Asr prayer
The five daily prayers are obligatory on every Muslim who has reached the age of puberty, with the exception of those for whom it may not be possible due to physical or mental disabilities, and those menstruating (hayd) or experiencing postnatal bleeding (nifas). Those who are sick or otherwise physically unable to offer their prayers in the traditional form are permitted to offer their prayers while sitting or lying, as they are able. Each of the five prayers has a prescribed time, depending on the movement of the sun. These are the Fajr prayer (2 rakat, observed at dawn), Zuhr prayer (4 rakat, observed at noon), Asr prayer (4 rakat, observed late in the afternoon), Maghrib prayer (3 rakat, observed at dusk), and the Isha prayer (4 rakat, observed after sunset). Salah must be prayed in its time. In certain circumstances, one may be unable to offer one's prayer within the prescribed time. In this case, the prayer must be offered as soon as possible. Several hadith narrate that Muhammad stated that it is permissible to pray salah out of its permissible time if a person accidentally sleeps through the prescribed time. However, knowingly sleeping through the prescribed time for Salah is deemed impermissible by most scholars. When travelling over long distances, one may shorten the Zuhr, Asr, and Isha prayers to 2 rakat, a practice known as "qasr". One may also perform "jam' bayn as-salātayn," which refers to praying the Zuhr and Asr prayers in combination as two prayers of 2 rakat each between noon and sunset, and the Maghrib and Isha prayers into two prayers of 3 and 2 rakat each, performed between dusk and dawn. Neither "qasr" nor "jam' bayn as-salātayn" can be applied to the Fajr prayer.