Times and places fixed for acts of worship (mawaqit)

Miqat in the lexicon is a fixed time or place. The entry deals with the times of prayer and of the rites. ¹

Entry into the time is a condition of valid prayer, by consensus, and the hadith of Gabriel leading the Prophet ﷺ through the times is cited. ^{1 2}

The Friday prayer begins after the sun passes its zenith, according to the Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi'is; the Hanbalis allow it before. The festival prayer begins, according to most, after the sun rises and whitens. ^{2 3}

There are hours in which the lawgiver forbade prayer; some are agreed and others disputed. ³

The festival alms become due, by the Hanafis, at dawn of the feast of breaking the fast; the Shafi'is and Hanbalis say at sunset of the last day of Ramadan. The sacrifice time is the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijja. ³

The pilgrimage is entered in its months, beginning with the new moon of Shawwal; standing at Arafat runs from the decline of the sun on the ninth to before dawn of the tenth; Muzdalifa is a time and place for the night; stoning begins after sunrise on the tenth. ^{3 4}

The fixed places for entering the consecrated state are three: for those coming from afar, for those who pass a station, and for the people of Mecca. ⁴