Re: ASR prayer as per Shafai fiqh
Peace @SID_NY,
Almighty Allah says in Chapter 20 Verse 130: “Therefore be patient with what they say, and celebrate (constantly) the praises of thy Lord, before the rising of the sun, and before its setting; yea, celebrate them for part of the hours of the night, and at the sides of the day: that thou mayest have (spiritual) joy.”
Please refer to highlighted text (blue). Commentators described the prayer before rising of the sun is “Fajr” and before its sun sets is “Asr”. In between we have “Dhuhar” prayer. Based on this verse and hadiths (some of them quoted below), the School of thoughts described the timings of prayers i.e, Fajr, Dhuhar and Asr.
Book ‘Times of the Prayers’ of Sahih Bukhari. Hadith No. 500.
"Narrated Ibn Shihab: Once 'Umar bin 'Abdul 'Aziz delayed the prayer and 'Urwa bin Az-Zubair went to him and said, “Once in 'Iraq, Al-MughTra bin Shu’ba delayed his prayers and Abi Mas’ud Al-Ansari went to him and said, 'O Mughira! What is this? Don’t you know that once Gabriel came and offered the prayer (Fajr prayer) and Allah’s Apostle prayed too, then he prayed again (Zuhr prayer) and so did Allah’s Apostle and again he prayed ('Asr prayers and Allah’s Apostle did the same; again he prayed (Maghrib-prayer) and so did Allah’s Apostle and again prayed ('Isha prayer) and so did Allah’s Apostle and (Gabriel) said, ‘I was ordered to do so (to demonstrate the prayers prescribed to you)?’” 'Umar (bin 'Abdul 'Aziz) said to 'Urwa, “Be sure of what you Say. Did Gabriel lead Allah’s Apostle at the stated times of the prayers?” 'Urwa replied, “Bashir bin Abi Mas’ud narrated like this on the authority of his father.” Urwa added, "Aisha told me that Allah’s Apostle used to pray 'Asr prayer when the sun-shine was still inside her residence (during the early time of 'Asr)."
Book ‘Times of the Prayers’ of Sahih Bukhari. Hadith No. 521.
Narrated Aisha: The Prophet used to pray the 'Asr prayers at a time when the sunshine was still inside my chamber and no shadow had yet appeared in it.
Book ‘Times of the Prayers’ of Sahih Bukhari. Hadith No. 525.
Narrated Anas bin Malik: Allah’s Apostle used to offer the 'Asr prayer at a time when the sun was still hot and high and if a person went to Al-'Awali (a place) of Medina, he would reach there when the sun was still high. Some of Al-'Awali of Medina were about four miles or so from the town.
According to Fiqh Hanafi: it is preferred not to offer Dhuhar prayer after when the shadow is equal to the length of original object and Asr prayer before when the shadow is twice of the original object. Means if a person is 5 ft and his shadow is 5 ft, then it is preferred not to read Dhuhar. And if a shadow of the person is twice i.e., 10 ft then he can offer Asr prayer before Maghrib prayer.
Accoding to Fiqh Shaafi: the Dhuhar’s legal time for this prayer commences at the moment when the sun begins to decline, and lasts until the shadows of objects equal their real height, plus the length of shadow at noon. At this moment begins the legal time for the afternoon prayer i.e., Asr, it lasts until sunset. It is preferable, however, to accomplish this prayer before a shadow has become twice as long as the object causing it, plus the length cast at noon.
Coming to the conclusion, I don’t have answer of your question except that I heard that is it better to offer Salaah in first time.
Almighty Allah knows best.
*References:
*1- Qur’an Chapter 20 Verse 130 Tafsir Abdullah Yousif Ali
2- Book "Minhaj-e-Talibin - (Shaafi Fiqh)
3- Book "Sharah Ut Tahameeri Vol-I (Hanfi & Shaafi Fiqh)
done single thing in different ways which are supported by Hadiths.