Prayer is the foundation of faith, and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) urged the Muslims to pray and to offer the prayer at the beginning of its time. The Sahabah were keen to follow the commands and instructions of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), but some of the rulers and governors after the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs delayed the prayers until the end of their times. In this hadith, Abu Umamah ibn Sahl says: “We prayed Zuhr with ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, then we left and came to Anas ibn Malik, and we found him praying ‘Asr.” ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz had prayed Zuhr at the end of its time, and Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) used to pray ‘Asr at the beginning of its time, upholding the Sunnah. The beginning of the time for ‘Asr – as is stated in the reports – is when the sun is in the sky and the length of the shadow of a thing is double its height. When Abu Umamah saw him praying ‘Asr just after they had prayed with ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, he asked him what prayer he had been praying. Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) told him that he had been praying ‘Asr, as the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) had enjoined, and as we used to pray it with him at this time. It was said that ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz used to pray Zuhr sometimes at the end of its time. That was when he was a governor in Madinah. In this matter, he followed the example of those of Banu Umayyah who used to delay it, until ‘Urwah ibn az-Zubayr advised him, then he stopped doing that and began to offer the prayers at the beginning of their times. This hadith highlights the keenness of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), no matter how much people changed it. It also indicates that with the passage of time, people and rulers became less committed to following the Sunnah..