"The Sun Rises Between the Horns of the Devil" — Abdullah b. 'Amr Hadith Explained
The narration stating that the sun rises between the horns of the devil is not a literal description of celestial phenomena but a contextual warning against the prayer times of pagan sun worshippers in 7th century Arabia. The hadith establishes the boundaries of the five daily prayers while simultaneously forbidding Muslims from imitating the devotional practices of disbelievers.
Abdullah b. ‘Amr reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The time of the noon prayer is when the sun passes the meridian and a man’s shadow is the same (length) as his height, (and it lasts) as long as the time for the afternoon prayer has not come; the time for the afternoon prayer is as long as the sun has not become pale; the time of the evening prayer is as long as the twilight has not ended; the time of the night prayer is up to the middle of the average night and the time of the morning prayer is from the appearance of dawn, as long as the sun has not risen; but when the sun rises, refrain from prayer for it rises between the horns of the devil.
The hadith is not literally saying that the sun rises between Satan’s horns. The explanation of this hadith is that in 7th century Arabia there were pagans that used to worship the sun and they used to perform their worship at certain times. During these prayer times Satan would rise up and face the sun; this way when the pagan sun worshippers prostrated towards the direction of the sun they would prostrate towards Satan as well.
The point of the hadith is not to pray at the times that the sun worshippers would pray. As Muslims we’re not supposed to imitate the disbelievers and we try to be as different from them as possible.
The prohibition against praying when the sun rises is a safeguard against sharing the devotional times of pagan sun worshippers, whose prostration toward the sun would simultaneously orient them toward Satan. The general principle is that Muslims do not imitate the disbelievers in their acts of worship.