It is like a shield until it spreads out. Then pray as much as you wish until the shadow-column stands upon its own shadow, then stop until the sun declines, for Hell is stoked at midday. Then pray as much as you wish until you pray the afternoon prayer, then stop until the sun sets, for it sets between the two horns of a devil and rises between the two horns of a devil."(1)

‌‌40 - Chapter: The permissibility of prayer at all times in Mecca

585 - Muhammad ibn Mansur informed us, saying: Sufyan narrated to us, saying: I heard from Abu al-Zubayr, saying: I heard Abdullah ibn Babah narrating--------------------------------------------
(1) A sound hadith except for this particular wording, and this chain is weak. Yazid ibn Talq is unknown, and Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Baylamani is weak. Moreover, there is disagreement regarding Ya'la ibn Ata in it, as will follow. The rest of its narrators are trustworthy. Ayyub ibn Muhammad: he is Abu Muhammad al-Raqqi al-Wazzan, and it is in "Al-Sunan al-Kubra" under number (1573) from Ayyub alone.
The sound version of the hadith is that Amr ibn Abasah's question to the Prophet, peace be upon him—"Who embraced Islam with you?"—was in Mecca at the beginning of his affair, peace be upon him, and Amr had returned at that time to his family as a Muslim, and for that reason he used to say: "I am a quarter of Islam." As for his question to the Prophet, peace be upon him—"Is there any hour closer to Allah, mighty and majestic, than another?"—that was in Medina, and by "the free man and the slave" he meant Abu Bakr and Bilal, may Allah be pleased with them both. See the hadith of Ahmad (17019).
It was also recorded by Ahmad (17026), Ibn Majah (1251) and (1364, abridged) via the path of Muhammad ibn Ja'far, from Shu'bah, with this chain. In Ibn Majah's version it occurs as "the middle of the night," which is rejected (munkar), and in Ahmad's version there is an addition mentioning the virtue of ablution, previously cited under number (147), with similar wording.
It was also recorded by Ahmad (17018) and (17028) via two paths from Hammad ibn Salamah, from Ya'la ibn Ata, with it.
There is disagreement regarding Ya'la ibn Ata in it. Ahmad also recorded it (19434) from Hushaym, from Ya'la, from Ibn al-Baylamani, with it, without mentioning Yazid ibn Talq. See the detailed account of the disagreement in the commentary on it and on hadith number (17018). And see the two preceding hadiths under numbers (147) and (572).
His saying: "like a shield" (hajafah)—that is, a shield, meaning in its lack of heat and the possibility of looking at it. And his saying: "until the shadow-column stands upon its own shadow"—the meaning is: until the shadow reaches its utmost degree of shortness, such that nothing appears except beneath the column and the place where it stands, so that it becomes as if the column stands upon it. The intended meaning is the time of the sun's zenith. Al-Sindi said this.