Our Master Ali asked them: "Have you prayed?" They said: "Yes." He said to them: "But I have not prayed." They said to him: "Wake the Messenger of God." He replied: "I do not wish to sever from him the pleasure of sleep; but God shall excuse me if I perform it outside its time." Then the Prophet—exalted be his glory—awoke after the sun had set. Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—said: "O Messenger of God, you did not pray the afternoon prayer and I have not prayed it, and the sun has set." The Messenger of God—exalted be his glory—said to him: "Call it, for it shall answer you, O Ali." Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—cried out: "O Gazelle!" It replied with a voice heard by the Muslims present: "At your service, at your service, O Amir Almuminin!" He said: "Return to the time of your afternoon," and the sun returned to its afternoon time. Our Master prayed, then it set while the people watched.

(259) On the Day of Uhud, when the army of the Messenger of God—exalted be his glory—retreated and Hamza was killed and what is known occurred, our Master—exalted be his glory—looked at the sun as it neared setting while his heart was not yet satisfied regarding the polytheists. He called out to it: "O Gazelle, return to the time of your afternoon!" It returned, and he killed the son of Abd al-Dar and performed what is famous.

(260) It is related that our Master—exalted be his glory—when he conquered Sana'a in Yemen, was occupied by the fighting such that he missed the afternoon prayer—Exalted is He whom no affair distracts from another. The sun set, and his companions said to him: "O our Master, the sun has set and we have not prayed the afternoon prayer." He called out to it: "Return to the time of your afternoon!" It returned and our Master prayed with them, then it set.

(261) It is related that when our Master—exalted be his glory—came to the place known as Baratha, he looked at the ground and saw great thorns upon it. Our Master dismounted his beast and began cutting the thorns. The people dismounted when they saw our Master Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—had dismounted, and they began cutting the thorns until the sun set.