Assalamualaikum. I am living in Melbourne, Australia. We have a diverse muslim community here coming from many different parts of the world. Our local masjid follows the standard method (used by Imamas Shafii, Hanbali, and Maliki) for Asr prayer time, and most of the muslim brothers here stick to this time for praying Asr in Jamaat. However, recently a small group from us decided to make a different Jamat for Asr prayer based on Hanafi Method, nearly more than a hour later from the main Jamaat. I want to know Shariah's ruling on this kind of intentional breaking up a jamaat for a prayer into two. Jazakallahu Khairan Katheera in advance. Wassalam.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

There is no doubt that this group of people, who intend to make another Jamaa'ah (congregational) prayer in the Masjid aside from the main one, are wrong because holding another Jamaa'ah prayer constitutes dividing the Muslim community without doubt.

Specifying the start of the time of 'Asr as the time when an object's shadow is equal to its length was stated by the two disciples of Imaam Abu Haneefah; they were in accordance with the majority of scholars on this. Rather, this was reported to be one of the opinions of Abu Haneefah himself. Al-Mawsoo‘ah Al-Fiqhiyyah (The Fiqh Encyclopedia) reads:

"The majority of Muslim jurists – the Maalikis, Shaafi‘is, Hanbalis, as well as the two disciples  of Abu Haneefah – held that the beginning of the time of 'Asr is when an object's shadow is equal to its length plus its shadow at noon. This was also one of the reported opinions of Abu Haneefah. They cited as evidence the Hadeeth about Jibreel leading the Prophet in prayer: '... then he prayed 'Asr when everything equaled (the length of) its shadow...'. However, the famous opinion from Abu Haneefah's two opinions is that the ‘Asr prayer begins when an object's shadow equals twice its length plus its shadow at noon." Please, refer to Fatwa 92052.

In any case, Hanafi jurists rejected holding more than one Jamaa'ah prayer at a time which was common in Al-Masjid Al-Haraam (Sacred Mosque in Makkah) and Al-Masjid An-Nabawi (The Prophet's Mosque in Madeenah) in the past. There were different Jamaa'ah prayers held for each of the four Mathhabs (schools of Fiqh). Al-Bahr Ar-Raa'iq (a Hanafi book) reads: "What people do in Al-Masjid Al-Haraam and Al-Masjid An-Nabawi is unanimously disliked. It has been reported from some of our scholars that they explicitly rejected it when they attended Hajj in Makkah in 551 A.H., such as Ash-Shareef Al-Ghaznawi. Imaam Abu Qaasim Al-Jaan, the Maaliki scholar, issued Fatwa in 550 A.H. to ban holding several Jamaa'ah prayers with several Imaams and that it is impermissible according to the opinion of the four Mathhabs; and he refuted those who said otherwise. The rejection of this was also reported from a group of Hanafis, Shaafi‘is, and Maalikis who attended the Hajj in 551 A.H."

On the other hand, the preferred opinion among the Hanafis is that it is disliked to repeat the Jamaa'ah prayer in the same Masjid that has an official Imaam to lead the prayers. Many of them believed that following the early prayer led by a Shaafi‘i Imaam is better than holding another Jamaa'ah and following the Hanafi Imaam who prays afterwards. Radd Al-Muhtaar reads: "If the Shaafi‘i (Imaam) performed the prayer before the Hanafi (Imaam), is it better to pray with the Shaafi'i or not? If there is more than one congregational prayer held in a Masjid and the Shaafi‘is prayed first..., then it is better to follow the Shaafi'i Imaam; rather, it is disliked to delay (performing the prayer) because it is disliked to hold more than one congregational prayer in the same Masjid according to the preferred opinion of our (Hanafi) Mathhab."

Allaah knows best.