Times When Prayer Is Disliked: When They Begin and Why the Prophet ﷺ Forbade Them

Your day holds times when the door of prayer swings wide open, and others in which the Law forbade some voluntary prayers for great wisdoms — out of mercy to the servants and to safeguard pure monotheism. These latter times the scholars call the "times of prohibition" or the "disliked times" (karahah), and many people have heard of them without knowing exactly when they fall, so they hesitate: do I pray now, or wait?

What is meant by them: brief moments in which the Prophet ﷺ forbade voluntary prayer — not the obligatory prayers. Uqbah ibn Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "There were three hours in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to forbid us to pray, or to bury our dead…" (reported by Muslim).

The three times

First: at sunrise, until the sun has risen. From the moment the sun rises until it climbs above the horizon by roughly a spear's length (about fifteen minutes).

Second: when the sun stands at the middle of the sky (the zenith), until it begins to decline — a few minutes before the call to Dhuhr.

Third: when the sun yellows just before setting, until it has fully set.

Alongside these there are two periods, after the Fajr and Asr prayers, in which unrestricted voluntary prayers are not offered — until the sun has risen and climbed, and until it sets.

Why did the Prophet ﷺ forbid prayer then?

One may ask: why these times in particular? And when you reflect on the wisdom, the observance takes firmer root in your heart:

• Because a group of sun-worshippers used to prostrate to it at its rising and setting, so the prohibition came so that the Muslim would not resemble, in his posture, those who venerate the sun — even without intending it.
• Because the Law came to block the means that lead to shirk; it forbade what could be a path to it, even if the path seemed distant.
• So that worship remains bound to the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ, with the Muslim neither adding to it by his own taste nor turning it into an act without measure.

The prohibition here is not a narrowing, but a protection of your monotheism and a courtesy in the manner of the Prophethood.

The excepted prayers

Not every prayer is forbidden in these times; some the scholars agreed are permitted, and some they differed over:

Prayer	Permitted in a disliked time?
A present obligatory prayer	Yes
Making up a missed prayer	Yes
The funeral prayer	Permitted when needed (with difference over the details)
Greeting the mosque (tahiyyat al-masjid)	There is difference among the scholars
The two rak'ahs of tawaf	There is difference
The prayer after ablution	There is difference

The general rule is that "prayers with a cause" (those tied to a reason, such as greeting the mosque or the prayer of tawaf) are a point of genuine difference among the jurists; some permitted them for their cause, and some prevented them, acting on the general wording of the prohibition. The better course is not to be categorical in these disputed matters, and for the Muslim to return to what sets his heart at ease, or to the ruling of the people of knowledge in his own land.

How to know them easily each day

This needs no complex calculation; the disliked times depend on the sunrise, midday and sunset timings, which differ from one city to another and from season to season. That is why CityTimeHub shows an alert when a disliked time begins, in the Prayer insights card, based on your city's timings — so you can know it easily each day and simply delay your voluntary prayer by a few minutes until it passes.

In closing

Knowing the disliked times is not merely a point of jurisprudence; it is part of honouring the signs of Allah and following the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ in his worship. Just as we are keen to pray on time, we are also keen to avoid the times the Law forbade voluntary prayer in — in obedience to Allah and His Messenger ﷺ.

Note: matters of jurisprudential ruling — especially in disputed questions — are best referred to the people of knowledge; the times shown on the site are approximate, for guidance, worked out from your city's timings.