of salat in the Qur’an.
Allah clearly uses the word “salat” for salat and not “praise” or “glory”. When the Quran mentions salat to be upheld the word AQIMIS SALAH is used, not glorify (sabih) or remember (uzkur), or call (udu’u) or any other imperative. Of course “salat” is for Allah’s remembrance and praise but is not the only way of remembering and praising The God. We can remember and praise The God many times a day but lets try to find out how many times a day we are advised to uphold “salat”. When The God tells us about the timings and names of “salat”, He clearly uses the word “salat” in the verse, and not “praise” or “remembrance”.
For that we have to see only those verses which are directly talking about “salat”. That eliminates 20:130, 30:17, 30:18 as the “salat” timing verses.
WHAT ABOUT SALAT AL-WUSTA ?
“Salat al- wusta” is mis-translated as the “middle” prayer. “Wusta” is derived from the root “WST”. The usage of the words derived from the root WST in the Qur’an indicates that it always means “best” or “balanced” (5:89, 68:26, 2:143).
Also if you examine 2:238 closely you will find that it supports “wusta” meaning “best” or “most excellent” or “balanced” and not the name of an additional “middle” salat.
2:238 Preserve/guard the salawaat (plural of salaat), and the best/balanced/moderate salat, and stand devoutly for God.
There are 2 proofs from the Qur’an, that salat al-wusta is not an additional salat:
FIRST PROOF:
All the “salat” are automatically included in “salawaat”; it does not make any sense to say “and the middle salat” after already mentioning all salat; that would be redundant and illogical. “Salawat” does not necessarily mean more than 2 salat per day either. “Salawat” can be referring to all the “salat” in a person’s life, e.g. in a month I might uphold sixty salat; “salawat” is referring to all those salat.
SECOND PROOF:
The word “wa” in the Qur’an does not always separate 2 different subjects; it has also been used in the Qur’an to separate two attributes of the same subject or to add explanation of a previously mentioned subject to clarify it.
For example:
4:113 And God has sent down to you the Book and the wisdom, and He has taught you that which you did not know. God’s grace upon you is great.
Here the Book and the Wisdom refer to the same Qur’an, they are not two different books. So Allah is mentioning two attributes of the same Qur’an, separated by “wa”. The Qur’an is a book and it contains wisdom. So here the Book AND the Wisdom is not two different books but attributes of the same Qur’an.
Another example:
21:48 And We had given Moses and Aaron the Criterion and a shining light and reminder for the righteous.
Here the Criterion is the shining light is the reminder. They are not 3 different books.
So in 2:238 when Allah says “guard/preserve the salawaat AND salat al-wusta”, salat al-wusta is an attribute of the salawaat, meaning THE BEST/BALANCED SALAT. The God wants that ALL OF OUR SALAT SHOULD BE BEST/BALANCED (upheld in the best possible or balanced manner). Salat al-wusta is the pattern for EACH salat that a believer should uphold, and here in this verse does not mean another salat.
TIMING VERSES FOR UPHOLDING SALAT:
That leaves the following verses which UNAMBIGUOUSLY and CLEARLY mention timing of salat:
TIMING VERSE 24:58
24:58 O you who believe, let those who are your dependants and have not yet attained puberty request your permission regarding three times: Before the dawn salat, and should you take off your attire from being outdoors, and after the dusk salat. These are three private times for you. Other than these times, it is not wrong for you or them to intermingle with one another. God thus clarifies the revelations for you. And God is Knowledgeable, Wise.
This verse is self explanatory. In Salat al-fajr, the word “fajr” itself means dawn and in salat al-’isha, the word “isha” itself means dusk. So now we have 2 salat, one at dawn, and the other at dusk. So far it is very clear, agreed ?
TIMING VERSE 17:78
17:78 You shall uphold the salat from the sun’s “DULUK”, to the darkness of the night, and the Qur’aan at dawn; the Qur’aan at dawn is witnessed.
What is “DULUK” ? This word is mentioned only one time in the Quran. Its root is DLK, which means “to rub or to massage”. In this context (17:78) it means the rubbing of the sun at sunset (the context of the verse suggests that it is at sunset and not at sunrise).
LI DULUKI AL-SHAMSI means the sun’s rubbing of the horizon at sunset. With the preposition LI, which means (in this case) just after, the very precise meaning of “li duluki al-shamsi” would be just after the sun goes beyond the horizon. So if we take this meaning then the first part of the verse would be translated as follow:
“Uphold the salat from when the sun goes beyond the horizon (after sunset) up to the darkness (twilight)”.
The Qur’an at dawn is synonymous with the salat al-fajr; the most important part of upholding salat is oration of the Qur’an.
Therefore this verse also confirms the same two times of upholding salat as 24:58. So far 24:58 is consistent with 17:78.
TIMING VERSE 11:114
11:114 And you shall uphold the salat at the two edges of the day, and the near part of the night. The good deeds take away the bad. This is a reminder to those who remember.
The words “tarafey alnahaar” mean the two ends or edges of the day. “Zulafam minal leyli” is a clarification and specification for these two ends, are they towards the day end or are they towards the night end ? This verse says they are towards the night. Here “wa” again does not mean two different timings but the phrase after the “wa” is a clarifying and explanatory phrase of the phrase preceding the “wa”. I already explained this usage of “wa” earlier in my post.
Some people think that the word “zulafan” or “times close to” is in the plural and therefore can not stand for the two ends (dual) but this is not correct. Linguistically, it is correct and very natural to clarify and specify the dual with plural. The Quran in many places uses this combination (see 16:75 they are two men but the verb is in the plural)
So in this verse Allah is telling us about the two times where the Qur’anic night and the Qur’anic day merge/overlap, i.e. dusk and dawn. (See earlier part of my post for explanation of the Qur’anic day and night)
This verse 11:114 therefore confirms the same two times of upholding salat as 17:78. So far we have seen that all three verses 24:58, 17:78, and 11:114 CONSISTENTLY mention the same timings for upholding salat. The only inescapable conclusion of this would be that Allah mentions only 2 timings to uphold salat and mentions only 2 salat by name in the Qur’an, therefore there are a minimum of only TWO salat to be upheld by believers: SALAT AL-FAJR (at dawn) and SALAT AL-’ISHA (at dusk).
May Allah guide us all to the truth. Any comments or refutations based on the Qur’aan of the above post will be appreciated. The purpose is to seek the truth based on a proper understanding of the Qur’an.
Source : http://free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=11539.0
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