{"id":4170,"date":"2025-10-11T08:37:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T08:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/?p=4170"},"modified":"2025-10-11T08:37:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T08:37:53","slug":"optional-prayer-asr-afternoon-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/?p=4170","title":{"rendered":"Optional Prayer Before `Asr (Afternoon Prayer)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"someone

The optional Prayers make up for one’s shortcomings while performing obligatory Prayers.<\/p><\/div>\n

Question:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Someone is asking about the ruling of the optional Prayer (sunnah<\/i>) before `Asr (Afternoon Prayer), is it recommended to pray four rak`ahs<\/i> or not?<\/p>\n

:Answer<\/b><\/p>\n

It should be clear that people should refer to scholars to get themselves well-acquainted with the teachings of their religion and should avoid debates over any religious \u2014 or even secular \u2014 matter unless they have solid information or knowledge about it.<\/p>\n

Praying four optional rak`ahs<\/i> (unit of prayer) before the `Asr (Afternoon Prayer) is recommended, and there are many hadiths<\/i> that confirm their virtue. This view is upheld by Shafi`i and Hanafi scholars.<\/p>\n

Answering this question, Dr. Wael Shihab, PhD in Islamic Studies from Al-Azhar University and the Head of the Shari`ah<\/i> and Fatwa sections, OnIslam.net (English website), stated,<\/p>\n

Praying supererogatory Prayers that are backed by authentic Shari`ah<\/i> proofs have great merits that a Muslim is advised not to miss. By frequently praying the sunnah<\/i> Prayers, a Muslim is obeying and following the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Also, the sunnah<\/i> Prayers make up for one’s shortcomings while performing obligatory Prayers.<\/p>\n

In addition, praying supererogatory Prayers that precede obligatory ones prepares worshippers to be fully concentrating while performing obligatory Prayers.<\/p>\n

In general, a Muslim is recommended to pray four rak`ahs<\/i> before the `Asr<\/i> Prayer, as confirmed by Shafi`i and Hanafi scholars. The four optional rak`ahs<\/i> before the `Asr<\/i> are sunnah ghair mu’akadah<\/i> (i.e., an unconfirmed sunnah<\/i> that the Prophet did not regularly maintain). This, however, does not contradict the merits of praying four rak`ahs<\/i> before the `Asr<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Below are some hadiths<\/i> that affirm the merits and virtues of praying four optional rak`ahs<\/i> before the `Asr <\/i>prayer:<\/p>\n

a)<\/b> `Ali ibn Abi Talib \u00a0(may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him)used to pray four rak`ahs<\/i> before the `Asr<\/i>, ending each two rak`ahs<\/i> with a Tasleem<\/i> for angels, prophets, and the believers. (An-Nawawi, Al-Majmu`)<\/p>\n

b)<\/b> Ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet said: “May Allah shower His mercy on the person who prays four rak`ahs<\/i> before the `Asr<\/i> Prayer.” (Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi)<\/p>\n

However, `Ali reported that the Prophet used to pray two rak`ahs<\/i> before the `Asr<\/i>. (Abu Dawud)<\/p>\n

As there are various reports on the number of supererogatory rak`ahs<\/i> before the `Asr<\/i> Prayer, it becomes optional for one to pray two or four rak`ahs<\/i>. Yet, praying four rak`ahs<\/i> is better, since they entail more blessings and rewards from Allah.<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

Source: onislam.net.<\/i>Soucre Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are the merits of offering the optional prayer before the obligatory one?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1799,1563],"tags":[1373,4096,3615,9,4097,1568,1569,4098,4061,4099,4100,1575,2088,1852,1577,2002,4101,4102,2096,2800,4103],"class_list":["post-4170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fatwas-rulings","category-prayer-in-islam","tag-acts-of-worship","tag-afternoon-prayer","tag-fatwas","tag-featured","tag-four-rakahs-before-asr","tag-how-muslims-pray","tag-how-to-pray","tag-merits-of-sunnsh-prayer","tag-obligatory-prayers","tag-optional-prayer-before-asr","tag-optional-prayers","tag-prayer-in-islam","tag-recommended-prayers","tag-rulings-of-prayer","tag-salat","tag-significance-of-prayer","tag-slalah","tag-sunnah-before-asr-prayer","tag-sunnah-prayers","tag-supererogatory-prayers","tag-unconfirmed-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}