What is the reason for the similitude in the Hadith: "The parable of the Muslims, the Jews, and the Christians is like that of a man who hired a group of people to work for him until night..." where the Jews worked for half the day, and the Christians and Muslims worked for the other half, despite the fact that the age of the Jewish nation (1700 years) does not equal the combined age of the Christian and Islamic nations (2044 years)? And why did the Christians work from midday until Asr prayer, and the Muslims from Asr prayer until sunset, even though the age of the Islamic nation (1444 years) is double the age of the Christian nation (600 years)?

The aforementioned hadith is authentic, and its meaning refers to the abundance or scarcity of work, not the length or shortness of time. Ibn Hajar stated that an abundance of work does not necessitate a long duration. This is supported by the fact that the period between Jesus and our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is shorter than the period between our Prophet and the Day of Judgment. If the intent were the length of time, then the 'Asr time would be longer than the Dhuhr time, which is incorrect. This is also supported by the apparent meaning of the Bukhari hadith: "Your remaining time compared to the nations that have passed before you is like the time between the 'Asr prayer and sunset," meaning that the proportion of this Ummah's duration to the duration of previous nations is like the proportion of the time after 'Asr in the day.