A fabricated hadeeth about the reason why the five daily prayers were prescribed
Question

                How authentic this Hadeeth is:

It was narrated that Ali, may Allah be pleased with him said: “While Allah’s messenger (PBUH) was sitting between the Ansaar and the Muhajireen, a group of Jews came to him and said: “Oh Muhammad! We ask you about words Allah has given to Moses Ben Imraan, Allah will not give them but to a sent messenger or a close angel. The prophet (PBUH) said: “Ask”. They said: “Oh Muhammad! Tell us about the five prayers that Allah obligated upon your nation”. The prophet (PBUH) said: 

“Fajr prayer: the sun rises between two horns of Satan, to it every disbeliever prostrates. Every believer who prays Fajr in congregation for forty days Allah will grant him two warrants, to save him from hell and hypocrisy. They said: “The truth you said, Oh Muhammad!” 

The prophet (PBUH) continues: “Dhuhr prayer: It is the time that hell flares up during. Every believer who prays this prayer Allah will prevent him from the flames of hell at the Day of Resurrection.  

Asr prayer: Is the time of when Adam, peace be upon him, ate from the tree. Every believer who prays this prayer Allah will clear him of all his since as if he was just born. 

Maghrib prayer: Is the time Allah accepted Adam’s repentance. Every believer who prays this prayer and asks Allah for anything, Allah will definitely give it to him.  

Isha prayer: The grave is dark; the Day of Resurrection is also dark. Every believer who walks in darkness to pray this prayer, Allah will prevent him from hell, and he will given light by which he passes the Siraat (a bridge over hell in the hereafter). It is the prayer that messengers before me prayed. Then he recited saying: “Guard strictly the five obligatory prayers especially the middle Salaat (i.e. ‘Asr)”

May Allah reward you!.
Praise be to Allah.After studying and 
    researching this hadeeth, it is clear that it is false and is a fabrication 
    against the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him); it is 
    not correct to attribute it to him in any circumstances. There is a 
    considerable amount of evidence for that. 
1 – We did not find this 
    hadeeth in any of the books that narrate ahaadeeth with isnaad, rather those 
    who mentioned it narrated it from people without an isnaad. It is a well 
    known principle in our religion that any hadeeth that was not narrated by 
    the scholars of hadeeth with a saheeh isnaad is to be rejected. 
2 – Another of the obvious 
    signs that it is fabricated is the fact that we found this hadeeth quoted in 
    the book of Abu’l-Layth al-Samarqandi (d. 375 AH). The name of his book is
    Tanbeeh al-Ghaafileen bi Ahaadeeth Sayyid al-Anbiya’ wa’l-Mursaleen 
    (p. 264-265). The scholars have stated that this book of his consists of 
    false and fabricated ahaadeeth. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah 
    have mercy on him) listed him in Talkhees al-Istighaathah (1/73) as 
    being among the authors who could not tell sound reports from weak, and who 
    has no experience of either narrated reports or of narrators, rather they 
    narrated both saheeh and da’eef reports, and they did not distinguish 
    between the two. And Imam al-Dhahabi said in his biography in Siyar 
    A’laam al-Nubala’ (16/323): he could accept fabricated ahaadeeth sue to 
    lack of knowledge. End quote. 
3 – Another reason why it 
    is to be rejected is that he says of Zuhr prayer that it is a time when Hell 
    is stoked. But what is proven is that the time when Hell is stoked is just 
    before the sun passes the meridian, just before Zuhr, but when the time for 
    Zuhr begins, the time of mercy begins. 
It was narrated that 
    ‘Abd-Allaah ibn al-Saa’ib said: The Messenger of Allaah  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to pray four rak’ahs before Zuhr, 
    after the sun had passed the meridian, and he said: “The gates of heaven are 
    opened and I like to send forth a good deed at this time.” 
Narrated by Ahmad (3/411); 
    classed as hasan by Ibn Hajar in Nataa’ij al-Afkaar (6/3) and by 
    Shaykh al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah (3404) and by the 
    commentators on al-Musnad. 
Another reason is that it 
    goes against that which is mentioned in the saheeh ahaadeeth, that the five 
    daily prayers are one of the unique characteristics of the ummah of Muhammad 
     (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and they were not enjoined 
    on any of the Prophets who came before him. Although some of the scholars 
    disagreed with that, this is the correct view in sha Allaah. Al-Suyooti 
    wrote a chapter in al-Khasaa’is al-Kubra (2/303) entitled: Chapter on 
    the unique characteristics of (the Prophet)  (peace and blessings of 
    Allaah be upon him) in that the five daily prayers were all enjoined upon 
    him, which were not all enjoined for anyone else, and he was the first one 
    to pray ‘Isha’, which no Prophet before him prayed. In this chapter he 
    quoted a number of ahaadeeth, including the following: 
It was narrated from 
    Mu’aadh ibn Jabal that the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be 
    upon him) said: “Delay this prayer (‘Isha’) until it is dark, for you have 
    been favoured with it over all other nations, and no nation prayed this 
    prayer before you.” 
Narrated by Abu Dawood 
    (421); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 
4 – Another sign of the 
    weakness of this hadeeth is that it defines the time when Adam ate from the 
    tree, and the time when Allaah accepted his repentance. Such details are 
    akin to what is mentioned in the Israa’eeliyaat (reports from Jewish 
    sources) and reports that are narrated from the People of the Book, which 
    makes it likely that this report was taken from them. 
To sum up, this report is 
    false and has no basis, so it is not permissible to narrate it or attribute 
    it to the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), or to 
    quote it on websites or in chat rooms. 
And Allaah knows best.