The Eighteenth Assembly, which is Tuesday, the Nineteenth of the Month of Ramadan, 367 AH.

I heard my father ask Aba `Abdillah al-Sadiq (as): When does Maghrib time begin? So, he said: When its seat disappears. He said: What is its seat? He said: Its disk. He said: When does its disk disappear? He said: If you look to it, you do not see it.

Al-Sadiq Ja`far b. Muhammad (as) said: When the Sun disappears, then Maghrib time has begun.

I climbed the mountain of Abi Qubays, and the people were praying Maghrib, yet I saw that the Sun had not set, but rather it was hidden behind the mountain from the people. So, I met Aba `Abdillah al-Sadiq (as), and I informed him of that. So, he said to me: Why did you do that? Woe to what you did. Rather, pray [even] if you do not see it [and it is] behind a mountain, whether it has [fully] set, so long that it is not covered by a cloud or darkened by a darkness. Surely, you must take to your [own] sunrise and sunset [from your own perspective]; and the people do not have to go searching.

I said to Abi `Abdillah (as) regarding Maghrib: We prayed, but we fear that the Sun was behind the mountain, and that the mountain had hid it from us. So, he said: You do not need to climb the mountain.

I heard Aba `Abdillah (as) say: The Messenger of Allah (s) would pray Maghrib and a group of the Ansar called Banu Salama would pray with him. Their houses were in the middle of a slope. They would pray with him, then they would go back to their homes, while still being able to see where their arrows would fall (i.e. there would still be enough light at the time to see where an arrow would land after it is shot).

I heard him say: A man accompanied me, and he would delay Maghrib and pray Fajr early while I would pray Maghrib when the Sun set and pray Fajr when dawn would appear. So, the man said to me: What prevents you from doing as I do? Surely, the Sun rises over a people before us, and it sets for us while it is still above others. He said: So, I said: Surely, it is only incumbent upon us to pray when the Sun sets for us, and when dawn rises for us – this is all that is incumbent upon us – and they should pray when it sets for them.

We proceeded from Mecca until we reached the Ajfar valley, where we came across a man who was praying. We saw the rays of the Sun, so we felt angry. He was praying whilst we were supplicating against him. He prayed one unit whilst we were supplicating against him; we were saying: He is from the youth of the people of the Medina. When we came to him, it turned out that he was Abu `Abdillah Ja`far b. Muhammad (as). So, we descended and prayed with him. We had missed one unit; so, when we completed the prayer, we stood and went to him, saying: May we be your sacrifice! Is this the time that you pray? So, he said: Once the Sun sets, then the time has begun.